51-77, (Thomas)

Main events are
(1) background info and history of San Lorenzo
(2) sudden death of Papa(Monazo)
(4)Assigning Frank as next president of San Lorenzo
(3) painting Cat's Cradle
In these chapters there are only few events happening. Basically in these chapters they talk about San Lorenzo. Background information and the history of San Lorenzo.

In the plane to San Lorenzo, John(narrator) met Angela and Newt. They were heading to San Lorenzo for celebrating Frank's engagement to Mona. when her father died, she was adopted to Monzano in order to boost Monzano's popularity.

As the book of Phillip said, San Lorenzo was ruled by many nations. And nations were trying to take advantage from San Lorenzo.

McCabe and Johnson dreamed of making San Lorenzo Utopia.(127) So they stepped out and declared themselves in charge of San Lorenzo. And to this end Mccabe overhauled the economy and the laws.

When the plane was landed, they met Frank, Mona, and Papa(Monazo). While they were talking, Papa suddenly fell and felt ill. While he was suffering, Papa assigned Frank to be a next president of San Lorenzo.

And Frank was drawing a Cat's Cradle, which will be explained in next chapters.

Reading Summary: 78-End (Tim)

This reading starts out with a true description of the beginning of Bokononism. We find out that what we previously thought was a deadly religion is one that everyone follows. People are followers of Bokononism because of the extreme economic and political problems in San Lorenzo we are told. One very interesting poem that appears in the book is a poem that Bokonon said describing the founding of his religion. The poem goes like this,




"So I said good-bye to government,
And I gave my reason:
That a really good religion
Is a form of treason" (173)

Another thing we learn that goes along with this quote is the craziness of Bokonon. We see in the next sentence that he suggested that all followers of his religion should be killed on "the hook". We then learn that he went to the jungle and never came out.

In the next few chapters the meaning of the title starts to come out. We begin to see Newt say "See the Cat, See the Cradle" (179). This is important because before he starts to use this metaphor, we didn't have a really good idea as to the origin of the title.

Arguably the most important thing in the book happens during this reading. "Papa" who is the president of San Lorenzo dies. We then see that because Frank Hoenikker (Newt and Angela's brother) was the personal body guard of "Papa", "Papa" selects him as the next president of San Lorenzo. Because Frank doesn't feel as though he is ready for this position, he convinces John (narrator) to become the next president of San Lorenzo.

Later we learn more about "Papa's" death. We learn that he had taken ice-nine and subsequently died. Because he took this, his corpse became solid.

The book then goes to the celebration of the 100 martyrs. This is the biggest holiday in San Lorenzo. During this celebration, one plane explodes and causes the castle to break in half and that causes the ground around it to fall into the sea. During all of this chaos, "Papa's" body comes out of the castle and into the sea. Because his body was made of ice-nine, it went into the ocean and made all of the water in the world solid.

During this time, John and his wife Mona found a secret shelter that revealed itself under the castle. For about a week they lived there because it had the only water, and because of the fact that there was no water (other than in bottles) there started to be tornadoes day and night. After about a week this stopped and they came out. When they came out they found out that Bokonon had convinced everybody to take ice-nine and kill themselves. When Mona found out about this she killed herself because she felt that it was the right thing to do for her religion.

After Mona commits suicide, John finds the Crosby's as well as Newt. Nothing much happens when they find each other. All that they do is go back to Frank's house and live for a couple of days. The book ends with Newt and John taking the taxi that they found around the island. During this travel, they find Bokonon who is still alive and just finishing his final book. The book ends with the same sentence that Bokonon's books end with and the same sentence I will end this summary with: "If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who"(287)

Reading summary: 18-50 (Nathan)

Chapter 18-50 set up the plot of the rest of the story. In chapter 19, the idea of ice 9, or a "microscopic grain" (43) that could turn all water into a solid, is introduced. The theory of ice 9 has a profound effect on the story. In fact, ice 9 is arguably the most important element of the novel.

Later in this reading, the protagonist learns about the relationship between man and God. The protagonist meets a woman who believes that the only true statement is "God is love." (55) By meeting a person who i so adamant about her beliefs, the main character learns about his own relationship with God. This encounter is thought provoking, and causes the protagonist to consider the meaning of life. This scene in the story further develops the protagonist's beliefs.

Another important event that takes place in this reading is the main character's flight to San Lorenzo. On the plane, he meets H. Lowe Crosby, and his wife, Hazel. They explain the customs of San Lorenzo to the protagonist. It was also on the plane that the main character met Horlick and Claire Minton. Claire and Horlick were a duprass, or a karass of only two. The belief in a duprass is beautiful. It suggests that some people are meant to find another person who completes them. A duprass lasts forever, "It can't be invaded," (86). The idea of a duprass is an important idea that this book presents to readers.

In chapter 18-50, several events alter the course of the story. The ideas and actions in this portion of the novel give readers an understanding of the characters, and the plot of the story.

Reflection: Tim

This book was a very good book in my opinion. It never lost your attention. This book definitely shows an interesting view on humanity. I believe that this book is saying that we are dangerous to our own self. The way that Kurt Vonnegut expresses this point is very interesting.

I believe that the author chose to have the maker of the atomic bomb as the focus of the story because they are a very dangerous thing. He chose to have the person who made the bomb make an even bigger danger called ice-nine. I believe that this represents the fine line between our existence and non-existence. The author makes it clear through this, I believe, that we have the ability to make great scientific discoveries but they can be extremely harmful to us at the same time.

Kurt Vonnegut expresses this point brilliantly. He makes the story very interesting the whole time and makes you really want to keep reading. This is definitely a book that I would recommend.

Reading Summary: Chapters 1-17 (Daniel)

In these chapters, the main plot events are:

1) Introduction to narrator (John), Newt, Angela, Frank, and Felix Hoenikker.

2) We are introduced to the religion of Bokononism, which belives that people are divided into teams, karasses, who carry out gods will without knowing the purpose.

Short Summary:

In these first few chapters, we discover that John is writing a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped. He contacted newt, the son the of the physicist who worked on the Manhattan project. Newt then tells us a story of what his father was like. In the next few chapter,s we are introduced to Asa Breed, a friend of Felix Hoenikker's who tells us more about Frank and Angela, the other two children. The reading ends with this interview.

Reflection: Thomas

In the book of Cat's Cradle, it speaks about contempt to modern culture. And the relationship between science and religion.

In the book, Felix Hoenikker, the creator of atomic bomb, has created ice-9 which is more powerful and destructible then atomic bomb. And he doesn't even realize that the invention of a weapon was a sin. This book makes me to think about discouraging future of civilization. And implies that if we don't reflect on our past conduct then the human race will be extincted.

Humans were not only creating the weapon for their enemy, in the end the weapons will be used to kill themselves. And it's true that science has been a bless, but if it's too much it can be a curse.

Reflection: Daniel

I think that Cat's Cradle is a metaphor for humanity, and its flaws. The book examines one man's journey through another man's life. this is an allegory for the modern feelings of connection. We're all connected, and this book showed that through literature, and religion, we become forever intertwined. The narrator's religion is based off this principle. As you can see, it is a metaphor for our lives.

The religion, Bokononsim, was conceived by a Calypso singer in the US. It uses several new words, (oulined in the "Glossary" post) and is the main drive for the narrator's actions. This is the metaphor for humanity's drive to follow religions.

In the book, you see characters in confusion, in insanity, and in love. These human emotions are all that of a person new to the world. I think that these feelings are significant because this shows humanity's naivety, and their ability to fall from grace.

All in all, i think Kurt Vonnegut did a great job tellling the story of this man, who himself is lost in time, religion and love.