Cat’s Cradle Chap 18-34

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?

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