Cat's Cradle

Cat’s Cradle is a satirical science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut, published in 1963. The novel, which explores themes related to science, technology, and religion against the backdrop of the Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, won critical acclaim for Vonnegut and was nominated for a Hugo Award. This guide refers to the 2010 Dial Trade Press edition.

Content Warning: This guide references death by suicide and sexual assault found in the source text. The source text uses outdated language to refer to a character who is a little person, which this guide reproduces only in direct quotation.

Plot Summary

In the early 1960s, a middle-aged writer named John gathers information about the day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. He contacts the children of the deceased Dr. Felix Hoenikker, who helped invent the bomb, and learns that Dr. Hoenikker made a cat’s cradle string figure for his son Newt, then six years old, on that day. In the present, John learns of a romantic fling between Newt and a Ukrainian dancer. Meanwhile, Newt’s sister, Angela is married to a businessman who used to work for Dr.