Outside Reading: Cat's Cradle #2

     So far in Cat's Cradle (pages 72-144) many new things have happened. One of the main things that I took notice of, however, was that Kurt Vonnegut once again chose to introduce a fictional representation of society through his explanation of the Republic of San Lorenzo. This country is very small, and very different from other societies in ways such as government, law, and ethnicity. Apparently, and I'm still not quite sure if this is true, the penalty for all crime in the city is a hook through your stomach, which keeps everyone in order. Even the people seem surreal, as one woman named Mona Aamons Monzano, who is supposedly one of the most beautiful women on earth, is described as having the dark skin of an African while having "platinum" blonde hair. Given how obscure this new place is, I think that it connects strongly with Postmodernism, as it gives much interpretation of the society and its relationship to the rest of the world up to the reader. I find that Vonnegut always leaves some gaps in his explanation of these fictional representations in order to leave some interpretation up to the reader, and I enjoy this freedom as I am reading greatly.
     I noticed a connection to Romanticism as well in the effort Vonnegut puts into describing the island of San Lorenzo. He paints a very clear picture of the island being marshy, uneven, unattractive, save how the entire island supposedly makes a near perfect rectangle. He gives similar detail in his description of Franklin Hoenikker's model city that the narrator finds in Jack's Hobby Shop. This also gives an artistic air to Frank Hoenikker, which is a somewhat Romantic quality.
     This reading focused much more on America as a whole than the last, which helps the reading connect to my American Literature definition. When the narrator (presumably Vonnegut himself, though I could be wrong) talks with the Minton couple on the plain ride to San Lorenzo, the Mintons discuss how they had written a letter from Pakistan insulting the way America interacts with other countries. They criticize America by saying that instead of forcing other countries to love the United States, the they should just learn to accept other countries' disapproval. Though I think this makes a stronger connection with the theme of the story and the overall message Vonnegut is trying to convey about the atomic bomb and American morality, I saw it as important mainly in the way it showed how many Americans think, relates to the American identity portion of my definition.
     I should note that Vonnegut also discussed the origins of Bokonon and Bokononism briefly as he was reading a sort of San Lorenzo encyclopedia. Bokonon turned out to be a black person, which I thought was interesting considering that the book was written around the time of the Civil Rights Movement.
     I hope to read more about Bokononism later on in the book, because much of this fictional religion is still unknown where I am now.