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)