Felix, a Man of Reason

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” (pg. 8). Postmodernism for Beginners text conveys this sense that the “Age of Reason” has long ago prevailed and now the people have begun to look towards more relaxed notions, or you could say less scientific based facts. There has been a transfer of knowledge from the more scientific based ideals to ones such as narratives. Within the novel Cat’s Cradle, the readers begin to see the development of Felix, one of the main creators of the atom bomb. As we, the readers, begin to see the development of Felix, we get a sense that he is totally and completely against what one may consider non- scientific facts. A relation that Postmodernism might convey as “non-scientific” would be narrative, and how they serve a higher purpose to enlighten people and provide a better understanding. Felix, you could say would be most likely to object to this sort of “nonsense” information.
So, when one begins to read the first seven chapters of this book it comes off as sort of ironic. Felix, this person who still believes in the ideals and viewpoints of the “Age of reason”, who would most likely object to any sort of use of narratives to explain anyone or anything’s behavior is solely characterized by one very large metanarrative. Jonah/John or whatever you would like to call him relies on people’s local narratives to contribute to this gigantic metanarrative of Felix’s life in relation to the “humanitarian” side of the bomb. I mean, just look at his letters back and forth between the youngest son Newt and Jonah/John. They’re one narrative after another. And of course, Felix is characterized differently each time the narrator hears a narrative about him. In the viewpoint of Newt, we sense that Felix is a crazy insane man. For example, little Newt says in his letter to Jonah/ John,”… my father was the ugliest thing I had ever seen I still dream about it all the time” (pg. 12). But then on the other hand, later outside of the seven chapters; we see Felix idolized by Dr. Breed. These two contradicting views of Felix reveal the instability of non-scientific evidence. Wait, back track, how can it even be called “evidence”? It can’t, therefore, we begin to see why Felix has remained true to the “Age of Reason” thinking. Poor Felix, he is characterized by the one thing true scientists dislike.

Well, now that I have probably confused about half of you who are reading this, I’m going to stop. I know this is probably really hard to follow, but I tried to make my ideas at least a little understandable.