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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sirens of Titan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Free Will vs. External Control
Religion and the Search for Meaning
Wealth, Power, and Inequality
Human Intelligence, Foolishness, and Hubris
Summary
Analysis
Rumfoord gives a sermon about the repellant awfulness of Malachi Constant. He explains that Constant did not earn his fortune, and used it to demonstrate that humanity was greedy, selfish, careless, and immoral. Rumfoord emphasizes that luck is not the will of God, and actually has nothing to do with God. Rumfoord then calls on the Space Wanderer, asking him yet again to tell the crowd about what happened to him. The Space Wanderer repeats his line about being a victim of a series of accidents. The crowd is silent, not for lack of agreement but because they are totally rapt and do not want to miss a signal word the Space Wanderer says.
By this point it has become abundantly clear that Rumfoord resents and even despises Constant/Unk/the Space Wanderer because of his unexplained luck. Yet why Rumfoord is so offended by the idea of luck still remains unclear. Rumfoord’s good fortune is, of course, a form of luck itself—he happened to be born into the American elite, ensuring a life of money and power. However, he clearly does not interpret his life this way.
Themes
Rumfoord asks if the Space Wanderer would like to reveal the name he was given at birth, and then reveals that his name was Malachi Constant. The crowd absorbs this shocking news, reflecting on how they treated the Malachis, which many believed did not deserve to be hanged. Rumfoord announces that Constant will momentarily be placed in a spaceship heading for Titan, where he will live in peaceful exile from Earth. Constant’s first fear is that he won’t be able to walk to the spaceship properly with everyone watching him. However, Rumfoord—having read Constant’s mind—assures him he will be fine. As Constant walks, he is shocked to find that he is receiving signals through his antenna for the first time in years.
Perhaps the ghostly signals that Constant feels in his antenna are a reminder—either symbolic or literal—that he is now firmly back under Rumfoord’s control (although it is debatable whether there was ever a point at which Constant escaped this control in the first place). Indeed, the reminder that Rumfoord can read Constant’s mind reiterates the frightening totality of his control over everyone around him.
Themes
A microphone dangles in front of Constant’s face, and Rumfoord asks if he has anything to say to the crowd. Timidly, Constant says he doesn’t understand anything that’s happened to him. Rumfoord replies that if Constant feels he has been treated unjustly, all he has to do is name one good thing he’s done in his life. Constant racks his brain, and eventually says, “I had a friend.” Speaking about Stony makes him feel overwhelmed with happiness. Rumfoord asks if Constant remembers performing an execution on Mars. Constant has tried to suppress the memory, but says he thinks he remembers. Rumfoord informs him that the man he killed was Stony.
The surprisingly moving and tragic assertion Constant makes in this chapter illustrates one of the most important motifs of the novel: the value of friendship. When thinking of moral acts, friendship might not necessarily be the first thing that comes to mind. Yet in Constant’s mind, his friendship is the only redeeming thing about him. Of course, the question remains; can Constant be blamed for killing Stony?
Themes
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Constant weeps and climbs up the tree ladder. At the top, Rumfoord tells him to wait, as Bee and Chrono will shortly join him. Rumfoord then reveals that Bee’s actual identity is Beatrice Rumfoord. The crowd murmurs in shock. Rumfoord invites the crowd to hate Beatrice just as they have been hating Constant. Once Beatrice reaches the top, she tells Rumfoord that she doesn’t remember anything about her time as mistress of the estate, but that it makes her proud anyway. She finds humanity disgusting and is proud to distance herself from it. She and Chrono then board the spaceship. On board, they find the ship a mess, with empty liquor bottles, clam shells, and even a bra lying around. On the wall someone has written Bud and Sylvia in lipstick.
While most of Beatrice’s knowledge, personality, and memories have been wiped away, her aristocratic haughtiness remains. Whether this is comforting or disturbing is up to the reader to decide. Yet there is certainly something comical about the fact that, even if she remembers nothing else, Beatrice remembers the disdain she feels for those she considers inferior to her.
Themes
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