Lizett+Q2

I'm reading //Cat's Cradle// by Kurt Vonnegut. The reason I chose this book is because, last school-year, Otilio read and did a presentation on it, and it interested me.
 * What I'm Reading Now**

1. So far, I've read 15 chapters. What I can recall is that this a book about the day the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in the perspective of its inventors. The protagonist, Jonah, jumps from memory to memory as he tries to explain the process of writing his incomplete book, The Day the World Ended. What I like the most is the "religion" of Bokonon. Here's the exact text that caught my attention.
 * What I'm Thinking About**

"The first sentence in //The Books of Bokonon// is this: 'All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies.' My Bokononist warning is this: Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either. So it goes." (p. 4-5)

Religion is something that I have always caused me to have internal arguments. Growing up, my parents and grandparents raised me to believe in Catholicism. Now, as I've grown, I do not believe in religion. Science has proven things to be correct when the Bible contradicts them. Science does not judge one on so called "sin". I choose to think logically rather than superstitiously.

2. In my previous post, the part I was referring to was this:

"'The trouble with the world was,' she continued hesitatingly, 'that people were still superstitious instead of scientific. [Dr. Asa Breed] said if everybody would study science more, there wouldn't be all the trouble there was.'" (p.24)

Now, onto a different topic. I was curious about how the inventors of this atom bomb justified their work. I don't understand how someone could tell themselves that creating something that can destroy an entire city is justifiable. Dr. Hoenikker, one of the fathers of the A-bomb, didn't have to justify it. Here's the quote:

"After the things went off, after it was a sure things that American could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to [Dr. Hoenikker] and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what [Dr. Hoenikker] said? He said, 'What is sin?'" (p.17)

I guess it's not that hard to work on an incredibly destructive weapon when you have no sense of moral right and wrong. This book has a lot of underlying meaning on characters that lack a sense of moral. I have yet to come across someone who seems to have things somewhat together. Actually, there was the daughter of Dr. Hoenikker. She hasn't come into the plot just yet, and I don't know if she will. Religion is another big theme. I'm anxious to read more.

3. I just reread the selection I posted earlier.

"And do you know what Father said?" (p. 17)

I just realized that Newt refers to his father as God...I find this incredibly strange. I remember when Dr. Breed told Jonah that Dr. Hoenikker was an uncontrollable force of nature. I'm starting to think that Dr. Hoenikker is a symbol for God. He did create things that people thought were impossible. His logic and way of reasoning are completely unheard of. He makes things that are pure imagination and fantastical ideas come to life. That sounds like a god to me. I wonder if Dr. Hoenikker created other things that were kept secret. Curious.

4. ICE NINE!

"[Dr. Breed] raised his finger and winked at me. 'But suppose, young man, that one Marine had with him a tiny capsule containing a seed of //ice-nine//, a new way for the atoms of water to stack and lock, to freeze. If that Marine threw the seed into the nearest puddle . . . ?' 'They would freeze?' I guessed. [...] 'You //bet// they would!' [Dr. Breed] cried. 'And the United States Marines would rise from the swamp and march on!'" (p. 47-48)

If such a thing existed, I would cower in fear in my house that would be stocked with bottles of water. Image a grain of sand being able to turn a simple puddle solid as a desk. And all the surrounding puddles along with it, and the streams connected to the puddles, and the lakes connected to those streams, and the rivers, and the oceans. Imagine a substance as small as a grain of sand being able to freeze, crystallize, all the water on Earth. A frightening concept even in the book.

5. I got deeply interested in the book this Friday and read the entire thing that day. So, many things happen. I found out the main characters full name. Jonah Hoosier. Jonah takes a trip to an island called San Lorenzo and there he has his first experience with ice-nine. I don't want to give away all that happens, but this results in the almost complete inhalation of the human race. Bokonon, the holy man of the island, and Jonah have a short conversation at the end of the book. Jonah wants a magnificent way to die on top of Mt. McCabe. Bokonon gives it to him. This book is about destiny. Zah-mah-ki-bo. Whether I believe in it or not, I still don't know. The religion of Bokononism makes complete sense.

"Live by the foma* that make you brave and kind and happy." *Harmless untruths

Religion is useful in the way that it gives you hope. And I also see no harm in believing in harmless lies. This religion of Bokonon is what keeps the poor, starving people of San Lorenzo happy. Bokononism is outlawed along with Bokonon in this country. Anyone caught practicing this religion and/or helping Bokonon would be hung by a hook until death. Outlawing Bokonon and his religion was premeditated. It makes sense. People will feel like they are martyrs if they die on the hook for it. It gives the people a sense of honor and a higher reason for dying.

I'm reading //Siddhartha// by Hermann Hesse. My friend, Nathatly Reyna, is reading it. She has read certain parts of the book to me, and I found it enlightening. I've decided to read it for myself.
 * What I'm Reading Now**

6. Books about journeys have always related to me in someway. I would imagine that they relate to every adolescent. This is in fact the point in our lives when we start to question "what will I become?" Siddhartha, who is based off of [|Gautama Buddha], decides to leave him home in search of truth, of the complete un-I. Perhaps he's searching for selflessness or a complete sense of when soul leaves body and the worries of the world are lifted from the shoulders. Speaking from myself and not other teenagers, I've found myself clinging to this book for some hope of guidance. Freedom from the burdens of the world is something that most people want to accomplish by the time they reach the end of their lives. So far, what I've read makes me want to cleanse myself from everything around me and go off into the woods to meditate.
 * What I'm Thinking About**

7.