Kurt's Krew: What's a Cat's Cradle?

Posted by Gregory Tasik in College English · Giknis · B Band on Monday, January 7, 2019 at 11:48 pm

Group Members: Nick Ryan, Tommy Conley, Miguel Rivera, Greg Tasik

This episode was a mish mash of all your initial thoughts on Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Our episode focuses on the larger themes at play in the book. We discuss religion's role in the story and the interplay between truth and lies. We also attempt to decipher Vonnegut’s wild and unique writing style, which is as complex as a cat’s cradle. Thanks for listening!

“Call me Jonah. No Sam.” (page 1)
“All of the true things I am about to tell you are lies” (5)
“Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either” (6)
“That people were still superstitious instead of scientific” (24)
“I’m sorry to hear member of the Laboratory family…. They’re the very antithesis of magic” (36)
“It’s a cat’s cradle…… One of the olders games there is” (165)

Comments (15)

Lily Rivera

First of all, who edited this bc that cat is adorable. Anyway, great intro to the podcast for those of us who haven't heard of the book! I found Tommy's point about poking fun at both science and religion was super interesting. I enjoyed listening to you guys further discuss it and going deeper and deeper into the topic. You guys also build off of each other super well.

Ethan Larrabee

I really liked the analysis. That one bit where Nick got to the core metaphor of the book was fun to listen to.

Alan Lee Chan

You guys are creative that you put a cat video in your podcast, but it kind of off topic of the podcast itself, because podcast usually lives on a radio channel so there should be no image or gif in it.

Jayla Wright

You have a conversation that’s very fun to listen to. Your analysis is thoughtful and all of you have nice points.

James Klenk

I agree with what everyone had said before and that not only sis your group do a great job on the podcast you also should you understood the book well

James Klenk

I agree with what everyone had said before and that not only sis your group do a great job on the podcast you also should you understood the book well

Sashoya Dougan

i think the cat really speaks to the book itself, your quotes and analysis were very good as well

Aysha Siddiquee

I like the approach you took towards presenting your podcast it really kept the reader's attention. Based on your discussion, I am now looking forward to reading it on my own.

Tai-Monae Bailey

You guys really went deep into the conversation and it's obviously not scripted at all. I like how you guys made the religion of the book a major theme.

Ayala Silverman

I like how each topic was discussed in depth without being made boring. This was fun to listen to. The cat is super cute.

Amado Alfaro-Allah

The beginning that it sets up what cat's cradle is about and the themes of the book. The questions asked in the podcast give a deeper meaning of what's going on and gives a better flow on what's going on. The cutting is very nice too, the religion and science argument is very interesting and makes it very fun to listen to

Weston Matthews

You guys bring a lot of fresh ideas to the podcast. I like the visual. I thought the introduction was helpful for people who haven't read the book & I thought you guys all have compelling ideas about the book and its meaning. I would just suggest to always keep those assigned topics in the back of your minds.

Taylor Green

I like the in-depth conversation you guys had about religion and how certain characters in the book feel about religion. You guys used interesting quotes to talk about and all in all, it was a very thorough analysis/discussion. I also like how you added visuals to your podcast.

Sharron Norton

They grab onto a theme in the book and break it down. They use key quotes as evidence and do good into analyzing every aspect of the text. I really enjoyed Nicks perspective on Religion, very insightful.

David Roberts

I like the topic you guys discuss. I have not though much of it myself and was very interested to hear your thoughts and how the topics appears in the book that you guys read. Also, I like the cat.