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Chapter 72
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cat’s Cradle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Morality
Religion
Governance, Politics, and Nationhood
Absurdity and Meaninglessness
Summary
Analysis
John returns to his room, finding Philip Castle there installing a roll of toilet paper. Philip complains about the hotel, wondering why he built it. He says he had to choose between being “a hermit” or opening a hotel.
Philip clearly feels disenfranchised, because he no longer buys into either the myths of America or the myths of San Lorenzo. He is a distinctly absurdist figure.
Themes
John asks Philip about his upbringing at Julian Castle’s hospital, and more generally about Julian’s character. Philip describes his father as “funny.” He tells a story about a time when the bubonic plague came to San Lorenzo. Fourteen hundred people died horrific deaths in the space of ten days.
This story represents one of the peaks in the novel’s absurdist humor.
Themes
The story is interrupted by a phone call to the room; Philip didn’t realize the phones were connected yet. On the phone, Frank tells John in a panic that he needs him to come to his house immediately.
The fact that the phone rings even though Philip hadn’t connected it is a little comic detail that reminds the reader that this is a novel about humanity, not realism.
Themes
Philip goes back to the story. After trying to treat the plague victims, Julian and Philip walked through the hospital, finding dead body after dead body. Julian was giggling. He made his torchlight dance over the dead bodies and said to Philip: “Son … someday this will all be yours.”
Julian’s behavior is obviously absurd, but it masks a deeper point. Julian represents one view of humanity, which is that each generation merely passes on the baton of misery to the next; this contrasts with the alternative view put forward by some of the other characters: that the human race is on an upward historical arc of progress.
Themes
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