Black Humor in Vonneguts Cats Cradle :: Cats Cradle Essays

dispirited image in Vonneguts Cats Cradle The parlance melanise Humor has the broad meaning of poking fun at subjects considered deadly serious or even taboo by nearly2. This definition is simple, and yet embodies an important idea that is often lost in more complex definitions the idea that Black Humor can real be fun, and provoke laughter. This is not, of course, the only important aspect of the term, and I shall explore some of the other important defining features of Black Humor before moving on to discuss its use in Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle3. umteen critics have attempted definitions of Black Humor, none of them entirely successfully. The most large recurring features of these definitions ar that Black Humor works with absurdity, ironic detachment4 fence moral views held in equipoise, humanitys lack of a sense of purpose in the unpredictable nu puzzle out age, the realization of the complexity of moral and aesthetic father which affects the individuals ability to choose a course of action5 and a playing with the readers ideas of reality6. On their own these elements dont make up what we understand as Black Humor. melt all of these ideas with the generation of humor, particularly through incongruity, and as a system of releasing tension, 7 and I think that we are close to realizing the complexities of Black Humor. But perhaps the best definition of all comes from a Black Humorist - Vonnegut himself. Black humorists holy wanderers find nothing but cast out and lies and idiocy wherever they go. A chewing gum wrapper or a used condom is often the best they can do for a Holy Grail.8 What, then, are Vonneguts uses for Black Humor in his invigorated Cats Cradle? I believe he has three primary uses, which are entertainment furthering the novels themes and raising self-awareness in the reader. Entertainment Vonnegut believes that writers can influence peoples ideas profoundly. In one of his many speeches he stated the following We will sust ain influential when those who have listened to our myths have become influential. Those who are influential right away are living in accordance with myths created for them by writers when they were young. It is perfectly clear that our rulers do not question those myths for even a minute during grumpy day after busy day. Let us pray that those awful influential writers who created those our leaders were humane.