Cat's Cradle

The novel, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, has two main focuses; science and religion. The beginning of the novel takes place in a town called Ilium, which is the hometown of the famous scientist, Dr. Hoenikker. Dr. Hoenikker is best known for his contribution to the atom bomb and his creation of ice-nine. Both discoveries, however admired, provide lethal and dyer consequences to society.
Furthermore, the setting later takes place on the island of San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo has a thick religious atmosphere. The natives are said to be very pious Christians, yet the lie is uncovered and it is found that they are all Bokonists. Each native lies about their religion and rub feet together while backs are turned to express their religion. Yet, religion like science, can be lethal to society as well.

"The mountebank told them that God was surely trying to kill them, possible because He was through with them, and that they should have the good manners to die. This, as you can see, they did" (182).
Religion is dangerously powerful, to the extent the natives will follow any guidance. Bokono, the father of the Bokonist religion and the God like figure in society, had a whole island of followers. The religion was based upon lies. When the ice-nine devastated the Earth, the islanders looked to Bokono for guidance. Bokono lied and spoke for God when he stated that "He was through with them" and was trying to kill them. Bokono told the natives to kill themselves. Since the natives were so faithful to their religion, they committed suicide by glazing their lips with ice-nine with out resistance. Religion is is tremendously powerful, enough to eliminate followers in order to be faithful.

I enjoyed reading this novel. It definitely kept my interest, and was perfect in it's amount of detail. The explanation of everything was very well explained and easy to follow. I liked how Kurt Vonnegut combined science with religion and by mixing them together, they destroyed society. I also enjoyed how he created something so simple to eliminate the entire world. Ice-nine is so powerful for it's size. Ultimately, the elimination of the human race through science and religion just won me over for that book. It was so creative and just brilliant how it all came together and caused the most lethal of all destruction. 

The Handmaid's Tale

The satirical novel, "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, focused on the two extremes of religion and feminism. The society attempted to do both right by God and right by women. The pious characters in this dystopian society were taught that women were not to be viewed or treated as objects. Items like pornography, prostitutes, and vanity that were degrading to God and women were eliminated. Sex was denounced as sin and to be performed only for reproduction and never for pleasure. Mirrors, cosmetics, and provocative clothing were taken away so that all women were equal in appearance. This novel took both religion and feminism to such extremes that the society was miserable and barely functional. Female characters were contemplating suicide and male characters altered the rules for their satisfaction.

"What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing" (p 94). This quote describes how unpleasurable sex has become and how women are still being treated as objects. In the chapter where the quote is taken from, the two characters are involved in the Ceremony, in which the Commander must fertilize the Handmaid. Neither one of them want to perform this task, in fact both of them want it to be over as soon as possible. It is viewed as a job both of them must partake in for reproduction. Sex is no longer desirable but is now an unwanted duty.
In the quote, Offred says "the lower part of my body." She is detaching that part of her body from herself. By doing so, implies that her lower half is an object used for fertilization. Despite feministic attempts to obliterate the view of women as objects, women are still objects.

I did not enjoy reading "The Handmaid's Tale." This novel described every event in so much detail, that it was difficult to get through the chapters. The subject of the novel too, was controversial. Being a woman, I resented the treatment and little choice that women had. I also objected to how the men in the society had all the control and had the ability to twist the rules and create a "club" for their satisfaction. This novel was just awful, but I do applaud Margaret Atwood for her imagination to dream this dystopian society up. To push two major opinions like religion and feminism to such extremes and let it erupt onto the pages of her novel was just brilliant.