Cat’s Cradle

Cat’s Cradle

by

Kurt Vonnegut

Dr. Felix Hoenikker is no longer alive at the time of the book’s writing, but his influence on proceedings is unrivalled. He is portrayed as an ingenious scientific mind chronically lacking in human empathy. From what John can gather, Dr. Hoenikker considered his work—which included inventing ice-nine and the atom bomb—as “pure research,” outside of moral responsibility. To illustrate this, his daughter Angela explains that he was as interested in researching turtles as he was developing weapons of mass destruction. As part of John’s initial research into a book about the day the atom bomb was dropped, he learns that Dr. Hoenikker was more concerned with showing a cat’s cradle to the then six-year-old Newt than reflecting on the use that his invention had been put to.

Dr. Felix Hoenikker Quotes in Cat’s Cradle

The Cat’s Cradle quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Felix Hoenikker or refer to Dr. Felix Hoenikker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Science and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

When I was a much younger man, I began to collect material for a book to be called The Day the World Ended.

The book was to be factual.

The book was to be an account of what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

It was to be a Christian book. I was a Christian then.

I am a Bokononist now.

Related Characters: John (speaker), Bokonon / Lionel Boyd Johnson, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Page Number: 1-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“But he went down on his knees on the carpet next to me, and he showed me his teeth, and he waved that tangle of string in my face. ‘See? See? See?’ he asked. ‘Cat’s cradle. See the cat’s cradle? See where the nice pussycat sleeps? Meow. Meow.’

“His pores looked as big as craters on the moon. His ears and nostrils were stuffed with hair. Cigar smoke made him smell like the mouth of Hell. So close up, my father was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I dream about it all the time.

“And then he sang. ‘Rockabye catsy, in the tree top’; he sang, ‘when the wind blows, the cray-dull will rock. It the bough breaks, the cray-dull will fall. Down will come cray-dull, catsy, and all.’”

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Related Symbols: Cat’s Cradle
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

There are lots of other good anecdotes about the bomb and Father, from other days. For instance, do you know the story about Father on the day they first tested a bomb out at Alamogordo? After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, ‘Science has now known sin.’ And do you know what Father said? He said, ‘What is sin?’

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“If the streams flowing through the swamp froze as ice-nine, what about the rivers and lakes the streams fed?”

“They’d freeze. But there is no such thing as ice-nine.”

“And the oceans the frozen rivers fed?”

“They’d freeze, of course,” he snapped. “I sup­pose you’re going to rush to market with a sensational story about ice-nine now. I tell you again, it does not exist!”

“And the springs feeding the frozen lakes and streams, and all the water underground feeding the springs?”

“They’d freeze, damn it!” he cried. “But if I had known that you were a member of the yellow press,” he said grandly, rising to his feet, “I wouldn’t have wasted a minute with you!”

“And the rain?”

“When it fell, it would freeze into hard little hob­ nails of ice-nine—and that would be the end of the world! And the end of the interview, too! Good-bye!”

Related Characters: John (speaker), Dr. Asa Breed (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Related Symbols: Ice-Nine
Page Number: 49-50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 51 Quotes

“I might as well tell you,” Angela said to me, “Dr. Breed told me I wasn’t supposed to co-operate with you. He said you weren’t interested in giving a fair picture of Father.” She showed me that she didn’t like me for that.

I placated her some by telling her that the book would probably never be done anyway, that I no longer had a clear idea of what it would or should mean.

“Well, if you ever do do the book, you better make Father a saint, because that’s what he was.”

Related Characters: Angela Hoenikker (speaker), Newt Hoenikker (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Dr. Asa Breed
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 110 Quotes

From what Frank had said before he slammed the door, I gathered that the Republic of San Lorenzo and the three Hoenikkers weren’t the only ones who had ice-nine. Apparently the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had it, too. The United States had obtained it through Angela’s husband, whose plant in Indianapolis was understand­ably surrounded by electrified fences and homicidal German shepherds. And Soviet Russia had come by it through Newt’s little Zinka, that winsome troll of Ukrainian ballet.

Related Characters: John (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Frank Hoenikker, Angela Hoenikker , Newt Hoenikker, Zinka, Harrison C. Conners
Related Symbols: Ice-Nine
Page Number: 244
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Cat’s Cradle LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cat’s Cradle PDF

Dr. Felix Hoenikker Quotes in Cat’s Cradle

The Cat’s Cradle quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Felix Hoenikker or refer to Dr. Felix Hoenikker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Science and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

When I was a much younger man, I began to collect material for a book to be called The Day the World Ended.

The book was to be factual.

The book was to be an account of what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

It was to be a Christian book. I was a Christian then.

I am a Bokononist now.

Related Characters: John (speaker), Bokonon / Lionel Boyd Johnson, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Page Number: 1-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“But he went down on his knees on the carpet next to me, and he showed me his teeth, and he waved that tangle of string in my face. ‘See? See? See?’ he asked. ‘Cat’s cradle. See the cat’s cradle? See where the nice pussycat sleeps? Meow. Meow.’

“His pores looked as big as craters on the moon. His ears and nostrils were stuffed with hair. Cigar smoke made him smell like the mouth of Hell. So close up, my father was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I dream about it all the time.

“And then he sang. ‘Rockabye catsy, in the tree top’; he sang, ‘when the wind blows, the cray-dull will rock. It the bough breaks, the cray-dull will fall. Down will come cray-dull, catsy, and all.’”

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Related Symbols: Cat’s Cradle
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

There are lots of other good anecdotes about the bomb and Father, from other days. For instance, do you know the story about Father on the day they first tested a bomb out at Alamogordo? After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, ‘Science has now known sin.’ And do you know what Father said? He said, ‘What is sin?’

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“If the streams flowing through the swamp froze as ice-nine, what about the rivers and lakes the streams fed?”

“They’d freeze. But there is no such thing as ice-nine.”

“And the oceans the frozen rivers fed?”

“They’d freeze, of course,” he snapped. “I sup­pose you’re going to rush to market with a sensational story about ice-nine now. I tell you again, it does not exist!”

“And the springs feeding the frozen lakes and streams, and all the water underground feeding the springs?”

“They’d freeze, damn it!” he cried. “But if I had known that you were a member of the yellow press,” he said grandly, rising to his feet, “I wouldn’t have wasted a minute with you!”

“And the rain?”

“When it fell, it would freeze into hard little hob­ nails of ice-nine—and that would be the end of the world! And the end of the interview, too! Good-bye!”

Related Characters: John (speaker), Dr. Asa Breed (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Related Symbols: Ice-Nine
Page Number: 49-50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 51 Quotes

“I might as well tell you,” Angela said to me, “Dr. Breed told me I wasn’t supposed to co-operate with you. He said you weren’t interested in giving a fair picture of Father.” She showed me that she didn’t like me for that.

I placated her some by telling her that the book would probably never be done anyway, that I no longer had a clear idea of what it would or should mean.

“Well, if you ever do do the book, you better make Father a saint, because that’s what he was.”

Related Characters: Angela Hoenikker (speaker), Newt Hoenikker (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Dr. Asa Breed
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 110 Quotes

From what Frank had said before he slammed the door, I gathered that the Republic of San Lorenzo and the three Hoenikkers weren’t the only ones who had ice-nine. Apparently the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had it, too. The United States had obtained it through Angela’s husband, whose plant in Indianapolis was understand­ably surrounded by electrified fences and homicidal German shepherds. And Soviet Russia had come by it through Newt’s little Zinka, that winsome troll of Ukrainian ballet.

Related Characters: John (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Frank Hoenikker, Angela Hoenikker , Newt Hoenikker, Zinka, Harrison C. Conners
Related Symbols: Ice-Nine
Page Number: 244
Explanation and Analysis: