Postmodernism can be defined as a rejection of the dogma of established modernism, a dogma that demanded a zealous progression towards idealistic standards of efficiency and mathematical perfection. Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, illustrates a postmodernist’s approach to the concept of truth. Before the actual story even begins, Vonnegut adds his own satirical disclaimer: “Nothing in this book is true. ‘Live by the foma that make you brave and healthy and happy.’” Vonnegut advocates a postmodernist belief that there are no absolutes, no standardized International Style of right and wrong. A postmodernist comrade would argue that truth should reflect the diversity of the environments and individuals in our world, each with their own effective system of beliefs, and therefore that there is no truth. Vonnegut accurately conveys this through the doctrine of Bokononism, and the motives of Bokonon: “I wanted all things/To seem to make some sense/ So we all could be happy, yes/Instead of tense. And I made up lies/So that they all fit nice/And I made this sad world/A par-a-dise.” Bokonon realized that the citizens of San Lorenzo could thrive in their squalid conditions if they had something to hope for and believe in- not the standardized Christianity, strategically required by the government, but the outlawed Bokononism, full of excitement and intrigue and pleasant principles that served as an acceptable form of morality. Though the citizens became devout in their Bokononist beliefs and practices, the disclaimer was ever-present: “All of the true things I am about to tell are shameless lies.” This shamelessly false religion was useful merely because it allotted people a sense of morality that they could take or leave as they saw fit, a morality that benefitted humanity not in the search for moral uniformity and perfection but in the search for contentment and acceptance in the midst of wonderfully drastic diversity.
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