Plot Summary Sirens of Titan



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Victory Analysis


The description of the failed invasion of Earth is darkly comical, as the nuclear-powered forces of Earth crush the relatively weak Martian forces. The entire farce has been orchestrated by Rumfoord to set the stage for his new religion. In his announcement of the teachings of this new faith, Rumfoord invokes a parable about Malachi Constant, foreshadowing the central role that Constant is to play in the religion.

Bee and Chrono appear to be the recipients of some good luck, as the only two survivors of the crash of their space ship. It is implied that this is not purely luck, however, by Rumfoord's pronouncement introducing his new religion. Also implied is that Chrono's "good luck" piece is perhaps somehow the reason for their survival. Chrono seems to be living a charmed life, as did his father and grandfather.

The interplay between Boaz and Constant changes as Boaz loses his ability to hurt and control Constant. Finding himself powerless, Boaz finds a kind of freedom, the freedom to question his role in the outcome of his own life. This revelation of Boaz's will be further explored as the two men become trapped on Mercury in the following chapters.

In a Hollywood Nightclub Summary


A description of Mercury is provided. Mercury is white hot on the side that always faces the Sun, and covered in giant crystals on its dark side. The tension between the hot and cold, light and dark sides of the planet cause it to vibrate, or "sing".

There are deep caves on Mercury, inhabited by simple, flat creatures called harmoniums. These creatures feed on the vibrations of the planet and cling to the phosphorescent walls of the caves. Harmoniums are like "small and spineless kites" (p. 185) and they reproduce by flaking off pieces that begin to grow. For an unknown reason, the creatures often arrange themselves in regular patterns on the walls, glowing aquamarine where the yellow light from the walls passes through their bodies.

Unk and Boaz's ship approaches the dark side of Mercury, although they still imagine they are landing on Earth. Seeing the large crystals, Unk believes them to be large skyscrapers. He weeps as he looks out the window of the ship, recalling the names of the people he knows. He recalls the name Malachi Constant, but does not recognize it. The memory of climbing the fountain at the Rumfoord Estate enters his mind, but again he does not recognize it.

The spacecraft has been programmed to find the deepest possible place in one of the caves. It moves continually downward, stopping at times, but then moving on to a deeper place. Finally, the ship lands and turns itself off. Thinking they are in the safe atmosphere of Earth, Boaz rushes to open the door. The vacuum outside causes an explosion as the air from the ship rushes out. The ship's emergency system quickly brings the pressure back up to normal. They realize they are not on Earth.

They take some goofballs and recover from the shock of the explosion, then plug their ears and nose and set out to look at their surroundings. They find them nearly unbelievable. They return to the ship and decide they must return to the surface and find people. Unk pushes the "ON" button, and the ship begins to warm up.

The ship has been designed to take off from an open field, however, and is unable to fly upward through the cave passages without knocking against the rocks. It becomes wedged in stone. They try again and again, with no success. Unk and Boaz are devastated. Looking out a porthole, Unk sees several harmoniums forming what looks like a letter "T" on the cave wall. Gradually he realizes that there are more letters formed on the wall. They form a sentence, "IT'S AN INTELLIGENCE TEST!" (p. 195).


In a Hollywood Nightclub Analysis


This brief chapter sets the stage for Boaz and Unk's exile on Mercury. Here, Vonnegut enters into more traditional science-fiction imagery of strange creatures inhabiting a distant planet. The simple harmoniums will play an important role in Boaz's self-discovery.

Constant begins to have glimmerings of memories from his life on Earth, but as yet cannot make sense of them. The image of the fountain reappears, inviting the reader to interpret its meaning.

The seemingly intelligent message from the harmoniums ends the chapter with the question of who is controlling the situation.

A Puzzle Solved Summary


The narrator briefly steps outside the events of the story and into his own time at the beginning of the chapter. He refers to several supposedly well-known books that have been written about Unk and Boaz's time in the caves of Mercury, including a popular children's book. Addressing the reader, the narrator says that of course the message on the wall of the cave was written by Rumfoord, who materializes in the caves every fourteen days.

After three years on Mercury, Unk finds the footprints of a large dog in the dust on the cave floor. Before that time, Unk and Boaz had long since gone separate ways, no longer living in the space ship, but using it to store their large supply of provisions. Boaz had set up a permanent place to live not far from the ship, while Unk wandered the caves with no regular home. Messages continue to appear written on the walls using harmoniums, encouraging the men to try to find a way out of the caves.

Unk is not excited when he finds the dog tracks, or when he finds the human footprints alongside them. He has been beaten down too much by his environment to get too excited. Unk has lost weight and stopped shaving. His hair is chopped and ragged. He decides to simply follow the tracks to see where they lead.

Boaz, in contrast, has gained weight while on Mercury. He shaves every day and is quite happy. He lives in a vault in the stone furnished with items from the ship, including a tape player and a large selection of recorded music. His home can be closed off by a large boulder, which is necessary because the harmoniums love Boaz and are attracted by his pulse. Should he leave his door open while he is asleep, they would smother him.

Boaz sits inside his home with the door closed, shining his shoes. He has four harmoniums attached to his arms, leg and wrist, feeding on his pulse. Boaz has found a purpose in caring for the harmoniums, and is puzzled that Unk prefers to live a detached life. He muses on his philosophy of life, which is that someone much smarter is somehow testing him and that all he can do is try to be happy until it is all over.

Boaz recalls the image of Unk strangling Stony Stevenson. He has withheld this information from Unk, who is still unaware of what he did. Although he has been tempted at times to reveal the truth to Unk, he has not. Boaz imagines that one of the harmoniums is asking him for a "concert". He holds imaginary conversations with the other three, as well, imagining they ask him to play his tape recorder so they might feed on the vibrations.

Boaz carries his tape recorder and several tapes to a central spot in the cave. He creates a scaffold from a stretcher placed between two ironing boards with padded feet. The purpose of the stretcher is to deaden the vibrations from the music so as not to give the harmoniums a fatal amount of music. Boaz stands watch over the recorder, moving any creatures that try to get too close to it.

Meanwhile, Unk, wandering through the caves, lies down to sleep. He dreams that his friend Stony is waiting for him somewhere in the caves. He imagines that he is being imprisoned by the people in the skyscrapers up above him, not knowing that what he thinks are buildings are actually just large stones.

Awake, now, Unk begins to feel hatred for his imagined captors. He also feels enraged at the harmoniums. Taking one off the wall, he tears it in two and throws the pieces toward the ceiling of the cave. As he does, he sees another message on the ceiling. The message gives him the solution to the puzzle of how to get out of the caves.

He rushes toward the ship, where Boaz is giving the concert to the harmoniums. He takes Boaz to the ship, where they can hear one another speak. He tells Boaz what he has discovered. Boaz reacts "numbly". He tells Unk that he has also seen a message, one reading "BOAZ, DON'T GO!" and another saying, "BOAZ, WE LOVE YOU!" (p. 209).

Unk tells Boaz that the message Boaz saw was a trick to keep them from leaving. Boaz archly insists that Unk not shatter his interpretation of the messages, wanting to believe what he will. Boaz suddenly remembers the tape recorder and rushes out, worried that nobody is keeping the harmoniums away.

Meanwhile, Unk sets about turning the ship upside down. This is what the message has told him to do to get out of the caves. With its sensors on the bottom now pointing upwards, the ship should be able to find its way out of the cave just as it found its way in.

As Unk has the ship turned over, Boaz returns with several dead harmoniums. He is crying. He places them in an empty box. He asks Unk to divide the stores, half to leave with him. Unk is astounded that Boaz intends to stay behind.

Boaz explains that the idea of being free excited him at first, but that now he cannot imagine what it would be like. On Mercury, he has the harmoniums relying on him to make them happy, and that makes him happy. "I found me a place where I can do good without doing any harm," he tells Unk. (pp. 213-214)



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