Cat's Cradle

In 1911, young Bokonon sailed to London to seek an education. He left school to fight in World War I. After recovering from an injury, he set sail for Tobago, but a series of captures and employment opportunities allowed Bokonon to travel around the world seeking his purpose; he even spends two years in India as a follower of Mohandas Gandhi.

In 1922, Bokonon met Earl McCabe, an intelligent deserter from the Marines, and agreed to take him from Haiti to Miami. A storm wrecked his ship, leaving him and McCabe stranded on San Lorenzo, where he started a new life as Bokonon, which is how “Johnson,” his family name, is pronounced in San Lorenzo’s unique dialect.

John’s reading is interrupted by Hazel, who suggests that he meet two fellow Hoosiers who got on the plane. He is not interested until he realizes she is talking about Angela and Newt.

Hazel introduces John to Angela and Newt. Angela apologizes for not responding to John’s earlier request for information about the day the bomb dropped, saying that Dr. Breed asked her not to. When she learns that Newt, whom she treats like a child, wrote a letter to John, she scolds him.

Angela reveals that she and Newt are going to San Lorenzo to celebrate Frank’s engagement to Mona.

Angela shows John photos of Dr. Hoenikker. She reveals that he died peacefully on a Christmas Eve while they were visiting their beachside cottage.

Angela shows John a picture of her husband, Harrison Conners, a former employee of Dr. Hoenikker and now the president of a major corporation. Harrison showed no interest in Angela until after Dr. Hoenikker died.

Returning to his seat, John looks up Mona in the index of Philip’s book. He learns she is the daughter of Nestor Aamons, a Finnish engineer who met Julian during World War II. In San Lorenzo, he designed Julian’s hospital, married a San Lorenzan woman who gave birth to Mona, and died.

From Mona’s entry in the index, John learns that Papa Monzano adopted her in a ploy to boost his popularity and that she is embarrassed by her status as a sex symbol. Claire, who once worked as an indexer, claims that she can tell Philip’s character from the index and says that, although Philip loves Mona, he will never marry her. Horlick hints that Philip is gay.

When McCabe and Bokonon washed up on the shore of San Lorenzo in 1922, most of the land on the island belonged to Castle Sugar, a sugar production company owned by Philip’s great-grandfather. The company relied on forced labor under a system of white plantation bosses. Catholic priests attended to the people’s spiritual needs.

During colonial times, the island of San Lorenzo was claimed by various European nations in quick succession, but they lost interest after discovering the island had few natural resources. In 1786, a group of enslaved African people escaped from their British captors and claimed the island. Tum-bumwa, the self-declared emperor, built a large fortification on the north shore, but the apparently worthless island was never attacked. Castle Sugar set up operations in San Lorenzo in 1916 and barely broke even by instituting forced labor but withdrew without complaint when McCabe and Johnson took control.

Wanting to turn San Lorenzo into a utopia, McCabe reformed the legal and economic systems while Bokonon invented a new religion out of comforting lies.

Newt Hoenikker interrupts John’s reading and invites him to the bar, where Newt fondly recalls his affair with Zinka.

Now drunk, Lowe joins Newt and John. Lowe speaks in a well-meaning but insensitive manner about Newt’s size, but Newt is not offended. When Lowe learns who Newt is, he asks about the Russian dancer who may have been a spy, referring to Zinka, but Newt pretends not to know her.

From the air, John sees the small, rectangular island of San Lorenzo. They land on the south side in Bolivar, the capital and only city, which is built on a swamp. Neither Papa Monzano nor McCabe and Bokonon, nor any of their predecessors managed to raise the standard of living on the densely populated island.

Passing through customs, John notices a sign forbidding the practice of Bokononism, with death by the hook as the penalty. He also sees a wanted poster offering a reward for Bokonon’s capture.

After leaving customs, the passengers arrive on a platform facing a large crowd. A military band and a color guard are positioned nearby. Hazel says that she is not scared because San Lorenzo is a Christian nation.

Papa Monzano, Mona, and Frank arrive in a limousine. At Papa Monzano’s signal, the crowd sings the San Lorenzan national anthem, with words by Bokonon, including the phrase, “What a rich, lucky island are we!” (138).

John notices that aging Papa Monzano appears unhealthy, even as Frank serves as his unlikely bodyguard, but he focuses his attention on Mona. She performs “When Day Is Done” on the xylophone.

Papa Monzano welcomes them to the island, which he guarantees to be Christian and anti-Communist. He invites them to celebrate a national holiday, The Day of the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy, the next day. Collapsing in pain, Papa Monzano tells the crowd to go home.

As Frank and others rush to Papa Monzano’s aid, he identifies Frank as San Lorenzo’s next president because he has science, “the strongest thing there is” (146).

John notices Mona caressing the foot of a nearby pilot with her own.

The passengers separate as Papa Monzano leaves to receive medical care. John and the Crosbys take the country’s single taxi to the Casa Mona hotel. The Crosbys question the driver about Bokonon, who insists that nobody in San Lorenzo supports or follows him.

John asks the driver about the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy. The driver explains that they were 100 men who enlisted to fight for the United States immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but their boat was sunk by a German sub just after leaving San Lorenzo.

John and the Crosbys find they are the first guests to arrive at the new hotel. In the lobby, Philip Castle, the owner of the hotel, works on a mosaic image of Mona. He responds to John and Lowe’s questions sarcastically and expresses bitterness toward Frank.

When Philip learns that John is a writer and that John wants to see his father Julian, Philip suggests that John should write a book for Julian to read to people who are in pain. He also mentions that Bokonon tutored him and Mona when they were young.

After Philip admits that he is a Bokononist, Lowe becomes angry and states his opinion of San Lorenzo is worsening.

Lowe leaves the hotel, and John moves into his room, which is not yet fully furnished. Looking for hotel staff, John finds two painters engaged in boko-maru, the Bokononist practice of “mingling awareness” with another person by pressing together the soles of each other’s feet. When the painters see John, they beg him not to tell, since boko-maru is punishable by the hook. John agrees.

Back in his room, John finds Philip installing toilet paper. Philip explains that he opened the hotel to avoid loneliness. He recalls a time that rats from a shipwreck led to a breakout of bubonic plague on the island. As his father surveyed the dead in his hospital, he laughed and told Philip, “Someday this will all be yours” (162).

Frank calls and asks John to come see him right away.