1960s American Culture plays more of an underlying role in Cat’s Cradle. The opening of the Cat’s Cradle talks about the book that John is writing called “The Day the World Ended” which is about the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. Much of what is written throughout the story talks about morals and power and during this time period there was quite a bit of tension among the world superpowers with the ongoing Cold War, Cuban Missle Crisis, and Vietnam War. Vonnegut models each of the characters in a rather humorous way or a stereotypical way like the men having more character development and are more relevant than the women. Each of the characters plays on different criticisms of human beings and failings.
On the other hand, each of the women’s roles is very stereotypical and are much less major than that of the men’s. This matches 1960s American Culture perfectly as men had much more important roles as women were still fighting for the equal respect that they deserve. One example of this is Dr. Breed’s secretary being female and Sandra’s role being a prostitute. There are also criticisms of war which also makes sense as there were many anti-war protests against the Vietnam War during this time period.
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