Kago Character Analysis

The main character in Kilgore Trout’s novel, Plague on Wheels. The novel takes place on a “dying planet” named Lingo-Three that is inhabited by reproducing American-made automobiles. The pollution caused by the cars leads the planet to the brink of extinction when Kago, the leader of a group of aliens, arrives on Lingo-Three to meet the cars before they become “defunct.” Kago tells the automobiles that they will “be gone but not forgotten,” and then he takes their memory to Earth. Within one hundred years, the Earthlings likewise destroy their own plant with pollution from automobiles, and Kago is mistakenly killed by an autoworker in a bar. Together, Kago and Kilgore’s novel, Plague on Wheels, are a warning of the environmental dangers associated with the automotive industry.