A: Jonah’s interview with Dr. Breed turns sour and he is asked to leave, but before this happens Jonah learns about ice-9 from Dr. Breed. It is a story meant to tell us of the way Dr. H thought but it turns out that ice-9 exists and a little piece of it is with each of the Hoenikker children. Wampeters are things that a karass can be centered around. Jonah explains how the ice-9 is a wampeter of his karass. Jonah is led by a woman out of the laboratories but before he leaves he convinces her to show him Dr. H’s lab. In there she tells him how he was a fan of cannon balls stacked on lawns. The elevator they take to exit the building is staffed by a very odd man who is not very important to the story, at least not now. Jonah goes to the Honneiker burial plot with a cab driver and finds a huge monument to the Dr.’s late wife and a small marker for himself. The cab driver asks to go to the marker shop close by and Jonah reluctantly agrees. When they get there he learns that the shop owner is the brother of Dr. Breed. He explains the grave markers. As they turn to leave a maker is discovered that a marker had been purchased by Jonah’s ancestors and it reads his name.
B: Piquant- engagingly provocative
Winsome- generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence
Miasma- an influence or atmosphere that tends to deplete or corrupt
C: Why didn’t Dr. H tell Dr. Breed about ice-9?
What relationship do the cannon balls have to do with the story?
A: Chapter 7 is Newt’s postscripts to his letter. He says he is not being allowed entry into the fraternity. He also explains why his family isn’t fitting for Jonah’s description of illustrious. And in the third and final postscript Newt announces that he is engaged to be married. Jonah soon discovers that the woman Newt was to marry has run off after her identity became known. The woman was Zinka, a Ukrainian ballet dancer who lied about her age. Jonah journeys to Illium, the previous home of the Honneikers, and continues his research while he is there. He meets with the Dr.’s Colleague Dr. Breed. Here he learns about the research side of the story. At his hotel he meets a prostitute and a bar tender and learns more.
B: Sordid- marked by baseness or grossness
Desiccated- to drain of emotional or intellectual vitality
Dulcitude- sweetness
C: Did Newt know of Zinka’s true identity?
Why did the prostitute feel so harshly against Frank Honneiker?
A: in this section Jonah talks more in depth about his karass. He informs us that Dr. Honneiker, the father of the atom bomb, as well as his own children are a member of Jonah’s karass. To continue his research Jonah decides to write a letter to Newt Honnieker. Newt is pledging a fraternity to which Jonah belonged. Newt replies to this letter with an interesting insight into the Dr.’s family and research. Jonah learns about the other Honnieker children as well. From this letter we know that Dr. Honnieker is a very peculiar man. The most vivid story is of Dr. H playing with a Cat’s Cradle in front of Newt. Newt becomes scared and runs away. The description of the doctor is frightening and the story that ensues is comical. Newt’s letter is interrupted by his roommates sleep schedule but as a whole is very important information wise to the book.
B: Tendril-a leaf, stipule, or stem modified into a slender spirally coiling sensitive organ serving to attach a climbing plant to its support
Flue-a channel in a chimney for conveying flame and smoke to the outer air
Spiraea-any of a genus (Spiraea) of deciduous shrubs of the rose family with small
usually white or pink flowers in dense racemes, corymbs, cymes, or panicles
C: Where is Frank Honneiker?
Why does Dr. Honneiker treat Angela so poorly, does he realize the toll his actions take on her?
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