Cat's Cradle

John writes a humble, faith-filled speech. He considers inviting Bokonon to join the government, starting a utopian millennium of sorts, but realizes that, even combined, he and Bokonon lack the resources to give the people true prosperity, so he decides to maintain the official opposition to Bokonon.

John is joined on the top battlement of the castle by the Mintons, the Crosbys, both Castles, Newt, Angela, Frank, Mona, and various officials and soldiers for a buffet. Offshore, model figures of various dictators, such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, are poised to be shot by San Lorenzo’s air force, consisting of six planes.

John makes small talk with the guests. Philip says that he is thinking of starting a worldwide writers’ strike. Julian suggests that depriving people of literature could negatively affect their hearts and nervous systems.

When Mona pays him little attention, John wonders whether she demonstrates “the highest form of female spirituality” or is “anesthetized, frigid” (233). He talks to Philip, who mocks Lowe, but John feels tempted by Lowe’s intention to industrialize San Lorenzo. The Crosbys express their appreciation for science, including the medicine that extended their lives.

When a bit of albatross makes John feel ill, he goes inside. He runs into Dr. von Koenigswald, who tells him that Papa Monzano opened a vial he had around his neck just before he died, and his body is now frozen solid. Unknown to John or the doctor, the vial contained ice-nine.

Dr. von Koenigswald reveals Papa Monzano’s last words: “Now I will destroy the whole world” (238), a phrase common to Bokononists who die by suicide. After licking a fragment of ice-nine, Dr. von Koenigswald freezes and dies.

Realizing that Frank gave ice-nine to Papa Monzano, John summons Frank, Angela, and Newt to Papa Monzano’s room and emphasizes the danger of the situation. Newt vomits.

Newt reveals that, on the day their father died, a dog died of ice-nine. He infers that Frank used his fragment of ice-nine to get his job in San Lorenzo.

Frank proposes a plan for cleaning up; they will melt the shards of ice-nine on a hot plate and construct a funeral pyre for the bodies. Angela demands to know how Frank could give Papa Monzano the substance; Frank implies he did it to secure his job.

From Frank and Angela, John learns that the United States has access to ice-nine via Angela’s husband while the Soviet Union has access thanks to Zinka, who stole ice-nine from Newt. Echoing an excerpt from The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon, John despairs for the future of humanity.

Frank returns with tools to melt the ice-nine back into regular water. As they clean, Frank, Newt, and Angela tell John what happened on the day their father died, a Christmas Eve. For much of the day, Dr. Hoenikker teased them about and played with ice-nine. He died unexpectedly while taking a rest, leaving a pan filled with ice-nine in the kitchen.

Newt and Frank returned with a dog they found on the beach. When Newt held out a dishrag infected with ice-nine to the dog, it froze and died. Newt then discovered his father was also dead.

After warming the ice-nine-frozen dog in the oven, Frank, Newt, and Angela each claimed a fragment of ice-nine.

Together with John, they melt all the ice-nine in Papa Monzano’s room, except for the bodies, which they plan to cremate later.

John, Angela, Frank, and Newt return to the battlement, where the ceremony to honor the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy begins with a speech by Horlick. After giving his prepared remarks, he speaks more sincerely, suggesting that the best way to honor those who died in war is not with military displays but rather by combating human stupidity. Tossing a wreath into the sea, he recites a poem by Edgar Lee Masters about a soldier who regrets dying for his country.

As the planes approach to shoot the figures of dictators, one of them trails smoke. Feeling nauseated, John steps away from the parapet. The smoking plane crashes into the bottom of the castle, which cracks, sending several guests, including the Mintons, falling to their deaths in the sea below.

John backs away from the edge as he watches parts of the unstable castle loosen and fall. Papa Monzano’s body falls into the sea, turning the entire sea into ice-nine.

As a side effect of the ocean’s transformation, tornadoes appear. John follows Mona into the oubliette of Papa Monzano’s waiting room, which turns out to be a well-furnished bomb shelter. John shares a drink with Mona.

John passes his time reading The Books of Bokonon, including an account of the creation that ends with God assigning a newly created man to think up a purpose for existence.

Though she is not interested, John either convinces or coerces Mona to have sex. She points out that it is not a good time to have a baby.

On the fourth day, while biking to run the ventilation system, John discusses what science reveals about breathing; Mona thanks him. Looking outside, John notices that the still-frequent tornadoes no longer touch the ground.

Three days later, he and Mona leave the oubliette and find no signs of life, apart from a newly written Bokononist calypso on the palace gate, which suggests God will simply “smile and nod” to those who scold him (270).

Seeing no dead bodies, John wonders where everyone is. He follows Mona up the side of Mount McCabe. In the large crater on top of the mountain, he finds thousands of corpses who died by suicide in an organized fashion, their fingers to their lips, where they administered fragments of ice-nine. A note written by Bokonon explains that the people captured him and asked him what to do. He said that God was attempting to kill them, so they should just accept their fate.

Mona is amused and laughs at the simplicity of Bokonon’s advice as well as the fact that he did not take any ice-nine himself since he never takes his own advice. Walking into the crater, Mona touches ice-nine to her lips; she dies.

John cries and wanders away. He runs into the Crosbys and Newt, who are in the taxi.

John learns that Frank, Newt, and the Crosbys survived in the dungeon of the castle for a few days, and then moved to Frank’s house, where they live in relative comfort.

Over the next six months, the group survives by eating canned food and thawing frozen plants and animals as needed. John writes the manuscript that will become Cat’s Cradle while Lowe takes charge of cooking, and Hazel sews an American flag. Frank sees to scientific needs, including attempts to contact others, and Newt paints.

John and Hazel discuss the things they regret not doing before the water turned into ice-nine.

John tries to come up with an excuse to refuse Hazel’s suggestion that he place the American flag on top of Mount McCabe.

Frank studies ants, which are the only insects to survive the onset of ice-nine due to their social cooperation. John is reminded of a passage in The Books of Bokonon about a man who learned something but was “no wiser than before” (281).

John drives Newt to Bolivar to look for more paint. On the way, they reflect that their sex drives have faded since ice-nine devastated the world, perhaps due to hopelessness. Newt contrasts his recollection of attending a school for “grotesque children” with Bokonon’s encouraging commentary about little people.

Feeling depressed, John recalls Bokonon’s commentary about utopias. He also recalls the deaths of Julian and Philip, who died on their way to the House of Hope and Mercy in the Jungle during the storms, and Angela, who was infected with ice-nine when she put her clarinet to her mouth.

John states his desire to carry a symbol to the top of Mount McCabe. Suddenly, he spots Bokonon sitting by the road.

Bokonon shows John the final sentence of The Books of Bokonon, which suggests that, if he were younger, Bokonon would write a “history of human stupidity” (287), carry it to the top of Mount McCabe, and take some ice-nine while thumbing his nose at God. The novel ends abruptly, implying that John took his advice.