Cloud Atlas Literary Analysis

Does every decision have an impact? David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas weaves a group of seemingly disparate characters into a compelling and interesting novel that masterfully proves that everything relies on everything else. The novel follows six presumably reincarnated characters from across six different time periods and weaves their storylines and personalities together across time. Mitchell’s techniques, through his varied structures and styles, allow him to build characters and themes that lend credence to several philosophies and a unifying message of reincarnation.
By varying literary style and structure, Mitchell achieves unique accentuation of individual sections to lend to a more unified and complete work as a whole. The particular literary …show more content…
By presenting the sections in their respective formats, Mitchell eases the connectivity of the different timelines in a more narrow view than one of simply linear time. Frobisher’s discovery of Ewing’s journal in Vyvyan Ayrs’ home allows Frobisher to discover Ewing’s adventures, and it allows Mitchell to make direct commentary from an additional perspective and to write the foreshadowing of Dr. Goose’s murder attempt: “Ewing puts me in mind of Melville’s bumbler Cpt. Delano in ‘Benito Cereno,’ blind to all conspirators—he hasn’t spotted his trusty Dr. Henry Goose [sic] is a vampire, fueling his hypochondria in order to poison him, slowly, for his money” (64). The discovery of the letters Frobisher sent to Sixsmith by Rey “when the maid found these letters” (116) allows Rey to delve deeper into what could be her prior self, as she notes, “images so vivid she can only call them memories.” (120). Cavendish receives the book “Half-Lives” as he sits in his office at his publishing company, and Sonmi begins viewing a film titled “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish” before she flees the theater with Hae-Joo. This same Sonmi who recounts her ordeal to an archivist in “An Orison of Sonmi-451” becomes idolized as Zachry’s village’s god. Zachry later views Sonmi’s interview directly with …show more content…
The traditional pacing as a sequential piece stops after reaching “Sloosha’s Crossin’ an Ev’rythin’ After” and then inverts the order of the timelines as presented to the reader. By inverting the order, Mitchell stresses the nonlinearity of time and actions and builds emphasis for the remaining part of each timeline. This technique also contributes to a more powerful notion that both the past and the future sculpt the present. Ewing’s journal cuts off halfway through an entry to allow preparations for a proper exit of Frobisher from the world. Sixsmith’s niece presents Rey with the second half of Frobisher’s letters so that Cavendish could read the second half of “Half-Lives.” Mitchell designs Cloud Atlas such that Sonmi requests to view the latter half of “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish” as her last wish and Zachry shows the children the orison to present to the reader a logical and masterful transition that unifies the characters and introduces the following section. Transitioning through character introduction presents a more effective way to pique interest in the reader than would writing chronologically both sections of “The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing,” “Letters from Zedelghem,” “Half-Lives,” “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish,” and “An Orison of Sonmi-451,”