Plot Summary Sirens of Titan

Letter from an Unknown Hero Analysis

The nature of the mind-controlled Martian Army is described in this chapter. It is revealed further that the ruler of the army and probably of Mars itself is Winston Rumfoord, who appears on the planet every 111 days.

Boaz, who will play a critical role in the next chapters, is introduced in this chapter. Boaz has the closest thing to freedom that a person on Mars can attain, it seems, yet he is still dependent on Unk in a way, who, it will be shown, is perhaps the most important person on the planet to Rumfoord.

Unk battles against the mind control of the pain-inflicting antenna in his head as random memories pop into his mind, including the image that Rumfoord gave him on Earth of the three beautiful women. This image seems to be a touchstone for Unk, drawing him back into his true memories and guiding him forward.

Rumfoord's prediction would seem to have come true in part when Unk learns from his self-addressed letter that he has a wife and child, although Unk has forgotten the prediction after having his memory erased. Beatrice, or Bee as she is called on Mars, will also have forgotten the prediction, explaining perhaps why Rumfoord told them his prediction in the first place.

The Martian invasion will end up in catastrophe in a darkly humorous fashion when the poorly organized and under-armed forces try to take over the Earth. This is by Rumfoord's design, and a hint at this plan is given when Vonnegut describes the types of weapons the soldiers are preparing to use. They have knives, bayonets, and rifles from the turn of the nineteenth century. They will be battling against the nuclear weapons of Earth.

A Deserter in Time of War Summary

Unk's company begins its six-mile march to the place where the invasion fleet of spaceships will depart. Along the way, they pass through Phoebe, the sole city on Mars, which exists solely to provide materials for the invasion. Unk is carrying a large mortar weapon with Boaz, who marches behind him. Boaz tells Unk that he has arranged for them to fly on a two-man non-combat mother ship loaded with provisions like candy, soft drinks, games, and other items. He asks Unk if he doesn't agree that it is a lucky assignment. Unk agrees that it is lucky as he casually drops a live grenade into a sewer as they pass.

The grenade explodes, sending all the soldiers flying to the ground. Boaz lifts his head and sees that all is clear, and uses his control to make the other soldiers in his company stand up again. He discovers that Unk has disappeared. He has run off to find his wife and son.

Here the narration exposits on several aspects of the story that will support the following events. Chrono, it is explained, is eight years old. He is named after the name of the Martian month in which he was born. There are twenty-one months in the Martian calendar, twelve the same as those on Earth, with the months Winston, Niles, Rumfoord, Kazak, Newport, Chrono, Synclastic, Infundibulum and Salo added.

The month of Salo, it is explained, is named after a creature from another galaxy that Rumfoord knew from Titan. Salo had been forced to land on Titan while carrying a message from his home planet and was waiting for a replacement part. He has been waiting for the part for two hundred thousand years. Salo's spaceship, the narrator says, is powered by something called the Universal Will To Become, or UWTB for short. This is also the force powering the industry on Mars. This force can create being from nothingness.

Unk's son, Chrono, is an excellent German batball player. The game is something like baseball, and a great importance is placed on the game. Chrono is called to bat at his school playground as Unk watches, crouched behind a large boulder. The children and teachers appear terrified of Chrono as he prepares to strike the ball.

Chrono hits the ball into the field. The other children make a show of running after it and trying to get him out, but they do not really try. They are bedazzled by Chrono, and find glory themselves in glorifying him. Chrono slides into home plate and kisses his good luck piece.

The good luck piece is a small piece of metal strap with two holes in it. Chrono picked it up from a factory floor on a field trip the children took. He keeps it with him constantly.

Unk pulls all his insignia off his uniform and walks with authority into the schoolyard. Marching up to the teacher, he tells her he must interview Chrono on official business. The teacher is fooled, and allows him to use her own office.

Chrono is resistant and hostile. Unk tells him he is his father, but Chrono is unmoved. Unk tells him he intends to take him away with him, away from Mars. Chrono tells him to "go to hell".

This hurts Unk. He is troubled by memories of his own childhood imagining his absent father. He begins to cry, and Chrono runs out of the room.

Bee is an instructor in something called Schliemann Breathing. This is a technique for surviving in poisonous atmospheres. Inhabitants must take a kind of pill, popularly called a "goofball", and also plug their noses and ears and keep their mouths shut. Bee has been to the hospital recently after showing her supervisor a poem she had written. She has had her memory erased.

Bee is instructing a group of new recruits in the breathing technique when Unk knocks at the door of her classroom. He says he has a message for her. He whispers the message to her, that he is the father of Chrono, and that he intends to find a way for the three of them and his friend to escape from Mars.

Voices are heard from the hallway of people looking for Unk. Handing Bee a grenade, Unk asks her to hide it for him, then takes his place among the recruits, pretending to be another student. Bee calmly returns to her desk. She looks at Unk as he turns blue green from holding his breath. She does not doubt that he is Chrono's father, but finds no significance in the fact. She daydreams about a little girl dressed all in white. She wonders who the little girl is. Unk collapses.

Unk wakes up in a bunk on a space ship. The door to the ship is open, and he sees he is still on the ground. Outside, he sees rows and rows of other ships taking off in waves. Unk hears a dog barking. The large dog runs up to the open door and growls at Unk. It is Kazak. Rumfoord approaches behind the dog.

Rumfoord asks in a friendly voice if Unk recognizes him. Unk guesses that the friendly man might be Stony. Rumfoord laughs at this and says he wishes he were. The rest of Unk's regiment takes off in their ships, leaving him behind. Unk asks the man's name, but Rumfoord tells him that names do not matter.

Rumfoord tells Unk a story. He says it is a sad love story. It is about a man who volunteers for the Army of Mars and is on his way to the planet in a spaceship. He has been given a command position, and is enjoying himself bossing the other recruits around. He has the run of the ship except for one locked room, which he is told holds the most beautiful woman ever to be brought to Mars. Any man who sees her is sure to fall in love with her, he is told, which would be unsuitable for an officer in the army. The man tries to impress the others by bragging about his romantic conquests, but this causes them to lose respect for him. He decides to regain their respect by conquering the woman in the locked room.

One night during a drinking party, someone slips the man the key to the room. Drunk, he enters and has sex with the terrified and partly sedated woman in the darkness. Afterward, he feels terrible, Rumfoord says. He turns on the light and discovers it is a woman he knows, a woman that someone once told him he would have a child with.

Once on Mars, the man learns that he is about to have his memory erased. In preparation, he writes himself a letter about all the things he does not want to forget. He writes about the woman, Rumfoord tells him. Afterward, he tries to win her love, but she has no recollection of him. He tries several times, but is constantly taken back to have his memory erased, as is the woman. Rumfoord tells him that this man is the only man on Mars to ever write a philosophy, and the woman is the only one to ever write a poem.

Boaz approaches the ship. He has been out looking for Unk and is concerned that the rest of the regiment has already gone. Rumfoord directs him to get into the ship and points out the single "ON" button that will start its journey. Just before shutting the door of the craft, Rumfoord adds an epilogue to the story he has told Unk. He tells him that the woman on the space ship had been married for many years, but that she was still a virgin. He asks Unk if he doesn't agree that it was a pretty good joke on her husband.