Cat’s Cradle
(Kurt Vonnegut)

John

John, also known as Jonah, is the narrator of the novel but is rather insignificant to the entire plot other than being the messenger who tells the story. He had met the Hoenikker children when he was writing a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, as their father had invented the bomb. He ends up writing a much more compelling story about the day the world ended, due to another of Felix Hoenikker’s inventions. John eventually ends up in San Lorenzo with the Hoenikkers where he converts to Bokononism and witnesses the destruction of ice-nine in careless hands.

Bokonon

Bokonon’s birth name was Lionel Johnson and he was a black man who accidentally crash-landed his ship on San Lorenzo when he and McCabe were trying to get to Miami. Bokonon saw that the island was destitute, and the people were extremely poor. He created his own religion called Bokononism, which was wholly based on lies with the purpose of giving people hope and happiness to distract them from the realities of life. He became a deity for the people of San Lorenzo, and they listened to him, believing him to be an instrument of God.

Frank Hoenikker

Frank Hoenikker is the oldest son in the Hoenikker family. He developed social anxiety and a love for science, just like his father, which caused his peers to call him “Special Agent X-9” in school. Frank liked to build models and dreamed of having total control over the world. When he became involved with a car theft ring in Florida it was assumed he had been killed, but he turned up on San Lorenzo where he was accepted because his father won a Nobel Prize. He became engaged to beautiful Mona and was next in line to be president of the republic.

Felix Hoenikker

Felix is the father of Frank, Newt, and Angela and the husband of Emily. He is a famous scientist who has created two weapons capable of destroying the entire world: the atomic bomb and ice-nine. Felix is entirely consumed by science and is totally socially inept. He shows little care or affection for his family members, especially his beautiful wife Emily who dies giving birth to Newt. He forgets ordinary things in life, like how to drive, and he finds himself getting distracted by meaningless activities such as cat’s cradle. When he dies his children end up with the dangerous ice-nine.

Angela Hoenikker

Angela Hoenikker is the oldest of the Hoenikker children and she is over six feet tall. When Emily died Felix removed Angela from her sophomore year of high school to care for the family. Angela had no friends while growing up and spent all of her time playing the clarinet, which she does quite well. Desperate for human companionship, Angela fell in love with an extremely handsome and charming man named Harrison C. Conners, unaware that he was just using her for ice-nine. She carelessly uses her clarinet after the ice-nine spreads and is killed instantly.

Newt Hoenikker

Newt is the youngest of the Hoenikker children and is the same age as John. He is considered a midget at only four feet tall and has the same desire as Angela; he craves human companionship. Newt flunks out of Cornell and falls in love with a Russian dancer named Zinka who uses him for his ice-nine, as Harrison was doing to Angela. Newt spends his time making oil paintings of cat’s cradles to illustrate the futility of the people’s actions.

Emily Hoenikker

Emily Hoenikker was the mother of Frank, Angela, and Newt and the wife of Felix. She died while giving birth to Newt, which Asa Breed thinks is because of a pelvic injury she suffered some years before when she got into a car accident. Emily was exceedingly beautiful and extremely unhappy as Felix did not pay any attention to her. It was rumored that Emily was having an affair with Asa—whom she had dated before she married Felix—and that Asa may be the father of her children. Felix did not even bother to buy a tombstone for Emily’s grave, so the kids used Felix’s Nobel Prize money to purchase an extravagant twenty-foot marker.

Asa Breed

Asa Breed is a scientist who works at the same lab that Felix Hoenikker worked at. When John was writing his book about the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, he interviewed Asa, though Asa did not want to answer many questions because he thought John would portray scientists in a negative light. Asa told John about Felix’s idea to create ice-nine, though he denied that Felix had succeeded in doing so. Asa was in love with Emily and was rumored to be the true father of her children.

“Papa” Monzano

Monzano is the dictator of San Lorenzo and the adoptive father of the beautiful Mona, whom he only adopted because he thought her beauty would win him popularity. When John arrived on San Lorenzo, Monzano was dying of cancer and wanted Frank to secede him as president. He is a cruel and greedy man who showers himself in luxury as the other people of San Lorenzo live in poverty all around him. He believes in Bokononism though he prosecutes others who believe. He ends his life with ice-nine when he is driven out of his mind with pain from the cancer.

Mona Aamons Monzano

Mona is the beautiful, adopted daughter of “Papa” Monzano; her birth father was a Finnish architect called Nestor Aamons. John saw a photo of Mona and instantly fell in love with her; he took a job writing an article about Julian Castle just so he could visit the island and meet her. Bokonon prophesized that Mona would be married to the future president of San Lorenzo. This was supposed to be Frank, but John gladly took over the position, so he could marry Mona.

Julian Castle

Julian Castle was an immensely wealthy man who had spent the first forty years of his life living frivolously. He created the Castle Sugar Corporation on San Lorenzo, though he gladly shut it down when Bokonon arrived with the notion of creating a utopian society as the corporation was not making a profit anyway. He then turned to a life of charity and built a hospital for the people of San Lorenzo. John’s purpose on San Lorenzo was to write an article about Julian, though he decides to leave out Julian’s philosophy on the meaninglessness of life.

Philip Castle

Philip is the son of Julian Castle. He was friends with Mona from a young age, and they were engaged for a brief time. Philip wrote an unpublished manuscript on the history of San Lorenzo, which John read on the plane. On the island Philip built a hotel called the Casa Mona, and he created a mosaic of the beautiful Mona inside the hotel. Claire Minton makes the observation that Philip has a strained relationship with his father, is in love with Mona, and is a closeted homosexual, after she reads the index to his manuscript.

H. Lowe and Hazel Crosby

Lowe and Hazel are a couple who John met on the plane to San Lorenzo. Their purpose on San Lorenzo is to find a place to set up their bicycle manufacturing business, free from the labor regulations of the United States. They are gossipy, telling John about punishment on San Lorenzo via “the hook” and the rumor that Horlick Minton is a Communist. Hazel is obsessed with Hoosiers, who have achieved success, which is her granfalloon, according to John.

Horlick and Claire Minton

The Mintons are a dupress, a karass made of only two people, who John meets on the plane to San Lorenzo. They seem mostly concerned with only each other, which John notes is a sign of their strength. Horlick is set to be the American ambassador to San Lorenzo and when they arrive he gives a speech about the dangers of patriotism. Claire Minton introduces John to the manuscript of Philip Castle, which teaches him about the history of San Lorenzo and Bokononism.

Edward McCabe

Edward McCabe was a marine who had hired Bokonon to bring him to Miami, though they crash-landed on San Lorenzo instead. While Bokonon created religion McCabe took control of the government and finances, though he knew his attempts at bettering life on the island would be futile. He outlawed Bokononism to generate interest in the religion and began prosecuting those who were caught practicing the religion by impaling them with “the hook”. When McCabe died, “Papa” Monzano took over as leader.