namedujour
New Member
I was just thinking about Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. In the book, Vonnegut invents a religion and defines it. Part of the religion involves the "karass," which is a group of two or more people who are assigned to one another for the purpose of performing some sort of life task. Oftentimes these people never meet, and have no idea they belong to the same karass, or that they are unconsciously and unknowingly assisting one another in achieving a unified goal.
A "false karass" is an artificial group whose members believe they are unified and of one mind, when in fact they are not. An example of a false karass is a political party, a religion, a race or nationality, or a club. Vonnegut demonstrated the false karass with a character from Indiana who felt as if everyone from Indiana was part of her "group."
So it's a cute fake religion and a good book, but oddly for the rest of my life I've been watching people and thinking, "false karass." I know one woman who's very fervently proud of her nationality, and thinks everyone of the same nationality is somehow "with" her, whereas people of other nationalities are not. Aha! I thought to myself. False karass! And this is years and years after I read Cat's Cradle.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I know all good literature is supposed to permanently change you and the way you think, but I'm curious about other people's specific examples.
A "false karass" is an artificial group whose members believe they are unified and of one mind, when in fact they are not. An example of a false karass is a political party, a religion, a race or nationality, or a club. Vonnegut demonstrated the false karass with a character from Indiana who felt as if everyone from Indiana was part of her "group."
So it's a cute fake religion and a good book, but oddly for the rest of my life I've been watching people and thinking, "false karass." I know one woman who's very fervently proud of her nationality, and thinks everyone of the same nationality is somehow "with" her, whereas people of other nationalities are not. Aha! I thought to myself. False karass! And this is years and years after I read Cat's Cradle.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I know all good literature is supposed to permanently change you and the way you think, but I'm curious about other people's specific examples.