Take It With a Grain of Ice-Nine

Rather than discuss general themes as I analyze a section (or the entirety) of the book, I figure I will dedicate this post to doing something a little more innovative; I'm going to discuss my take on the book itself, rather than its contents. At this point, I am going to preemptively preface my post with a rather clichéd advisory comment in an effort to mitigate the fact that I very well may be way off base. So, take it with a grain of salt:

It is my firmly held belief that Cats Cradle is the seventh and final Book of Bokonon. On the first page of the book, ‘John/Jonah’ writes: "I began to [write] a book [that was] to be called The Day The World Ended" (chap. 1). In the final scene of the book, it is revealed that ‘Jonah/John’ sees Bokonon (which I will discuss in the next paragraph). During their encounter, Bokonon mentions that he is trying to write the last sentence for the final Book of Bokonon, at which point he hands to ‘Jonah/John’ a piece of paper that, among other things, discusses the need for there to be a book on the history of human stupidity. The idea here is that Bokonon wants Jonah/John to write and publish the book. The concluding, tie-it-all-together moment occurs in one of the last sentences in the book; a comment made by ‘Jonah/John’, “Here it is, the end of the world; and here I am…” (chap. 126)

My second speculation is that John/Jonah is in fact Bokonon himself and that he has created a religion that fits the behaviors of the people of San Lorenzo. Either the search for Hoenikker or the search for Ice-Nine, has taken such a toll upon his life that he has slowly gone “insane” or become schizophrenic, creating an alternative personality for himself (which is Bokonon). The meeting at the end of the book represents the “coming to terms” or ultimate unification he has with himself. Finally, he slowly but surely gives himself over to this alternative personality as he becomes (one with) Bokonon. He uses the religion of Bokononism to justify the eradicated behaviors of man that ultimately result in the end of the world. My guess would be that the other people and back-stories are correct, and so are the events (to some extent atleast) but that they are also vividly reinterpreted and subsequently conveyed to us as a result of the “lens” that John/Jonah/Bokonon sees the his existence through.

Perhaps, and humorously ironic, all of this is just a coincidental construct that I have made up. So, it is important to take all this with a grain of salt… or ice-nine.