Cassi’s Blog

Summary

Right before Dr. Felix Hoenikker’s death he was trying to destroy the ice-nine in his kitchen. The dog licked the ice-nine and was frozen stiff and put him in the oven because they didn’t know what else to do. AH! A plane blew up and then a rock slide wiping out  tower of papa’s castle and down with it it took the Minton’s. The golden raft was sent to the sea and the world was to end as the sea turned to ice-nine. But Jonah and Mona escaped to a bomb shelter made by Papa. They found people that killed themselves with ice-nine in a clearing and a note from Bokonon himself. Mona killed herself as well. Bokonon wrote his last words of the Books of Bokonon.

Vocabulary

Tableau: a picture, as of a scene. 

Pyre: a pile or heap of wood or other combustible material.

Albatross: any of several large, web-footed sea birds of the family Diomedeidae that have the ability to remain aloft for long periods.

Questions

1. They say that his father was stiff too, does that mean that his father died from the ice-nine too are he was just stiff from being dead?

2. Why were the Minton’s waving and not scanvenging to get to safety?

3. Why did Mona find this comical? I don’t think wanting someone back alive would have anything to do with wanting them dead.

Summary

Jonah almost lost Mona because he was being a sin-what. Jonah is taking on the presidency of San Lorenzo and is now condoning it quiet passionately. “Papa Monzano was the first man in history to die of ice-nine.”(p. 159) Then Dr. Koenigswald tasted the ice-nine and fell to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. Jonah had finally seen ice-nine. Angela and Newt’s lovers were spies and also know about the ice-nine and have it with them.

Vocabulary

Oubliette: a dungeon with a trap door in the middle of it.

Marimba: a drum.

Parapets: A low protective wall or railing along the edge of a raised structure such as a roof or balcony. 

Questions

1.Why would Jonah want to climb the mountain?

2. Why are we only allowed to love one person in the Christan religion?

3. Did Frank create ice nine?

Summary

First we find out why Bokononism is banned on San Lorenzo and why Bokonon himself is wanted by the government. It turns out that he and McCabe planned it so that way they could add some zest to the peoples’ lives. They made fake attempts to catch Bokonon and decided that the hook would be their form of punishment. When Jonah is staying at Frank’s house with Angela, Newt, and Julian Castle, Frank is eager to tell him about his fate or “zah-mah-ki-bo”. Apparently, since Papa Monzana just died of cancer Frank wants Jonah to become the new present of San Lorenzo so they can work together. And, Jonah now has the opportunity to marry Mona. <3

Vocabulary

cantilevered: to support by a cantilever

apoplexy: to cripple by a stroke

 chagrin: disquietude or distress of mind caused by humiliation, disappointment, or failure

Questions

1. Is Jonah going to go find Felix’s brother and sister?

 2. Why is it that the Bokononists believe in loving everybody the same?

3. Why are Phillip and Julian Castle so unalike?

Summary

Crosby, Newt, and Jonah all went to Cornell. They make it to the island and are greeted by Papa Monzano, his daughter, and Frank H. Papa was sent to the hospital with a unknown sickness. We are introduced to Phillip Castle and his Father. Newt’s cats cradle drawing is taken in many different views and got me thinking.

Vocabulary

amateurish: lacking professional skill or expertise; “a very amateurish job”; “inexpert but conscientious efforts”; “an unskilled painting” 

amiability: having or showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities; affable

irreverence: the quality of being irreverent; lack of reverence or respect.

Questions

1. How could she tell by the index that he was a homosexual? (that blows my mind)

2. What is the meaning of the band in when the people get off the plane when they get to San Lorenzo?

3. Who are the Martyrs to Democracy? (i read what the cab driver said but i still don’t understand).

HeHe he Crosby said, “boob.” (p.92)

boko-maru: the mingling of awareness. 

Summary

Jonah went into the hobby shop where Frank H. used to work and saw the model of the nation that he built for a someday place. After some time he found where frank was located in the newspaper one day, he was on the island of San Lorenzo. On his flight there Jonah was introduced to the books of Bokonon in a manuscript that he received from the Minton’s. He saw Angela and Newt H. also on the plane heading to Frank’s wedding reception.

Vocabulary

cadaverous: of or like a corpse

nihilism:total rejection of established laws and institutions.

chagrin: a feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or humiliation.

larynx:  a muscular and cartilaginous structure lined with mucous membrane at the upper part of the trachea in humans, in which the vocal cords are located.

Questions

1. How did just now in the story did the people think Frank wasnt dead and living in San Lorenzo?

2. It seems, according to the manuscript, that everyone is connected in some way in San Lorenzo.

3. What is the significance of the, “hook,” in the story?

Summary

Jonah is interviewing Dr. Breed and is a little tipsy and lets it get to him and causes Dr. Breed to abruptly end the interview. Ice nine does exist but only the Hoenikkers know about it. Faust showed him around a little bit and filled him in more on Dr. H. Jonah visits Mr. and Mrs. Hoenikker’s graves. While there he starts talking with the grounds keeper for the cemetery who so happens to be Dr. Breed’s brother, Marvin Breed.  

Vocabulary

Chortled: to chuckle gleefully. 

Nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust.

Waning: to decrease in strength, intensity, etc

Whirr: make a soft swishing sound  

Questions

1. What was Emily’s outlook on dating both Breed’s and Dr. Hoenikker?

2. Why did Frank leave before the funeral was even over?

3. What is the significance of the driver being at the gravesite asking about the angel tombstone?

Summary

Newt runs off with an old ukranian midget dancer. Jonah meets  Dr. Breed, Felix Hoenikker’s supervisor from back in the day, a whore in a bar, and a bartender that are also affiliated with Mr. H. Come to find out, that Emily Hoenikker died because she injured her pelvis in a car accident and died giving birth to Newt. Jonah spends most of his time with Dr. Breed, going to work with him, and learning more about what scientists do.

Vocabulary

Apathies: absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.

Perversions:  A sexual practice or act considered abnormal or deviant

Garish: crudely or tastelessly colorful, showy, or elaborate, as clothes or decoration.

Tomfoolery: a silly act, matter, or thing. 

Charlatan: a person who pretends to more knowledge or skill than he or she possesses; quack.

Questions

1. What exactly is the Girl Pool?

2. What really was Dr. Breed and Emily H.’s relationship?

3. What really happened to Frank?

Summary

Jonah started the reaserch for his book on the August 6, 1945 dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. He wrote a letter to the son of the man who invented the atomic bomb, Dr. Hoenikker. His son responded with plenty of feed back on his father’s unsociable life and speaks about the segnificants of, “cat’s cradel.”

Vocabulary

Karass: a spontaneously forming group.

Illustrious: glorious, or highly distinguished.

Questions:

1. Why was the Dr. so impersonal even with his family?

2. Why does Jonah want to get all this information and write a book about the behind the scenes of making the atomic bomb?

3. Why does the writting go from first person to 2nd person to 3rd person back to 1st person?

Summary

The story starts out with a cute anecdote about about the main character’s name being Jonah. He is a Bokononist and talks a little bit about his religion. He lays out a random poem in the middle of chapter two. Then he goes on to talking about his family and his past experiences.

Vocabulary

Conveyance: Transfer of title to property from one person to another.

Episcopalian: pertaining or adhering to the Episcopal Church in America.

Tendrils: A twisting, threadlike structure by which a twining plant, such as a grape or cucumber, grasps an object or a plant for support.

Questions

1. What tense is this story being told in?

2. Why are the chapters so short?

3. What caused Jonah to become a Bokononist?