Cat’s Cradle Chapter 37. A Modern Major General Summary & Analysis

John returns to his main narrative. One day, he finds a magazine supplement advertising “The Republic of San Lorenzo,” a Caribbean nation described as “healthy, happy, progressive, freedom-loving, beautiful nation … extremely attractive to American investors and tourists alike.”

As the reader later learns, San Lorenzo is none of these things. The specific appeal to Americans sets up the way San Lorenzo functions as a mirror to American and, more generally, Western society.

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On the cover of the supplement is Mona Aamons Monzano, whom John says he falls in love with immediately. Inside, he reads a portrait of the island’s dictator, “Papa” Monzano. John is astonished to find a picture in the supplement of Frank Hoenikker, who is mentioned as the “Minister of Science and Progress in the Republic of San Lorenzo.”

The entire story functions by way of intentionally absurd coincidences (in this case John finding Frank in the magazine). The job title given to Frank is another of Vonnegut’s ironic jokes, as its Frank’s “science” that brings about the end’s apocalyptic scenario (which doesn’t look like “progress” at all).

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Cat’s Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut

Cat’s Cradle: Chapter 37 Summary & Analysis