Bokonah Jonokonon

There always seem to be more questions than there are answers. However, in literature, there are seldom ever answers – there are suggestions and opinions.

One suggestion that I was asked to consider was the concept that Jonah and Bokonon were the same person. When looking further into the idea, I was faced with more questions and overlaps that confused the joint identify.

From the first line, ‘Call me Jonah,’ (pg.1) we are faced with a question of identity. Continuing through the text, there are instances that indicate a change in time (from past to present or present to future). ‘Jonah’ says, “when I was a younger man” (pg1) and then later on in the story ‘Bokonon’ says “ If I were a younger man” (pg287). This parallel gives us good reason to believe that Jonah and Bokonon are in fact the same person; however, can we assume based on the change in tenses that there was a transitional period or transitional event where Jonah became Bokonon or Bokonon became Jonah? Or do we assume that Jonah and Bokonon are the same person throughout the entire book? There are other instances that give concrete evidence to support the idea of Jonah and Bokonon being the same. For example, after ‘Jonah’ met with Dr.Breed, he says, “there was such a thing as ice nine” in response to Dr.Breed’s denial. How does ‘Jonah’ know this? More amazingly, at the end when we finally “meet” ‘Bokonon’, it says that he is wrapped in “tufts that said Casa Mona.”(pg286) When Jonah arrived, he checked into the Casa Mona. In fact, he was the only guest at the Casa Mona after the Crosbys decided to leave. Where would Bokonon have gotten the tufts?

If we accept this idea that Jonah and Bokonon are the same person throughout the entire story then, why does he want to be called “Jonah.” Why don’t we call him Bokonon? Is the idea of Bokonon more powerful than the idea of Jonah?

Jonah says, “It was in the tombstone salesroom that I had my first vin dit (..) a sudden, very personal shove in the direction of Bokononism.”(pg.69). If Jonah was Bokonon at this time, how is this possible? Wouldn’t Bokonon himself have already reached the full Bokononist potential? And if not, does that mean that Bokonon is just an ordinary person like the rest of the characters in this book? If they are the same person throughout the entire book, then does that mean that the Book of Bokonon and the Day The World Ended could potentially be the same book based on the ‘history of human stupidity’ (pg.287.) like Bokonon says? “Bokonon” is in search for the last line of the Book of Bokonon and Jonah says he never finishes his book, The Day The World Ended. Well, when I think about it, we never see the Book Of Bokonon get finished.

Even though I can accept that Jonah and Bokonon are the same person, there are still many questions that are associated with this - that’s not to say that there is one specific answer.