John is the novel’s narrator. Though he acknowledges his given name as John, he invites readers to call him Jonah since, like the Biblical prophet, John feels that he was summoned to certain places at certain times. In keeping with this perspective, John is an unusually passive protagonist, and the plot is driven more by chance than by any real effort on his part. Perceptive and agreeable, his account serves a clear rhetorical purpose: to indicate what led to the creation and release of ice-nine. To that end, John emphasizes and foreshadows elements he considers most significant, such as the commentary of the secretaries and lift operator at General Forge and Foundry.

John’s most significant change centers on his conversion to Bokononism. As the novel opens, John is not particularly happy, having ended two marriages and then turned to drinking and smoking. Though he identifies as Christian presumably due to his upbringing, John is at first cynical and impatient. Over time, in keeping with his Bokononist thought, he comes to feel that divine influence is guiding him: He views his ascension up Mount McCabe, completed manuscript in hand, as the culmination of “half a million years” of work by his karass (286).