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Topic: San Lorenzo (Vonnegut)


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  San Lorenzo Information
San Lorenzo is Italian and Spanish for Saint Lawrence.
San Lorenzo, Loreto, capital of the Datem del Marañón Province in the Loreto Region
San Lorenzo (Vonnegut), a Caribbean island nation in the novel Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
www.bookrags.com /wiki/San_Lorenzo   (255 words)

  
  San Lorenzo (Vonnegut) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Lorenzo is a tiny, rocky island nation located in the Caribbean Sea, positioned in the relative vicinity of Puerto Rico.
The infrastructure of San Lorenzo is described as being dilapidated, consisting of worn buildings, dirt roads, an impoverished populace, and having only one automobile taxi running in the entire country.
San Lorenzo seems satirically based on Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, and other nations which have been nicknamed banana republics due to their histories of European imperialism, colonial relationships with fruit and sugar corporations, and frequent political, military interference and aid from the United States.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/San_Lorenzo_(Vonnegut)   (365 words)

  
 San Lorenzo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Lorenzo is Italian and Spanish for Saint Lawrence.
San Lorenzo, Loreto, capital of the Datem del Marañón Province in the Loreto Region
San Lorenzo (Vonnegut), a Caribbean island nation in the novel Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/San_Lorenzo   (311 words)

  
 Vonnegut Essays
Vonnegut's brand of satire serves as a sort of syrup of ipecac on human folly, and if we are "to make a better world" as he would have it, we should understand how truly virulent human enterprise can be.
Vonnegut uses this satire to distinguish the characteristics of these so-called groups, and to show us, the reader, that in order to make this world a better place to live we need to approach things with an open mind and realize that we are not the only ones on this earth.
Vonnegut seems to be demonstrating that although nuclear weapons are well cared for by the super powers, the technology is available to people who may not be so careful with it.
www.mscd.edu /~english/3230/vonnegutF99.htm   (8107 words)

  
 'Understanding Religion Through Cat's Cradle' by Liana Price
Vonnegut's mother committed suicide when he was twenty two years old and in many of his novels the character of the mother is dead.
Vonnegut now shows the reader his true insights into why society craves religion so vehemently: "Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies" (118).
Vonnegut describes him as confronting the world with "a certain barn-yard clownishness" but he also points out that he wasn't a fool and that many things he said about "undisciplined mankind were not only funny but true" (68).
www.geocities.com /Hollywood/4953/kv_religion.html   (2788 words)

  
 San Lorenzo: Encyclopedia topic   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
San Lorenzo, Paraguay, is a satellite city at the east of Asunción (Asunción: The capital and chief port of Paraguay).
San Lorenzo, Italy (pop: 3,393), is a commune in Calabria (Calabria: A region of southern Italy (forming the toe of the Italian `boot')).
San Lorenzo, California (San Lorenzo, California: more facts about this subject), is a town located in Alameda County, California (Alameda County, California: more facts about this subject), USA (USA: The army of the United States of America; organizes and trains soldiers for land warfare).
www.absoluteastronomy.com /reference/san_lorenzo   (491 words)

  
 Bokononism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vonnegut created various concepts, and intentionally 'silly' words to describe them, in order to outline the Bokonist faith as a background for his story.
It is a bokonist ritual that is taboo and forbidden on the island of San Lorenzo, referred to as "footplay".
The people of San Lorenzo live under a poverty-stricken Third World dictatorship, but thanks to the comforting untruths of Bokonon's foma they are better equipped to face reality (following Vonnegut's early theories about the true usefulness of religion).
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Bokononism   (418 words)

  
 San Lorenzo (Vonnegut): Encyclopedia topic   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
The Republic of San Lorenzo is a fictional country (fictional country: a fictional country is a country that is made up, and does not exist in real life....
The infrastructure of San Lorenzo is described as being dilapidated, consisting of worn buildings, dirt roads, an impoverished populace, and having only one automobile taxi (taxi: A car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money) running in the entire country.
San Lorenzo also has its own native religion, Bokononism (Bokononism: bokononism is the fictional religion practiced by many of the characters in kurt vonneguts...
www.absoluteastronomy.com /reference/san_lorenzo_vonnegut   (423 words)

  
 Vonnegut Essays
Vonnegut's brand of satire serves as a sort of syrup of ipecac on human folly, and if we are "to make a better world" as he would have it, we should understand how truly virulent human enterprise can be.
Vonnegut uses this satire to distinguish the characteristics of these so-called groups, and to show us, the reader, that in order to make this world a better place to live we need to approach things with an open mind and realize that we are not the only ones on this earth.
Vonnegut seems to be demonstrating that although nuclear weapons are well cared for by the super powers, the technology is available to people who may not be so careful with it.
clem.mscd.edu /~english/3230/vonnegutF99.htm   (8107 words)

  
 Engels | Vonnegut, Kurt | Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut's two older siblings, Alice and Bernard, attended private school, but the Depression's impact on the family's fortunes forced Vonnegut to attend Shortridge, a public high school.
Vonnegut's experiences as a soldier had a profound impact on his writing and philosophy.
Vonnegut gained a reputation as a science fiction writer; he was not pleased with the title because science fiction occupied a low status in the world of literature.
www.collegenet.nl /studiemateriaal/verslagen.php?verslag_id=9269&site=   (1756 words)

  
 Kurt Vonnegut   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden on February 13, 1945 when the city, a cultural center of no military value, was destroyed by Allied incendiary bombs, and in Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut, who was born on Armistice Day 1922, focuses on the particularly human madness of war.
Vonnegut's outrage over Dresden was as much a result of the lack of attention given to this event as it was to the bloodshed, but there are no villains in Vonnegut's novels, and he fully recognizes the ambiguous connection between agent and victim.
Vonnegut openly addresses himself in the role of creator "on a par with the Creator of the Universe," and with a Prospero-like gesture releases the characters from his earlier fiction.
lfa.atu.edu /Brucker/Vonnegut.html   (3125 words)

  
 Critical Analysis
Vonnegut continued saying,” Any young scientist, when asked by the military to create a terror weapon...is bound to suspect he may be committing a modern crime (Mustazza, 80)." So one may also be considered just in saying Hoenniker is guilty.
Vonnegut describes Hoenikker as the, "father of a bomb, father of three children, father of ice-nine." Vonnegut's words lead us to believe he is an innocent creator of things that in themselves have turned out for the worse.
Vonnegut satirizes the blind devotion numerous persons feel towards the word of God by comparing it to the community of San Lorenzo and their commitment to Bokonon.
www-scf.usc.edu /~jhein/criticalanalysis.htm   (2529 words)

  
 College Papers-Cat's Cradle   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
San Lorenzo is a small island somewhere in the Caribbean.
The people in San Lorenzo are doomed to failure no matter what leader they have, and they have always been this way.
San Lorenzo, in the novel, is pictured as one of the most unsuccessful and useless places on earth.
www.college-papers.org /free_essays/book-rep/cats-cradlemnn.html   (855 words)

  
 Black Humour and Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut attacks the idea that truth is innately desirable and good - an idea which is all pervasive in our culture, particularly within the two major competing explanitive philosophies of religion and science.
Vonnegut is in fact "pushing quite hard for a recognition of the deeply ambiguous creative/destructive aspects of the innate human instinct to play," with the associated connotations that "we cannot know how our games will end"18.
As the book continues, the almost inescapable conclusion is that in Vonnegut's world we must be aware of the lie and truths we are choosing to accept, that "the primary criterion for choosing a philosophy of life is pragmatic: not whether or not it is 'true,' but whether or not it works"32.
www.geocities.com /Area51/Hollow/2405/vonnegut.html   (3130 words)

  
 The Route To Active Lifestyle - Cat's Cradle   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Vonnegut uses Bokononism as a device to communicate his social commentary on science, religion, and human stupidity.
San Lorenzo is the main setting of the story and is home to religious leader, Bokonon.
Vonnegut makes a convincing argument for pacifism by making fun of the consequences of war and destruction.
www.activeroute.com /index.php/trade/productinfo/ASIN/038533348X   (838 words)

  
 The Futility of Life in Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut’s reputation seems to be primarily as an absurd science-fiction writer; someone who takes the clichéd plots of his contemporaries and lavishes them with biting humor and original thought.
Vonnegut himself said that his time as a reporter contributed heavily to his writing style, a style mostly free of detail and descriptions ("Kurt Vonnegut").
Through Hoenikker, Vonnegut seems to be critiquing the scientific rationale of his time, which was to develop new technologies and ideas, no matter what their consequences might be.
www.uni.uiuc.edu /~slinder/model.htm   (3048 words)

  
 The Aroostook Review, Art & Photograpy, Adriana DeCastro   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Vonnegut, Kennard claims, is not even a true satirist; rather, “he has the look of the satirist, but has no answer to give us” (2).
Vonnegut’s message is ultimately hopeful in Cat’s Cradle: thoughtfulness about how our actions impact others and constant questioning and reevaluation of the world around us and its institutions will perhaps lead to more productive and ethical scientific practices, as well as improve the real effectiveness of religion and our ability to truly love one another.
Vonnegut is an idealist, pointing out to us our need to change by moving away from blind acceptance of the misery of the world around us to recognition that we have some control over our world.
aroostookreview.umfk.maine.edu /Nonfiction/bender.htm   (3952 words)

  
 Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Cat's Cradle at Epinions.com   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Vonnegut writes about the mechanism for world destruction, calling it Ice 9, perhaps in reference to the Cold War and the potential for planetary annihilation.
Vonnegut cuts right into the foundation of religious tenets by creating his own fictional religion called Bokononism, equipped with its own philosophies and jargon such as duprass, a link between two people so strong that when one dies, the other dies shortly after.
The San Lorenzo government strategically outlaws Bokononism, realizing that the two establishments are meaningless without the other, to engender deeper devotion within the population.
www.epinions.com /content_23616654980   (980 words)

  
 [No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Vonnegut made a commentary in this book on the tendency of humans to be warlike, belligerent, and shortsighted.
An example of the irony in the story, is the government of San Lorenzo, a small island nation somewhere in the Caribbean.
San Lorenzo has been throughout history, one of the most unsuccessful and useless place on earth.
ripley.wo.sbc.edu /departmental/netserv/sketchbook/sidestreet/papers/cats_cradle.html   (797 words)

  
 Gallileus - Cats Cradle   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is by far one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.
His writing this book leads him to his destiny as he travels to the laboratory where the bomb was created and then to San Lorenzo where he becomes president.
Vonnegut makes this task easy, with his tying of a fictional religion, Bokononism, with the terrible catastrophe caused by science going too far with the creation of ice-nine, which eventually brings about the end of the world.
www.gallileus.info /search/amazon_detail_ca?asin=0889020264   (1368 words)

  
 Kurt Vonnegut novel: Cat's Cradle   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
After meeting with Newt, destiny leads our protagonist to the impoverished island republic of San Lorenzo, where among other adventures, he finds religion, falls in love, and becomes president.
Vonnegut invents for the inhabitants of San Lorenzo a brand new religion based completely and admittedly on "foma", or lies.
Other Vonnegut ironies pervade the book and are too elaborate to go into.
spiritdimension.com /book-store/kurt-vonnegut-novel-cat-cradle.htm   (325 words)

  
 Amazon.com: Cat's Cradle: Books: Kurt Vonnegut   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
Vonnegut invents for the inhabitants of San Lorenzo a brand new religion based completely and admittedly on "foma", or lies.
Bokononism as a new religion defined by Vonnegut, created in the fictional island of San Lorenzo, one of the poorest countries in the world that was yield by each government to the next without any resistance during last several centuries.
After reading several Vonnegut novels and a book of essays, I think I can say with some degree of certainty that his life's philosophy was pretty much, "we would all be better off if we had never evolved from the primordial muck in the first place.
www.amazon.com /Cats-Cradle-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/038533348X   (1891 words)

  
 Exclusive Books
Vonnegut's personal autobiography overlaps with fictional invention and Vonnegut's leading character, Billy Pilgrim, is largely based on his own experiences.
The themes that Vonnegut iterates and reiterates are overwhelmingly clear: he presents a vivid invective against the atrocities of war.
Vonnegut is really saying that life is a mystery that, when finally unravelled, will astonish and amaze you.
www.exclusivebooks.com /features/authors/kvonnegut.php   (1006 words)

  
 ACHUKASTORE - Cat's Cradle - Book
One of Vonnegut's major works, this is an apocalyptic tale of the planet's ultimate fate, featuring a cast of unlikely heroes.
Cat's Cradle travels from the home turf of Vonnegut's imagination, Ilium, N.Y. to a Caribbean banana republic where an illicit religion called Bokononism is practiced, as a sense of doom (in the form of ice-nine) overtakes mankind.
He spins a tale about a writer named Jonah (John to be exact)who becomes fascinated with the Hoenikker family: the children of a late scientist who co-discovered the first atomic bomb and an even more lethal substance called ice-nine, which could freeze all of the rivers and streams.
www.achuka.co.uk /amstore/info.php?asin=038533348X   (1230 words)

  
 Cat's Cradle
This is the first Vonnegut I've read (I took a chance after reading so much praise for it) and it definitely won't be the last.
Kurt Vonnegut has managed to write a powerful and memorable novel in a short, snappy style: this book has everything that makes a compelling, challenging read.
Vonnegut lets you get a feel for the characters without going into lengthy descriptions, he manages to make sharp, subtle criticisms of religion, human nature and society without rambling or whining, his plot is exciting yet not unrealistic, he creates a hellish world that plays on everyone's fear of obliteration in precious few words.
www.textbooksrus.com /search/BookDetail/?kbid=1010&isbn=038533348X   (969 words)

  
 IGN Boards - No damn cat, no bleemin' cradle!
In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut expresses his own opinion on this matter poignantly and frankly, saying, “We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are sane” and later reiterates his point by stressing “the importance of ideas as causes and cures for disease”.
On the other hand, Vonnegut uses the character Dr. Felix Hoenikker, who seems to be absolutely devoid of emotion or a conscience, to represent science and the quest for pure scientific ‘truth’.
Vonnegut thus implies that scientific reason cannot be used to justify religion and religious reason cannot be used to justify science.
boards.ign.com /Message.aspx?topic=57224371   (877 words)

  
 Book Reviews
Regarded by many critics as the book that put Vonnegut on the map, it tells the tale of a man and the obserdity of religion.
Vonnegut makes up his own religion (if L Ron Hubbard can do it) and his own vocabulary to illustrate that the world is the way it is because of the way we persive it and if you were to alter your perception maybe you might change the world.
This book is a must for any Vonnegut fan and an easy, insightful, mesmurizing, thrill ride that will make you laugh and cry at its truth and at its absurdity.
shrike.depaul.edu /~earrowoo/bookhome_files/bookreviews.html   (1101 words)

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