1. Summary
1.1. The story follows Malachi Constant, at one time the richest man in the world, which he attributes to divine luck, and his journey from Earth, to Mars, to Mercury, and finally to the moon Titan.
1.1.1. Earth
1.1.1.1. In the beginning of the book, Malachi Constant is the richest man in America, with a net worth of $3 billion. He is called to the house of Mrs. Winston Niles Rumfoord where he is met by a recently materialized Winston Niles Rumfoord. There he is told of his future and the planets that he will visit, culminating in Rumfoord showing him a picture of three women, the most beautiful women that ever exist, The Sirens of Titan. Then Malachi is met by two agents who tell him they have a business opposition.
1.1.2. Mars
1.1.2.1. The story then picks up with Unk, a soldier in the Army of Mars, and he is executing another soldier. The entire army is mind controlled by small implants in their brains and they are commanded by a select few "real commanders" low level soldiers without implants that actually have the power. The Army of Mars only exists to invade Earth, with not past except that they will attack. It is also shown that the Martians soldiers, actually Earth people, is very unequipped. It is revealed that Unk has been mind-wiped a couple of times, and that there is a small note hidden somewhere on Mars that he should read. Once reading the note, Unk learns that there is much more to Mars and that he was once very wealthy on Earth, which reveals that he actually Malachi. Unbeknownst to Unk, the man he executed is actually Stony Stevenson, his "best and only friend", but this is not revealed to Unk because he would have killed himself. Unk is met back up with Boaz, a "real commander", his buddy. Unk then sets off to search for his mate and his son, while the Army sets off for the invasion. After a long chase, Unk is finally met up with Winston Niles Rumfooord and Boaz and they board their ship far behind the rest of the Army. Their ship will eventually veer off course and go to Mercury because this is what Rumfoord had planned for his was behind the entire invasion.
1.1.3. Mercury
1.1.3.1. Once Unk and Boaz reach Mercury, it is revealed that the entire Army of Mars was annihilated by nuclear weapons in space, and any ships that made it to the surface were quickly decimated by not the army, but citizens. This will allow the entire planet to unite together, for they recognize that they killed hundreds of thousands of humans and thought the guidance of Rumfoord, will eventually unite together under his religion. But on Mercury, Unk and Boaz are stranded, and Unk goes off to discover the planet while Boaz stays there. After some time Rumfoord has told Unk how to return to Earth, and Unk does while Boaz stays behind.
1.1.4. Earth
1.1.4.1. On Earth, the religion of the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent is shown, and it was foretold that the Space Wanderer (Unk) will arrive at a town, which he does. He is then brought to Rumfoords house where the entire story started and meets him and his mate and his son, he is then revealed to the world that he is actually Malachi Constant, the most hated man in the religion because of all of his luck, a shunned principle. Malachi is then sent to the planet Titan with his mate and his son.
1.1.5. Titan
1.1.5.1. Once on Titan, Malachi meets Salo the alien, and Rumfoord who is permanently on the planet. Salo's past is revealed and Rumfoord's fluidity in space time is disrupted and he is flung into space. Salo is then deconstructed because he had failed his directive and is then over many years is rebuilt by Malachi. Then many years later Malachi's mate dies and Salo comes back to life.
1.1.6. Earth
1.1.6.1. Salo then offers to bring Malachi back to Earth before he dies, and Malachi agrees. On the way back Salo hypnotizes Malachi so that he will be at peace when he dies, and due to the Chekov's Principle, he subsequently dies in Minnesota from cold, and he sees his friend Stony Stevenson and is taken up to heaven, but it is never explained wether it was in his head, or heaven was real.
2. Characters
2.1. Winston Niles Rumfoord
2.1.1. Along with his dog Kozak, entered a chrono-synclastic indifibulum and subsequently became fluid in the space time continuum. Because of this he was simultaneously in the past present and future, allowing him to alter events and control people in order to change the purpose of the human race. He appears on Earth once every 59 days, but is always present on the moon Titan, and has been for many years, because it falls between the chromo-synclastic indifibulum's origin the sun and its relay within Betelgeuse. Rumfoord is an extended metaphor to a higher being than all others because of his omnipotence in the affairs of the human race and its future.
2.2. Malachi Constant/Unk/Space Wanderer
2.2.1. Malachi at one time was the richest man in America, much of his wealth he attributes to "someone up there liking him" because of his enormous good luck. Once meeting Rumfoord, the rest of his life is revealed to him through essentially a map, with him being traveling to Mars, then to Mercury, back to Earth, and finally to Titan. Malachi serves as a catalyst for many events, eventually is sent off of Earth as part of Rumfoord's plan. During the book, there is an illusion of free will on his part, but, until the very end he is merely a puppet in Rumfoord's plan, with every major even in his life after meeting Rumfoord utterly out of his control.
2.3. Mrs. Winston Niles Rumfoord/Beatrice
2.3.1. Beatrice was Winston Niles Rumfoord's wife on Earth before he went into the chromo-synclastic indifibulum, and was prophesied to be Malachi's mate. She was brought to Mars, and was part of the last wave of women and children sent to invade, being one of the few survivors, her and her son, Chrono, were sent to Titan with Malachi.
2.4. Boaz
2.4.1. Boaz was one of the "real commanders" on Mars, a select few who did not have a mind control implant or brain wipe. He was sent to Mercury with Malachi and opted to stay there because he could bring joy to the beings that inhabit the caverns of Mercury.
3. Themes
3.1. Religion
3.1.1. Religion is a major part of the story for many reasons. In real life, religion is a very large part of peoples lives, bringing groups of people, but those people are united within their religion, but divided among other religions. This is brought into question when Rumfoord "invades" Earth with the Army of Mars, and brings along world peace by destroying all nuclear weapons and sacrificing hundreds of thousands of innocent brainwashed humans. In doing this he is able to bring the world together in the religion of God the Utterly Indifferent. This religion is a satire of modern religions, with the belief that God does not affect our world in any way shape or form, and all things that happen are coincidences. In the words of the Space Wanderer (Malachi Constant) "I am a victim of a series of accidents, as we all are.". Along with the satire of religion, Vonnegut attempts to create a solution to many of the problems we face today in an interesting way. In the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, all people are required to wear a handicap, of some sort, so that all were equal in the race of life, not economically, but mentally, and the purpose was that "nobody took advantage of anyone anymore," and the entire Earth is at peace." Religion is finally shown at the very end of the book where Malachi is finally brought back to Earth, where he dies and is brought to Paradise by his friend Stony Stevenson. The major problem is Salo the Tralfamadorian hypnotized him so his final moments where at peace, representing that there was no heaven, just what we make of ourselves.
3.2. Free Will
3.2.1. Free will is very often brought into question because, in the words of Winston Niles Rumfoord "Everything that will happen has already Happened". This is shown throughout the book as Winston Niles Rumfoord having control of humanities future throughout his actions with the Army of Mars, and uniting the human race through religion. This notion is subsequently overshadowed by the revelation that all of humanities advancements in history was the planet Tralfamadore attempting to get in contact with the alien Salo and help him retrieve a small broken piece of his space ship.
3.3. Inherent Omniscience
3.3.1. Inherent omniscience is the notion that one has the ability to know anything one want so know and anything that can be known. This would allow that person to control their life and all around them, and in Rumfoords case, without their knowlege. This is also a major theme because a basis of the religion followed by all humanity is based off of the fact that there is not omnipresent God, and also acknowledging that Rumfoord is the only one that seems to know everything. This is also shown with Rumfoord's creation and eventual sacrifice of the entire Army of Mars for his master plan.
4. Literary Devices
4.1. Satire
4.1.1. Satire is a major theme in the book because there is a heavy satire to many things, with religion being the most prominent. The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. This religion is very both a satire and a proposed solution to Earths problems by Vonnegut. It is based around the notion that God created the universe and then proceeded to not care in the least bit about anything that happens and not affect anything, and that everything that happens is an udder coincidence; an opposite to many of current regions that believe a god is still very present in all things. This has another side to it, because with this religion Winston Niles Rumfoord uniting the entire planet peacefully, with the catalyst being the invasion of the Army of Mars, which simultaneously destroyed all nuclear weapons on Earth and united the governments of the world. This entire religion is making fun of, so to speak, of all regions because most modern religions do not unite universally and believe in a omnipresent god.
4.2. Extended Metaphor
4.2.1. There are many themes and characters that are an extended metaphor for various religious icons, along with, within the book, disproving religion. For example, Winston Niles Rumfoord is a metaphor for God, with him the backbone for every single event on Earth and Mars after his accident with the indifibulum as shown by his omniscience. Another example is the sad plight of Malachi Constant; Malachi is the metaphorical embodiment of a devil, for he stood against everything that the people believed in on Earth after his return, and was banished from the planet. Even though he was not an evil person, he was the poster boy for a way of life that was no more. The Army of Mars is symbolic of Jesus Christ, for they were sacrificed to change the world for the better, with a select few survivors that spread the word about their plight, along with a book written by Rumfoord explaining the History of Mars.