''Galápagos'' (1985) is the eleventh novel published by American author

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

. Set in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

after a global financial disaster, the novel questions the merit of the human brain from an evolutionary perspective. The title is both a reference to the islands on which part of the story plays out, and a tribute to

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

, on whose theory Vonnegut relies to reach his own conclusions. It was published by

Delacorte Press Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

Plot summary

''Galápagos'' is the story of a small band of mismatched humans who are shipwrecked on the fictional island of Santa Rosalia in the

after a global financial crisis cripples the world's economy. Shortly thereafter, a disease renders all humans on Earth infertile, with the exception of the people on Santa Rosalia, making them the last specimens of humankind. Over the next million years, their descendants, the only fertile humans left on the planet, eventually evolve into a furry species resembling

sea lions Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

: though possibly still able to walk upright (it is not explicitly mentioned, but it is stated that they occasionally catch land animals), they have a snout with teeth adapted for catching fish, a streamlined skull and flipper-like hands with rudimentary fingers (described as " nubbins"). The story's narrator is a spirit who has been watching over humans for the last million years. This particular ghost is the immortal spirit of Leon Trotsky Trout, son of Vonnegut's recurring character

Kilgore Trout Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut. In Vonnegut's work, Trout is a notably unsuccessful author of paperback science fiction novels. "Trout" was inspired by the name of the author Theodore Sturgeon (Vonnegut's ...

. Leon is a

Vietnam War veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and ot ...

who is affected by the massacres in Vietnam. He goes

AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

and settles in Sweden, where he works as a shipbuilder and dies during the construction of the ship, the ''Bahía de Darwin''. This ship is used for the "Nature Cruise of the Century". Planned as a celebrity cruise, it was in limbo due to the economic downturn, and due to a chain of unconnected events the ship ended up allowing humans to reach and survive in the Galápagos. A group of girls from a

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...

tribe living in the Amazon rainforest, called the Kanka-bono girls also end up on the ship, eventually having numerous children with the ship's captain. The deceased Kilgore Trout makes four appearances in the novel, urging his son to enter the "blue tunnel" that leads to the afterlife. When Leon refuses for the fourth time, Kilgore pledges that he, and the blue tunnel, will not return for one million years, which leaves Leon to observe the slow process of evolution that transforms the humans into aquatic mammals. The process begins when a Japanese woman on the island, the granddaughter of a Hiroshima survivor, gives birth to a fur-covered daughter. Trout maintains that all the sorrows of humankind were caused by "the only true villain in my story: the oversized human brain".

Natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Cha ...

eliminates this problem, since the humans best fitted to Santa Rosalia were those who could swim best, which required a streamlined head, which in turn required a smaller brain.

Main characters

* Leon Trout, dead narrator and son of Kilgore Trout * Hernando Cruz, first mate of the Bahía de Darwin * Mary Hepburn, an American widow who teaches at Ilium High School * the Kanka-bono girls, a group of young girls from a cannibal tribe living in the Amazon rainforest * Roy Hepburn, Mary's husband who died in 1985 from a brain tumor * Akiko Hiroguchi, the daughter of Hisako that will be born with fur covering her entire body * Hisako Hiroguchi, a teacher of

ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It is also known as . The tradition dates back to Heian period, when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, flower arrangements were instead used to adorn the (alcove) of a traditional Japan ...

and Zenji's pregnant wife * Zenji Hiroguchi, a Japanese computer genius who invented the voice translator Gokubi and its successor Mandarax * Bobby King, publicity man and organizer of the "Nature Cruise of the Century" * Andrew MacIntosh, an American financier and adventurer of great inherited wealth * Selena MacIntosh, Andrew's blind daughter, eighteen years old * Jesús Ortiz, a talented Inca waiter who looks up to wealthy and powerful people * Adolf von Kleist, captain of Bahía de Darwin who doesn't really know how to steer the ship * Siegfried von Kleist, brother of Adolf and carrier of

Huntington's chorea Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

who temporarily takes care of the reception at hotel El Dorado * James Wait, a 35-year-old American swindler * Pvt. Geraldo Delgado, an Ecuadorian soldier

Literary techniques

Form

The main storyline is told chronologically, but the author frequently mentions the outcome of future events (referring to 1986 as being one million years in the past). The most obvious example of this is the inclusion of an asterisk in front of a character's name if he or she will die before sunset.

Quotations

The novel contains a large number of quotations from other authors. They are related to the story itself and are functionally inserted through Mandarax, a fictional voice translator that is also able to provide quotations from literature and history. The following authors are quoted (in order of their appearance in the book):

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book '' The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by ...

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

, Noble Claggett, John Greenleaf Whittier,

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

John Heywood John Heywood (c. 1497 – c. 1580) was an English writer known for his plays, poems, and collection of proverbs. Although he is best known as a playwright, he was also active as a musician and composer, though no musical works survive. A devout ...

, Cesare Bonesana Beccaria, Bertolt Brecht, Saint John,

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, Robert Browning, Jean de La Fontaine, François Rabelais, Patrick R. Chalmers, Michel de Montaigne, Joseph Conrad,

George William Curtis George William Curtis (February 24, 1824 – August 31, 1892) was an American writer and public speaker born in Providence, Rhode Island. An early Republican, he spoke in favor of African-American equality and civil rights both before and after ...

, Samuel Butler, T. S. Eliot,

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

, Oscar Hammerstein II,

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

Charles E. Carryl Charles Edward Carryl (December 30, 1841 – July 3, 1920 Contains information from the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography''.) was an American children's literature author. Biography Born in New York, Carryl became a second-generation successfu ...

, Samuel Johnson,

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

, Edward Lear, Henry David Thoreau,

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

, Robert Frost, and

Adaptations

In 2009,

Audible.com Audible is an American online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken word content. This content can be purchased individually or under a subscription model where the user receiv ...

produced an audio version of ''Galapagos'', narrated by

Jonathan Davis Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD or JDevil, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, who are considered a pioneering act of the nu ...

, as part of its ''Modern Vanguard'' line of audiobooks. In 2014, artists Tucker Marder and

Christian Scheider Christian Scheider (born January 20, 1990) is an American writer, filmmaker, and stage artist. Early life Scheider was born in New York City, the son of actor Roy Scheider and actress Brenda Siemer. Christian Scheider is a graduate of Bard Colle ...

adapted "Galapagos" into a live theatrical performance at the new

Parrish Art Museum The Parrish Art Museum is an art museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architects and located in Water Mill, New York, whereto it moved in 2012 from Southampton Village. The museum focuses extensively on work by artists from the artist colony o ...

in Watermill, N.Y. Endorsed by the

Estate, the multi-media production featured 26 performers including Bob Balaban; live orchestral underscoring composed and conducted by Forrest Gray featuring Max Feldschuh on vibraphone and Ken Sacks on mbira; animal costumes by Isla Hansen; a three-story scenic design by Shelby Jackson; experimental video projections by James Bayard; and choreography by Matt Davies. In 2019, Canadian band The PepTides released a ten-song collection titled "Galápagos Vol.1", inspired by the themes and characters in Galápagos.

References

* * Vonnegut, Kurt. ''Galápagos.'' New York: Dell Publishing, 1999. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Galapagos 1985 American novels American post-apocalyptic novels Evolution in popular culture Galápagos Islands Ghost narrator Human-derived fictional species Novels by Kurt Vonnegut Novels set in Ecuador Novels set on islands Postmodern novels Science fantasy novels Speculative evolution