Science as a Double-edged Sword: Science-fictional Elements in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle

Being as an integral part of modern life, science penetrated into diverse aspects of human beings’ lives. Since around twentieth century, merging of science and literature has been practicing. Scientific issues was and is the subject matter of many literary works. Literature of science-fiction deals with new science and technological advancement with a view on future life of mankind with regard to technology. Science-fictional elements can be observed in most works of the American author Kurt Vonnegut, including Cat’s Cradle. Vonnegut employed science-fiction in order to criticize people and social institutions. He considered science-fiction as a tool for satirizing the fact that people were involved with and dependent on technology, as well as demonstrating how destructive and harmful technology can be. This study aims to investigate the elements of science-fiction in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle and illustrate the fact that although science is to aid human beings, it can be pernicious.

Keywords:

Cat’s Cradle , Kurt Vonnegut , Satire , Science-fiction