nderstand a religion founded on truthful lies (Houghton N.P.). Vonnegut then focuses on Hoenikker, the atom bomb creator, he lives with in science and in order to rationalize his rejection of his family he simply states that “ science [is] going to discover the basic secret of life someday” (Vonnegut 30). Untruths are necessary because they work and help people to accept their misfortunes with equanimity (Vonnegut Web N.p.). Finally, Vonnegut depicts what it is like when people are left without the lies and cliches to protect them and what happens when they are forced to face what is true. Once people are exempt from all the lies they live within they become mortal (Houghton N.P.). This realization causes people to cry out "“make me young, make me young” (Vonnegut 191). They long for the original illusionary surroundings, for the “fruit of knowledge” to be taken back (190). People do not want to have their lies taken from them; it makes them vulnerable and forces them to deal with the truth that they have tried to ignore for so long. People then try to act as though they are “past [it all] now,” that they can handle the truth, but really they are aching inside. Eventually the cycle of lies continues. Ultimately Vonnegut proves that ignorance is bliss. When Diller states that “ reality is too painful,” he is correct. People, without realizing it, rationalize their actions in order to avoid the torture of reality. In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut shows the avoidance of reality with defense mechanisms, when in Cat’s Cradle he proves that those human tendencies will eventually lead to a warped sense of reality. People really do need to develop reasons to shun reality in order to live happily....
