Reasons for Human Population on Santa Rosalia
The fact that the island was remote and uninhabited, the Captain wasincompetent, the colonists were flexible, and Mary Hepburn had a geniusplan of artificial insemination all kept the population of humans on Santa The Galapagos islands, being located west of the Peruvian coast,"separated from the mainland by one thousand kilometers of very deep water,very cold water fresh from the Antarctic" (Vonnegut 3). The islands aredescribed as a "sailor's nightmare where the bits of land were mockeries,without safe anchorage or shade or sweet water or dangling fruit, or humanbeing of any kind" (17). Santa Rosalia was the "northernmost of theislands, so all alone, so far from the rest" (43). However remote, theislands were mysteriously occupied with life forms such as geckos, ricerats, lava lizards, spiders, ants, grasshoppers, and tortoises. WhatDarwin referred to as magic for these animals to have lived on theseislands, also proved to be magic for those aboard Bahia de Darwin as well. Another contributing factor to the colonists' survival was theinadequate Adolph von Kleist. In fact, we are told that the "combinationof the Captain's incompetence . . . has turned out to be of incalculable
The Captain declines to procreatebecause he could pass on the Huntington's disease gene. Thepopulation grow on Santa Rosalia was the Captain's sperm. We are told they "choked her with their bare hands, andskinned and gutted her with no told other than their teeth and fingernails"(243). It is very clear that hadthe Captain had any intelligence at all, those aboard the ship would havebeen doomed from the very beginning. Their rough life with Domingo prepared them for Santa Rosalia. We know that there wasenough to get the colonists on the island and allow them to remain there. We are also told that "Nature chose to be generous, so there was enoughto eat" for the colonists. (86) Additionally, Siegfried begins to show signs of Huntington's at theworst possible moment: when the drunk Adolph has no idea how to take careof those on the bus. They"wrung the necks of boobies" and "caught land iguanas by their tails"(260). Leon tells us, "Asthings turned out, the flip of a coin, the Captain was not a carrier, buthis brother was" (87). value to present-day humankind" (139-40). What is amazing about this is experiment is that Mary, who once hated herbig brains, had actually done something very important by using hers. We are later told that the ship was sailing far too north. He keptsteering the ship to put the sun where it was supposed to be, according tohis big brain.
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Acceptance Essays
