The Sirens of Titan

Winston Rumfoord is the closest to an antagonist that appears in The Sirens of Titan. Despite his antagonism toward Malachi Constant, the two men have a lot in common. Initially, they are both rich men who feel no compunction about exercising their privilege. However, Rumfoord loathes Constant because Constant reminds him of the fickle nature of his success. Rumfoord regards Constant as a fool, knowing that Constant does not deserve his wealth. If Constant can become the richest person in the world despite having no redeeming qualities or even skills, then the nature of wealth is called into question. Rumfoord believes that his wealth is a material demonstration of his intelligence, so if a less-intelligent man can become even wealthier, then Rumfoord's identity is threatened. He hates Constant not necessarily due to anything Constant has done, but because Constant's mere existence undermines the pompous justification that Rumfoord has built up for his behavior.

Rumfoord's desire to believe that he is better than other people is shown by his refusal to adhere to the rules which apply to others. When the governments of Earth ban space travel, for example, Rumfoord defies the rule, boards his own spaceship, and then drives himself and his dog directly into the chrono-synclastic infundibulum. Unfortunately for Rumfoord, however, the chrono-synclastic infundibulum changes the nature of his being, making him unique and giving him special powers. This transformation leaves Rumfoord not just free from the laws of society, but from the laws of physics. Rumfoord's attempt to flaunt his privilege turns him into a new kind of life form. Ironically, after spending so long preaching that God is indifferent (and, therefore, that Constant does not deserve his wealth), he achieves something which practically resembles Godhood. Later, he illustrates this continuing hypocrisy by orchestrating an entire interplanetary invasion to lay the foundation for his own new religion. Rumfoord's existence is rife with ironies which he never grasps but which drive him to be ever more defiant.

Ultimately, Rumfoord is as inconsequential as everyone else. His arrogance is sapped out of him when he realizes that the Tralfamadorians have been doing to him exactly what he has been doing to others. His theory about indifferent Gods is proved correct, in that the Tralfamadorians have essentially acted as gods, guiding the development of humanity without caring at all about humanity itself. They are as indifferent as Rumfoord's church has always preached. But this is not satisfying to Rumfoord, as the revelation just demonstrates to him that nothing he could ever achieve is worth anything in relation to the scale at which the Tralfamadorians operate. Rumfoord's schemes with the Martian Army are not his own doing—they are just part of a larger plan to get a spare part to Salo. Even as Salo tries to show Rumfoord that life is not necessarily meaningless and that the personal relationships they develop are truly meaningful, Rumfoord is overwhelmed by the irony of his situation. He gets everything he wanted, only to realize that he hates it.

Beatrice is Rumfoord's long-suffering wife. She is the only person allowed to be present when he materializes, but despite this apparent privilege, she can no longer stand being in the same room as him. This animosity is demonstrative of a key difference between Beatrice and her husband: Beatrice experiences Rumfoord's behavior on a personal, individual level while he insists that his actions have universal, society-wide importance. Rumfoord views himself as having transcended the individual and become something more, someone who is justified in trying to reorganize mass society through his war and his church. Beatrice, through her pain and her abuse, is a reminder of the cost of Rumfoord's actions at the individual level. For everything he preaches about having grand ambitions, Beatrice's loathing of her husband is the evidence for Rumfoord's poor character. She does not care about his ambitions; she just wants a normal life. Rumfoord, through his grandiose arrogance, steals that from her. In spite of her attempts to avoid Rumfoord and his plans for her, she is repeatedly doomed to fulfilling his schemes, including undergoing rape, exile, and humiliation.

In a cruel twist of fate, Beatrice is forced to spend the rest of her life on Titan. She lives there due to her husband's actions while sharing the moon with the man who raped her. The entire moon is a constant reminder of the influence of her two worst abusers in her life. In this situation, the wiping of Beatrice's memory is a relief. Though she experiences a deep dislike for Constant which she does not necessarily understand, she is spared the raw pain of recalling her trauma. Instead, she is able to settle into a comforting routine of writing poetry and waiting to die. After a lifetime of being manipulated and abused, this quiet retirement is a welcome relief. 

Salo is a Tralfamadorian machine, sent on a mission to deliver a message across the universe. He crashes on Titan and spends millennia watching humanity develop. Even though he is technically a machine, Salo exhibits more “human” behavior than most other characters. He is curious, caring, and deeply loyal. Despite being a robot, he is willing to disobey his programing for a friend, something which seems unthinkable for men like Constant or Rumfoord. Salo cares deeply about his relationship with Rumfoord, even if it is one-sided. He treasures personal relationships as he understands that they have as much intrinsic value as the deeper, more profound philosophical questions that obsess Rumfoord. Through his status as a non-human, Salo performs an important function in the novel. By being kind, Salo shows the innate inhumanity of men like Rumfoord.

Salo also contrasts with Rumfoord in the way in which he uses his powers. At the end of the novel, after Salo has been reassembled, he takes Constant back to Earth. He pities the now-elderly Constant and wants to give him a moment of catharsis at the end of his life. He plants an illusion in Constant's head which will only emerge at the moment of Constant's death. In the illusion, Stony Stevenson appears and forgives Constant. Together, Stevenson says, they will go to heaven. While Rumfoord wanted to use his powers to show the people of the world that God does not care about them, Salo uses his powers to provide illusory comfort to a desperate, broken friend. The catharsis is not real, as Stevenson is not real, but it provides a calm, pleasant moment at the end of a tortured existence. Salo's ability to do good work on an individual level juxtaposes with Rumfoord's insistence on proving himself right on a society-wide level.