Dec 14, 2009

Cat's Cradle | Characters

John, the novel's narrator, opens by echoing Moby-Dick (Melville, 1851) with the line, "Call me Jonah," an allusion that connects him with the Biblical story of rebellion and suffering as well as with Melville's Ishmael, a prophet tempered by affliction. Like Melville's narrator, John's function is to observe, and he remains after the apocalypse to tell the tale.

Other characters in the novel exhibit various forms of deception. Dr. Hoenikker epitomizes self-deceived intellect untempered by human feelings. His misshapen children (the amoral Franklin, the horse-faced...