Cat's Cradle is a highly Postmodern text. The main theme of the novel is the parody of the concepts of truth and progress. Vonnegut uses Cat's Cradle to satire the ideas society holds about progress and how it is acheived through the pursuit of truth; the pursuit of science. Society seems to believe that it can better itself through obtaining empirical scientific data about the world around us. This is a belief of Modernism. This belief is that the more man knows about the nature of how things work or the more knowledge society obtains, the better off it is. But this is a belief highly critisized by the principles of Postmodernism as well as by Vonnegut. A renowned example of postmodernism's questioning of this modern forgery is the creation of the atom bomb (which appears in the novel). Supposedly the progression of society into the realms of science, discovery, and knowlegde, leads the world to the ever-nearing goal of a utopia. However the only benefit one of societys greatest scientific discoveries, in this case the atomic bomb, was the capacity and ramifications of endings hundreds of thousands of lives. So does this pursuit of science, of knowledge, of truth, really lead society to the bettering of mankind?
Vonnegut uses the plot of Cat's Cradle to make a postmodern parody of how science really does not lead to a utopia. In chapter 66 of the novel, Papa (the leader in San Lorenzo) suffers from a mysterious ailment and right before passing out he says "'You,' he said to Frank hoarsely, 'you - Franklin Hoenikker - you will be the next President of San Lorenzo. Science - you have science. Science is the strongest thing there is.' 'Science' said 'Papa' 'Ice.'" He elects to make Frank Hoenikker the new president of San Lorenzo because he thinks he is about to die. He chooses Frank because he knows of his possession of Ice-Nine (which happens to be the greatest and newest scientific discovery of mankind in the novel). The satire is this: Papa assumes Frank would be the best option for President because he has science; Ice-Nine. Papas ideas about how science betters society reflect the Modern idea of the concept. However, later in the novel, the reader discovers that Ice-Nine brings about the end of the world. Vonnegut's satire reflects the Postmodern concept that pursuing a utopia through science is a facetious pursuit because the further mankind dives into scientific discovery, the more destructive society becomes.
