Elevator
Elevators symbolize the ups and downs of humanity and support the theme of Ascent and Descent.
Examples:
Boomerang
The boomerang references create a mental link with Australia (close to Chatham Isle) as well as symbolize the story-structure of Cloud Atlas.
Examples:
Hills
The mentions of hills make it into various stories and help to emphasize the theme of Ascent and Descent.
Examples:
Comet
The comet is a symbol of connection between the characters that bolsters the theme of Reincarnation as Adam, Robert, Timothy, Luisa, Sonmi, and Meronym all have comet shaped birthmarks. We can only guess as to why Mitchell chose the shape of a comet. Perhaps it brings forth otherworldly thoughts, having readers believe the characters’ connection is shaped by a power not of this Earth. Or maybe he chose a comet because it crosses our skies, just like clouds. Some comets (like Halley’s comet) travel on a fixed path, always returning. This would echo the musing’s of many characters and their beliefs about the cyclical nature of time.
Snakes
References to snakes are riddled through Cloud Atlas. Snakes are often thought of as deceitful and cunning, adding to the theme of Predation and enhancing the motif of obscurity.
Examples:
Antique Globe
An antique globe made an appearance in at least two sections (perhaps more) and could quite possibly be one in the same, creating a link and subtly implementing inkling’s of reincarnation through Déjà vu.
Examples:
Tribes
Tribes play a large part in many sections of this novel. Most every tribe spoken of has been part of a conflict, adding to the themes of Strong vs. Weak, Predation, and Imprisonment.
Examples:
Egypt
There are multiple references to Egypt throughout Cloud Atlas, but it is a bit obscure as to why Mitchell chose to allude to it. Perhaps it is to show how, like Frobisher’s Sextet, things have the ability to echo across time. Nefertiti is long gone but she is remembered and well-known to this day. Each of the sections occur in separate eras, but characters ripple out of their own allotted pages and into the stories of others.
Examples:
Hawaii
Hawaii is a central location in Cloud Atlas and provides a common ground throughout the stories.
Examples:
Elevators symbolize the ups and downs of humanity and support the theme of Ascent and Descent.
Examples:
- Luisa and Sixsmith get stuck in an elevator. (91)
- There is a single elevator in Papa Song’s. (185)
- Mr. Chang describes the double-helix staircase in the University lobby as an old-style elevator. (203)
Boomerang
The boomerang references create a mental link with Australia (close to Chatham Isle) as well as symbolize the story-structure of Cloud Atlas.
Examples:
- “Time’s Arrow became Time’s Boomerang.” (147)
- “Papa Song was boomeranging 3-D fire-eclairs over the children’s heads...” (194)
- “I spat at him, but my spit boom’ranged back on me.” (281)
- “Time, no arrow, no boomerang, but a concertina.” (354)
Hills
The mentions of hills make it into various stories and help to emphasize the theme of Ascent and Descent.
Examples:
- “Ayrs’s sight was too poor to see anything suspicious in the foothills of my bed.”(79)
- “Quite a hill of Hoggins Bros.’ cash you’ve raked in, it seems.” (154)
- “Up a wooden hill to Bedfordshire.” (173)
- “An uphill mile later I go to Abel’s Dwellin.” (242)
- The Prescient ship was “high as a low hill.” (248)
- “Chuwangasan River was channeled thu leveled hills.” (334)
- "We wound our way up the steep hill at a crawl." (476)
- “... the church plantations atop the hill.” (490)
- “A distinct hill rose up and its name stirred in memory’s sediment: - Diamond Head.” (506)
Comet
The comet is a symbol of connection between the characters that bolsters the theme of Reincarnation as Adam, Robert, Timothy, Luisa, Sonmi, and Meronym all have comet shaped birthmarks. We can only guess as to why Mitchell chose the shape of a comet. Perhaps it brings forth otherworldly thoughts, having readers believe the characters’ connection is shaped by a power not of this Earth. Or maybe he chose a comet because it crosses our skies, just like clouds. Some comets (like Halley’s comet) travel on a fixed path, always returning. This would echo the musing’s of many characters and their beliefs about the cyclical nature of time.
Snakes
References to snakes are riddled through Cloud Atlas. Snakes are often thought of as deceitful and cunning, adding to the theme of Predation and enhancing the motif of obscurity.
Examples:
- Fay Li wants to teach Luisa “how to extract a little gold from the Fangs of Fate.” (108)
- “... our Logoman’s snaky tongue.” (194)
- Boon-Sook Kim has a friend named Fang.
- “Well, gentlemen, we have made a very ominous start to the Year of the Snake.” (215)
- “No sayin’ what that fangy devil won’t try an’ do to me...” (239)
- “... he snaky-snuck up a leafy hideynick.” (241)
- Zachary doesn’t trust the Prescients and “their snaky judasin’ Smart.” (258)
- “That snaky leeward sun was hissin’ loud’n’hot.” (272)
- “The night fell, oh, fangy’n’cold.” (273)
- “...black cobras o’ smoke was risin’...” (298)
- Ma Arak Na had a double tongue. (317)
- “A licorice snake on a field of cream wriggles into focus.” (353)
- “Loyalties snaked out of sight, and power was tapped from the known ducts.” (406)
- “Nancy O’Hagan hisses, cobralike...” (418)
Antique Globe
An antique globe made an appearance in at least two sections (perhaps more) and could quite possibly be one in the same, creating a link and subtly implementing inkling’s of reincarnation through Déjà vu.
Examples:
- Cavendish traced Captain Cook’s last voyage on his antique globe. (156)
- “The professor spun his antique globe...” (222)
Tribes
Tribes play a large part in many sections of this novel. Most every tribe spoken of has been part of a conflict, adding to the themes of Strong vs. Weak, Predation, and Imprisonment.
Examples:
- Moriori and the Maori in Adam's journal.
- “...the tribe of the elderly.” (180)
- After the fall, “states busted into bar’bric tribes an’ the Civ’lize Days ended...” (273)
- There is a tribe called the Swannekke that Meronym once stayed with. (296)
- “Nothing is more heinous than the enslavement of your tribe.”
- “Tribalism electrified the audience.” (383)
- “These Chinese ideograms repel white scrutiny with their ancient tribal magic,” (420)
- “There exists a tribe of ants called the slave maker.” (491)
- Rafael was preyed upon my Boerhaave and his “garter snakes” and when Adam approached Boerhaave about it, “he showed his fangs” and spoke to hi “in a voice laden with venom and hatred.” (499)
Egypt
There are multiple references to Egypt throughout Cloud Atlas, but it is a bit obscure as to why Mitchell chose to allude to it. Perhaps it is to show how, like Frobisher’s Sextet, things have the ability to echo across time. Nefertiti is long gone but she is remembered and well-known to this day. Each of the sections occur in separate eras, but characters ripple out of their own allotted pages and into the stories of others.
Examples:
- Eva’s horse is named Nefertiti. (54)
- Mrs. Latham’s Nefertiti’s earrings (155)
- “Mrs. Latham could handle the Ten Plagues of Egypt.” (158)
- “Do I look like a ruddy Egyptian?” (160)
- “I was Tutankhamen in my royal barge, rowed by Nubian slaves to the temple of sacrifice.” (163)
- “... my Divine Cleopatra..” (163)
- Eva aspires to be an Egyptologist. (454)
Hawaii
Hawaii is a central location in Cloud Atlas and provides a common ground throughout the stories.
Examples:
- Megan Sixsmith lives on Hawaii. (96)
- A Spyglass worker wears a flashy aloha shirt. (98)
- “Tracing Captain Cook’s last voyage...” (155)
- Fabricant xultation is to Hawaii. (186)
- Sloosha’s Crossin’ takes place on the Big Island of Hawaii.
- “On the fourteenth of August... Buenas Yerbas danced one almighty hula.” (398)
- The Prophetess makes it to Hawaii. (506)