Plot Summary Sirens of Titan

We Hate Malachi Constant Because... Analysis

The story reaches the height of its action in this chapter. The religion that Rumfoord has spent three years cultivating receives its grand passion play as Malachi Constant learns the truth about his past and his identity and is immediately exiled from Earth as a symbol to the followers of Rumfoord's faith.

This chapter reveals the apparent purpose of Constant's journey from Earth to Mars to Mercury and back to Earth—to act as a religious symbol in Rumfoord's scheme to transform humankind. There is a larger purpose, however, which even Rumfoord serves. This purpose is to be revealed in the final chapters.

Bee is given the opportunity to have the last word, here, in a satisfying farewell speech to Rumfoord. The two characters of Beatrice and Constant have been transformed since their introduction at the beginning of the book. The bombastic and aimless Constant is now humble and focused. The fearful and retiring Beatrice is now brave and bold.

The Gentleman from Tralfamadore Summary

Titan is one of the nine moons of Saturn, and the only moon in the solar system with a breathable oxygen atmosphere. It stays at a constant sixty-seven degree temperature. It is covered with three large seas and many smaller lakes and ponds, all connected by rivers. There are forests and plants.

Rumfoord's waves of materializations coincide with the orbit of Titan around Saturn and the orbit of Saturn around the Sun, so that he and Kazak are permanently materialized on Titan. They live there on an island near the shore of one of the seas, in a house that is a replica of the Taj Mahal.

Before Beatrice, Constant, and Chrono arrive, there is only one other person on Titan, the eleven-million-year-old Salo from the planet Tralfamadore. Salo is orange, with three legs, and stands four and a half feet tall. He has no arms, and has three eyes. His head is round and hangs on gimbals. He speaks five thousand languages.

Salo lives in the open on Titan, near the space ship that brought him there. Nearly half a million years prior, Salo had been chosen by his people to act as an ambassador, carrying a message out into the universe to a distant galaxy, and delivering it. The message itself is sealed in a small tablet of lead two inches square and three-eighths of an inch thick. It hangs from Salo's body on a steel band. Salo has been ordered not to open the message until he reaches the galaxy he is heading to and finds intelligent life. Then he is to learn their language and translate the message for them.

In the year 203,117 B.C., Salo's ship had developed power plant problems and he was forced to land on Titan. A single small part disintegrated, rendering him unable to continue except at relatively low speeds. Salo had sent a message home at the speed of light, which took 150,000 years to reach Tralfamadore.

While waiting, Salo entertains himself by taking up sculpture, breeding daisies, and watching the activities on Earth through a viewer on his space ship. It is while watching the Earthlings that he receives his first response from Tralfamadore. The message is in the form of a circle of rocks placed on a plain in England. It is Stonehenge, which in Tralfamadorian has the meaning "Replacement part being rushed with all possible speed" (p. 271).

Other messages appear to Salo among the structures on Earth. The Great Wall of China, Nero's golden house in Rome, and the Kremlin in Moscow are all actually messages to Salo, updating him on the progress of the delivery of his replacement part. These messages all arrive in much shorter time than they would have taken had they been delivered at the speed of light. The Tralfamadorians are able, through manipulating the force of UWTB, to influence events at far points at about three times the speed of light. Salo watches as civilizations rise on Earth and begin to build structures that are meant to be messages to him. Sometimes the civilizations die out before completing their message.

Salo never tells Rumfoord about these messages, and his mind is such that Rumfoord cannot read it. He simply tells Rumfoord that he has sent a message home and is expecting the replacement part soon. He is reluctant to tell Rumfoord the whole truth because he loves Rumfoord and thinks he may be offended if he knew how Tralfamadore had been manipulating Earth's development.

Salo watches the approach of Constant, Beatrice, and Chrono in their ship on his viewer. The ship is programmed to land on the shore of one of the seas, amid the two million statues of human beings that Salo has carved while waiting, inspired by the activities of humans on Earth who always seem to be acting as if a "big eye" is watching them from above.

Salo walks on his inflatable feet across the water to Rumfoord's palace. He expects to find Rumfoord sitting in his regular chair by his pool, but the chair is empty. Salo looks down into the pool at three statues of women that he had carved. These are the sirens of Titan, the women in the photo that Rumfoord had given Constant on Earth. Salo calls for Rumfoord, calling him by his boyhood nickname, Skip.

Kazak approaches Salo. He looks ill and moves slowly. He glows with an electrical discharge. Rumfoord appears behind him, also looking ill. He seems to be dematerializing and re-materializing in waves. Salo asks him what is wrong. Rumfoord answers that the problem is sunspots.

Salo asks if he can help in any way, and Rumfoord is short with him. Salo, who is new to the notion of friendship, is deeply hurt by Rumfoord's sharp words. He looks upward and sees two enormous Titanic bluebirds circling and diving in the sky. He sees the trail of the approaching space ship. He addresses Rumfoord again as "Skip", and Rumfoord asks him not to use the name. He only prefers his friends to use the name.

This again hurts Salo, who pleads with Rumfoord to think of him as a friend after all the help he has given him. Rumfoord is cynical, and admits only that the two have been of some use to one another. Salo is despondent and sorry. Rumfoord tells him that Salo did not have to help him, that he could have simply sat and waited for his part to arrive. He tells Salo that the part he needs is indeed arriving on the ship. It is Chrono's good luck piece. He imagines that Salo already knows this. Rumfoord has another spell of dematerialization and electrical discharges and is unable to speak. When he recovers, he asks, with sarcastic politeness, for Salo to continue .

Salo is devastated that Rumfoord seems to have found out how Tralfamadore has been manipulating human history. Rumfoord is resentful that he himself has been used. He insults Salo, calling him a "machine" and implying that Salo cannot grasp the true feelings a living being has. Salo takes a tone that is hurt and indignant as Rumfoord continues to hurl the insult "Machine!" at him. The ship lands nearby.

Salo understands that Rumfoord is expecting him to grovel in repentance. He obliges. He asks what he can do. Rumfoord explains that the center of his time-space spiral is about to be blown out of the solar system, changing the times and places where he will materialize. Salo is horrified at the thought of losing his friend, but Rumfoord tells him not to pity him. Before he goes, he wants Salo to tell him what the primary purpose of "this Solar System episode" is (p. 287). Salo replies that Rumfoord's book on the history of Mars sums it up. Rumfoord answers that his history does not include the fact that all the events were controlled by Tralfamadore.

Rumfoord wants to know what the message is that Salo is carrying. Salo haltingly replies that he does not know, that it is sealed. Rumfoord tells him that he wants Salo to violate his orders and open the message.

Meanwhile, on the shore of the sea, Beatrice, Chrono, and Constant are leaning against some of the statues and having something to eat. Constant announces to the other two that from that point on, he is through acting as a pawn in the schemes of others. The others agree silently, having heard the speech several times on the way to Titan. Constant has grown closer to Beatrice and Chrono during the long trip to Titan, but there is no love between them. The only love is between Chrono and his mother.

Chrono is wary. He opens a switchblade knife, ready to kill if he must. Looking out over the sea toward the palace, he sees the creature Salo rowing a golden rowboat toward them to take them to the palace. Chrono flashes light into the eye of Salo's that is pointed toward them. It is a trick he has learned in the jungle to unsettle an opponent. Beatrice slowly takes hold of a rock and tells him to flash the creature again. She tells him to go for an eye if he has a chance. Constant sees how well the two work together, that they have no need of him.

Salo ties up the boat and walks toward the three, too distraught to imagine he might be frightening them. Chrono continues to flash light in his eye and Beatrice throws the stone. Salo ducks, but instantly Chrono is around his neck, his knife at his chest. Beatrice stands over him, holding another stone. Salo, despondent, invites them to go ahead and kill him. He wishes he were dead. He tells them afterward to go to the palace to see Rumfoord, who is dying and wishes to see them.

At the palace, Constant gapes at the flickering Rumfoord. Kazak is gone, having had his time-space spiral separated from Rumfoord's. Rumfoord greets each of them individually. Salo, who has not been killed, sits in the boat, sulking. Rumfoord explains that he is not dying, merely moving on to a different spiral of time and space.

Rumfoord tells them that there is something they all must know before he leaves. He proceeds to tell them the secret of the influence of Tralfamadore and the ultimate purpose of human history is to produce the small piece of metal in Chrono's pocket. He explains that the piece is for Salo's ship, and tells them of Salo's message, which Salo has refused to share. He hopes, he tells them, since the part has now been delivered, that Tralfamadore will leave the Solar System alone. As he speaks, a spiral of green light surrounds him until he suddenly disappears entirely, never to be seen again.

Salo rushes up as Rumfoord disappears. He is crazed. He has torn the message from its band and holds it to the sky, calling for Rumfoord to return, calling that he will reveal the message. He sadly lays the message on Rumfoord's empty chair, saying that although he is a machine, he has transcended this by violating his intended function and opening the message. He has himself been used, Salo says. He offers up the message. It is a single dot. Salo explains that the meaning of the dot in Tralfamadorian is simply, "greetings".

Salo rushes out onto the beach and kills himself by dismantling himself and throwing his pieces all over. Chrono walks among the scattered pieces and throws his good luck piece on the ground among them.