Plot Summary Sirens of Titan

A Puzzle Solved Analysis

Vonnegut includes more of the fictional framework around the story by referring to several fictional books about it. This provides an entertaining aside, but it also casts the story in a new light. It is now known that Rumfoord plans to build up some kind of religion on Earth, and the references the narrator makes to Rumfoord's writing and the wide popularity of the story of Unk and Boaz in the caves shows that what is being described somehow enters the culture and religion of the future.

Since Boaz presumably dies alone on Mercury, and the two men spend much of their time apart from each other, the question is raised how this story ever survives to be told. Of course there is another person present in the caves, Winston Rumfoord. This implies that Rumfoord himself is the one who brings the story back to Earth. It also raises the possibility that Rumfoord is the narrator.

Constant's memories continue to seep into his consciousness without him recognizing them. He undergoes a physical transformation while on Mercury, becoming lean and wiry as he lives meagerly and on the move. It is Boaz who undergoes a more dramatic transformation, finding purpose tending for the simple creatures in the cave. Vonnegut mentions more than once that the lack of an atmosphere means that sound cannot travel in the caves except in the air-filled space ship. What is implied is that Boaz's concerts for the harmoniums where he plays the tape recorder are unheard by him. Only the harmoniums enjoy them for the vibrations. He is not able to enjoy the music itself, only the act of providing it for the creatures.

An Age of Miracles Summary

Unk's spacecraft lands in a churchyard in Massachusetts. It is raining. He looks like a wild man, hair tangled and nearly naked. One thing drives him on, the desire to find Bee, Chrono, and Stony.

The Reverend C. Horner Redwine is alone in the nearby church. The church is the Barnstable First Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, and is also known as The Church of the Weary Space Wanderer. It has been predicted that the church will be site of a miracle, and in readiness for it, a special suit of clothes hangs on a spike behind the pulpit. It is designed to fit only one person, and is stitched with large question marks to signify that this person will not know who he is. Only the leader of the faith, Winston Rumfoord, will know the wanderer's name, which he will reveal when he comes. Plans are made to ring the church bell wildly on the day the wanderer arrives, bringing all the people of the town to see. The fire department plans to bring the fire engine to carry the wanderer when the signal comes, to carry him in.

In the steeple of the church, rain seeps in and runs down the bell and the bell rope. At the bottom of the rope, hanging by its neck, is a doll called a "Malachi". It is an emblem of the church. It hangs from a hangman's noose.

Redwine stands in the pulpit, enjoying the sound of the rain. Hanging around his body are several bags of heavy shot and iron slabs on his back and chest. They are his handicaps, with all members of his faith carry according to their strength. Redwine moves down the aisle of the church to the archway at the front. Through the arch he sees the space ship and the bedraggled Unk. Overcome with joy, he begins to ring the bell wildly.

The bell frightens Unk, and he runs back to his ship. Soon sirens join the ringing. He imagines the war is still underway, and he presses the "ON" button on his ship to escape, but his ship shuts down. He presses and holds the button, causing the ship to begin to smoke. The navigation system dies.

Unk looks out a porthole and sees the fire engine, along with several excited people, approaching the ship. At the front of the crowd is Redwine, carrying the suit and a handful of flowers. All of the people are wearing or displaying self-handicaps of one sort or another, as do followers of the faith over the whole world.

The fire engine points it hose to the sky in celebration and delivers a fountain of water that falls down on the spaceship and the crowd. Combined with the rain, everyone is wet, which adds to the celebration. Redwine moves to the porthole and looks at Unk's face, looking out. Unk decides he is not afraid, and unlocks the doors to let Redwine in.

The suit fits Unk perfectly. Redwine tells Unk he is on Earth. Unk exclaims, "Thank God", which puzzles Redwine, who informs Unk that when he speaks to the crowd of people outside he should not thank God in any way. As part of the faith, Redwine professes, as founded by Rumfoord, God is indifferent to the fate of humans and luck is not something to be thankful for.

Unk asks what he should say instead, and Redwine informs him that what he says has already been prophesied what he will say. He will be asked two questions, Redwine tells him, and he is simply to answer as best he can. He leads Unk outside, and the crowd gathers around him.

They ask him who he is. He responds that he does not know his real name, but that he is called Unk. Then they ask what happened to him. Unk thinks for a moment, but cannot find a way to express all that has happened to him. Almost apologetically, he shrugs and says, "I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all" (p. 229).

The crowd begins to cheer. Redwine shows Unk a carved scroll above the door to the church on which these exact words have been written.

Unk is carried on the fire engine to Newport, where a materialization is about to take place. Along the way, people come out to see him and shower him with flowers. A special plastic "Malachi" hangs from the fire engine bell, a kind that can only be bought in Newport. Unk is happy to back on Earth and to have everyone apparently love him so much.

At the Rumfoord estate, the grounds inside the walls are packed solid and a huge crowd surrounds it. They eagerly await Rumfoord's voice from several loudspeakers mounted around the place.

Bee and Chrono are at the estate. They are working in a souvenir booth outside the estate, selling plastic Malachis to the faithful pilgrims. Chrono is now eleven and is a juvenile delinquent. He has been spared being placed in an institution because at Rumfoord's direction, the legal staff of his church has defended him against all charges.

Bee and Chrono had wandered through the Amazon jungle for a year after crashing there on their trip from Mars. They were taken in by a jungle tribe and eventually rescued by a helicopter sent by Rumfoord. They were brought back to Newport and given the booth outside the estate to sell Malachis.

Next to Bee and Chrono's booth is Harry Brackman, who was Unk's platoon sergeant on Mars. Brackman is the only survivor of his unit's attack on Earth. He sells plastic models of the fountain inside the estate. He also sells toy flying saucers, models of the real saucer that is mounted on a hundred-foot-high column inside the walls of the estate.

A steam whistle blows inside the estate, the signal that the materialization will occur in five minutes. The booths shut up at this signal. Chrono lays on a case and cleans his nails with his good luck piece. None of the souvenir sellers in the booths, who are all Martian survivors of the war, show much interest in the ceremony or in seeing the Space Wanderer, although they are tempted to look.

The fire engine arrives. As Unk, the Space Wanderer, passes through the tiny door in the wall, Rumfoord and Kazak materialize. Brackman comments that the Space Wanderer is probably a fake, an actor. None of the souvenir sellers really believe this, however. They know that Rumfoord insists that things be real.

The narrator addresses the reader directly here to describe Rumfoord and his tendency to create great spectacles such as the one that is about to take place. He never claims to be a God, however, the narrator explains, or to be speaking for God.

Bee and Brackman talk in their adjacent booths. Most of their fellow Martians have had their original Earth identities discovered, but no information has ever been found about Bee. Brackman suggests tentatively that they might go see the Space Wanderer. Bee responds that she hates Rumfoord for having used her and the others until they were "all used up" (p. 242).

Rumfoord's voice is heard over the loudspeakers welcoming the Space Wanderer. He asks Unk if Unk sees anything that he recognizes. Unk responds that he remembers the fountain, except that it was dry whenever it was he first saw it. Rumfoord asks if he recalls anything else. Unk replies that he remembers Rumfoord from Mars who was there just before he took off.

Rumfoord asks if Unk would recognize his mate and child. Unk replies that he does not know. Rumfoord calls for Bee and Chrono to be brought in from the booth outside.

Rumfoord, Unk and Kazak stand on a scaffold that is part of a system of catwalks and ramps that run around the grounds of the estate. The walkways are lit and wired for television cameras and sound. Rumfoord look uneasy, his smile forced. He speaks to Unk directly, without the microphone. He sarcastically mentions that the crowd seems to love him and asks if Unk loves the crowd. Unk is unable to sense the sarcasm, and says that the crowd has been "wonderful."

Unk, uncertain about the ceremony, decides to keep quiet. Bee and Chrono are placed on one of the catwalks and Rumfoord calls them to him. Unk begins to feel elated that he may look forward to a happy life on Earth with Bee and Chrono. All he is missing, he feels is his friend, Stony. He feels that Stony must be somewhere nearby, waiting to make his appearance.

As Bee and Chrono approach Unk, Rumfoord moves away from them. He follows some of the complicated walkway structure to a tree with rungs that run up its side. He climbs up into the tree, out of sight. Unk, Bee and Chrono are uncomfortable with one another. Chrono kisses his good luck piece and wishes for Unk to drop dead. Bee's and Unk's eyes meet accidentally. They greet each other formally, then both look up at the tree to where Rumfoord has disappeared.

Rumfoord addresses the crowd. He tells them to be thankful they are not like Malachi Constant. Unk notices for the first time a long walkway nearby that ends in a long ladder leading up to the space ship on the high column. He wonders who would be brave enough to climb such a high ladder. He looks at the crowd. He waits for Stony to appear.