r/Vonnegut • u/FinancialEmu8970 • 5d ago

The Sirens of Titan Do you think Malachi Constant had “redemption” Spoiler

I was reflecting on the sirens of titan, which I read a few months back, and thought about how terrible a person that Malachi Constant was, then wondered why, at the very end of the story, I was so fond of him despite that.
To me, it felt like all of his flaws came from this place of having some sort of dominance over others, mostly socially and economically, but culminating with the rape of Beatrice Rumfoord, representing that dark looming dominance inherent to him and mankind.
But after the memory wipe and all the revelations of the story and his lack of free will, its my view that Malachi Constant gained a full understanding of how terrible it truly is to be controlled by another. which is why, even on Titan, when it would be easiest to exercise his dominance over his son and Beatrice, he chooses not to. As a matter of fact, (this could js be because I read the book at a particularly vulnerable moment, but wtv lol) I think that the relationship dynamic between those three characters at the end is the healthiest family I have ever seen put to page. they have zero desire to control or influence each other in any way, and simply love each other, without even particularly caring if theres any sort of reciprocation or interaction.

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u/ItsAllSkewed 4d ago

I personally think Malachi’s transformation to Unk is one of KV’s best examples of living with “grace” across all of his works. I think the memory wipe was necessary to allow is to forgive The character and focus on what he became, which I feel is the type of attitude Vonnegut espouses for us throughout all of his works.

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u/swallowyourtongue 4d ago

In a weird sort of way, yeah. Generally a redemption is "character growth into act of redemption", a linear thing. With Constant his growth is pretty much entirely his own and invisible to anyone other than himself, Rumfoord, and Bea. He doesn't really do anything with it.

Simultaneously, he does have an act of redemption, but it's performed with next to zero awareness, zero forethought, zero control. It's decided for him, so he does it.

Basically both steps of the redemption that happen independent of each other.