On the surface, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are very different works of literature, each with their own creative style and plot. However, when the texts are examined with a discerning eye, one can notice multiple underlying thematic currents such as the fate of war, time and suffering hidden in plain sight. In Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five, we very often find strong anti-war sentiments which show how "war is deleterious to the human condition". (Marvin) Vonnegut shows how war only causes unnecessary suffering and destroys the human body through countless ironic deaths. including that of Edgar Derby, who was shot dead for stealing a teapot shortly after the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in the Dresden bombings. Another example of ironic death is when Billy Pilgrim and Ronald Weary join the two infantry scouts. Ironically, Pilgrim and Weary, who lack significant military training, are not killed and the highly trained scouts are. Perhaps the greatest example of irony in Slaughterhouse Five is when the bird remarks "poop-tee-weet", after the firebombings. It's an absurd thing to say after such a massacre, but critics say it shows that war and killings are absurd. (Marvin) Perhaps as palpable as the heavy physical toll the war took on Billy was the way it caused delusion and instability. for him. After the war, Billy is relegated to a psychiatric hospital due to his reactionary mental state. Most likely, the cause of this madness is all the deaths he witnesses during the war. (Marvin) Unable to cope with all the suffering he witnesses, Billy slips into a very unstable state. Oddly, he discovers the Tralfamadorians, who, coincidentally, have beliefs that...... middle of paper ...... ing. He is not frozen in time and jumps randomly from one moment in his life to another. He is at one point kidnapped by the Tranamlfadorans who can see into the 4th dimension and believe that you cannot control your life. Vonnegut, Kurt. The cat's cradle. New York: Dell Publishing, 1998. Print. Felix Honneker is the inventor of the atomic bomb. He also created the new ice that freezes water at room temperature. A journalist who follows the fictional Bokonon religion travels to San Lorenzo to investigate Ice nine. A dictator named Papa Morenzo rules with an iron fist. He then discovers that he has incurable cancer and commits suicide with new ice cream. His coffin falls into the ocean and all the water on earth freezes. Most people die. He escapes to a cave with Mona and writes his memoirs, which is the book itself. Then meet Bokinon and collect Bokonon's last papers.