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Isabel Rangel

Professor James Wilson

English 123

25 April 2018

Power makes the world turn mad

Throughout the book of ​Cloud Atlas​, written by David Mitchell, there are six genres that

come about which include, in order: travel literature, epistolary novel, mystery/detective fiction,

memoir, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic fiction. All completely different, but somehow

Mitchell makes them united. This style of writing with multiple genres is like unlike any other

with unique connections to an underlying universal message which is the theme. Despite all the

genres being so different from each other, they all come together for that common theme. With

so many genres there’s bound to be quite a few possible themes. There are a multitude of

prominent themes but only one theme truly captures the message of the whole book and what

Mitchell wants the audience to understand upon reading it. The genre that grasps that theme the

most is mystery fiction. The mystery fiction section of the book is titled “Half-Lives: The First

Luisa Rey Mystery.” This overall theme can be seen throughout other works in the mystery

fiction genre such as the book, ​Gone Girl​, as well. This one theme is connected to ​Cloud Atlas ​as

a whole, the genre of mystery fiction, and more specifically the mystery section of the book.

Mitchell then uses the genre of mystery/detective fiction in ​Cloud Atlas​ to support the theme of

how power is abused when given too much of it and how easily it can be used to manipulate and

deceive those without it.

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Theme is a big part of ​Cloud Atlas​ in its entirety. It explains the idea Mitchell is trying to

convey through his writing. There are many possible themes to this book because it covers so

many characters, settings, and plots. One in particular stands out from all the rest. The most

important and frequent theme that covers all six sections of the book is about power. When

someone or something is given too much of it, it is abused by its possessor(s) and then used to

manipulate vulnerable people. This is because the power has corrupted those wielding it. The

power completely alters the person they once were or enhances the evil that was already inside of

them. To gain more power, these people of power do with it what they will no matter the

consequences on the people with no power. These vulnerable people have little to no say in the

matter because power allows their oppressors to manipulate them without anyone being able to

intervene. Power allows its possessors to be untouchable to the world and this makes them

dangerous. The topic of power keeps reappearing throughout the reading, but it focuses on the

more sinister aspect of it. Power has always been a topic for plots that make for a good movie or

book, but the manipulation of it makes for a good mystery genre.

With that being said, mystery fiction or detective fiction is a classic genre which came

about during the 1800’s. Readers of all ages can enjoy it from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys

for children to Sherlock Holmes and Edgar Allan Poe for an older audience. They cling to its

suspenseful and adventurous plot points that have them unlocking the puzzle that is the mystery

of the story being told. The genre is built upon the crimes, murders, or other happenings that

engage the reader (Wu et al. 382). The main character, protagonist, mystery solver, or detective

play a key role in this genre especially. With the help of the wise and witty main character, the

readers are able to see the truth behind the mystery and are able to solve it. The elements of
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foreshadowing and a red herring also play a major role as well. Foreshadowing in mystery fiction

are all the subtle hints and clues that lead the main character to the possible guilty party. A red

herring is a possible solution to the mystery that leads the readers astray from the actual truth.

Another feature of mystery fiction is setting. The author describes the setting to the reader to get

a jist of and an understanding of the place of crime for the character to solve. Lastly, mysteries

are typically narrated by and in the point of view of the main character or detective like figure,

but are not limited to only that style of writing, with the exception of ​Cloud Atlas​.

The section of ​Cloud Atlas​ by david Mitchell titled, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey

Mystery,” is as stated in the title, mystery fiction or also known as detective fiction. This section

touches all the bases almost any mystery fiction story would. It includes a plot that thickens with

time and suspense as the main character, Luisa Rey, tries to uncover the mystery of Seaboard

Inc. This company will do anything to cover up the fact that their soon to be released

HYDRA-Zero reactor will explode upon first use by silencing or murdering all who get in their

way. The main character is none other than Luisa Rey. She is a journalist for a gossip magazine,

called Spyglass, that takes on a new role of a detective or investigative journalist. She does this

in the light of her her newly found friend, Rufus Sixsmith, who has been mysteriously murdered

and whom she must now avenge. The only way to do that would be to use her wit, intelligence,

and detective skills to uncover clues to the unforeseeable truth. As do most mystery fiction

stories, foreshadowing is a big factor. For example, in the book when Luisa Rey is trying to find

Sixsmith, she thinks to herself as she notices, “A recent attempt to erase ‘Dr. Sixsmith’ from the

nameplate ended in messy failure” (Mitchell 105). This is foreshadowing referring to when the

hit man, Bill Smoke, tries to cover up murdering Sixsmith. Smoke does this by making it look
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like a suicide in order to refrain him from revealing the truth about the reactor. Upon first reading

the passage, you wouldn’t think too much of it, but going back to a second glance, the two

different scenes are related through foreshadowing. Mitchell is setting up a later scene to come.

In the instance of the narrator of this section, it changes from character to character between each

chapter, but is most often in the perspective of Luisa Rey above all else. This section is in third

person point of view but changes to first person of the current narrator thinking to him or herself

in italics. For example, when Rey was being fired from Spyglass the book reads, “Luisa watches

the news bounce off her. ​No, it can’t compare to being driven off a bridge into the sea in

semidarkness​” (409). It’s third person for the first part of the quote but then Rey thinks to herself

on the content of the sentence in italics. Only she would know that being fired doesn’t compare

to almost drowning. This section makes for a good representation of the overall mystery fiction

genre.

Mystery/detective fiction connects to the overall theme of ​Cloud Atlas​ through its similar

plot points. More often than not some crime has been committed by someone with power or

seeking of it that preys on the innocent and it’s up to the detective or main character of the story

to find out just who that is. Without some kind of manipulation from corrupt people with power,

there would be no mystery genre. People of power who have been corrupted by it have always

wielded it for their own personal gain by manipulating innocents to get what they want. This

kind of broad plot goes hand in hand with mystery. Each story of mystery ever made just

specifies who has the power, how much of it, and who they hurt or potentially will hurt in the

process to get it. These people being hurt in the process are better known as the victims of the

crime being committed by powerful people. For example, in the movie ​Flightplan ​that also falls
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under the same genre, it follows Jodie Foster as Kyle Pratt boarding a plane back to America

from Berlin with her daughter. However, she falls asleep on the flight and her daughter goes

missing. She asks around the entire plane, but no one even admits to ever seeing her daughter in

the first place because there are greater powers at work beyond her control. So now she must find

her daughter despite everyone else’s disbelief. The underlying theme for this example still is

about power being in the wrong hands deceiving Kyle so the kidnappers can get what they want

from her. Luisa Rey in ​Cloud Atlas ​must conquer similar feats because she doesn’t have concrete

evidence of the evil workings of Seaboard behind the scenes.

The theme of power and deception is highly influenced by the section of “Half-Lives:

The First Luisa Rey Mystery.” The reason there’s a mystery and crime to solve in the first place

is because Seaboard Inc., led by Alberto Grimaldi and Lloyd Hooks, is using its power to

deceive the city of Buenas Yerbas of the definite threat of an explosion from the HYDRA-Zero

reactor. Their greed for even more power and money has made them blind to exactly what power

has done to them. It has made them mad with an unquenchable yearning for more. Also, with all

the power and money the company already does have, it’s easy for them to deceive the city by

paying people like Bill Smoke to cover up the truth of the outcome of the reactor. From the book

of ​Crime and Detective Fiction​ by Rebecca Martin,​ ​and more specifically from the chapter

“From Mean Streets to the Imagined World: The Development of Detective Fiction,” it explains

the upbringing of the genre and with that came the hard-boiled private eyes. These are the

detectives who have to solve the mystery on their own because of the corruption surrounding it.

The book states, “The hard-boiled private eye inhabits the mean streets of the inner cities and

relies not on the questionable protection of corrupt or inadequate police, but on his own sense of
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honor and obligation, with a cynicism about notions of justice and fair play that leads to a kind of

moral ambiguity in the stories” (Martin 12). This examines the concept that corruption is created

because of the power people possess. Luisa Rey then has to solve the mystery on her own

because Seaboard has power over everything and can buy and kill people’s silence. So she must

ultimately find evidence to reveal their true agenda on her own. It’s her against the world.

Nobody would believe her otherwise because without hard evidence, Seaboard would use their

money and power to deceive everyone except the people they’ve killed and Luisa Rey.

In addition, the book ​Gone Girl ​by Gillian Flynn also falls under that same genre of

mystery fiction. It tells the story of Amy and Nick Dunne’s rocky marriage switching back from

Amy’s diary entries and Nick in present time. The mystery is of Amy’s disappearance and

possible murder which Nick is being framed for. This relates to the theme because of the power

struggle between the couple. Nick has power over Amy when he makes them move to his

hometown and when he cheats on her. She gains back the power when she purposefully

disappears and frames him for her murder. For example Amy writes to Nick, “I know sometimes

you think you are moving through this world alone, unseen, unnoticed. But don't believe that for

a second. I have made a study of you. I know what you are going to do before you do it. I know

where you've been and I know where you're going. For this anniversary, I've arranged a trip:

Follow your beloved river, up up up!” (Flynn 228). This quote shows the power Amy has over

Nick through manipulation and deception. Amy was tired of being manipulated and takes back

the power just as Luisa Rey tries to find the Sixsmith report that would expose Seaboard to get

the upper hand. Amy felt powerless in the marriage and she finds a way to stop her oppressor,

her husband, but in the process she also becomes an oppressor. This is similar in the way that
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Rey is powerless against Seaboard because they are trying manipulate her by buying the

company she currently works for and having her fired. ​Gone Girl​ connects to “Half-Lives: The

First Luisa Rey Mystery” and to the genre of mystery as a whole in the ways that Amy

overcomes or solves her own deceitful husband from taking advantage of her.

The theme that captures ​Cloud Atlas​ best and is present in every section of the book is

power being abused and corrupting the people that have it to deceive susceptible people. In the

first section of the book, “The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing,” power is abused by slaveholders

and when the character Boerhaave rapes Rafael. In the second section, “Letters from

Zedelghem,” Vyvyan Ayrs is in a position of power who takes advantage of Robert Frobisher’s

musical talent so he can pass it off as his own. In the third section, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa

Rey Mystery,” Seaboard, a company with immense power, deceives the city of Buenas Yerbas

and the government for that matter into thinking that their new reactor is safe. In the fourth

section, “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish,” Nurse Noakes of the Aurora House has

forsaken her power to torment those trapped there like Timothy Cavendish. In the fifth section,

“An Orison of Sonmi~451,” purebloods, who are depicted as the superior race, abuse fabricants

like Sonmi to their will because fabricants are defenseless against them. Lastly, in the sixth and

final section, “Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After,” the tribe called the Kona are killing and

enslaving Zachry and his people because of the power they possess through fear. Although it can

be shown throughout the whole book, the theme is most prominent in the section of “Half-Lives:

The First Luisa Rey Mystery” because of how Seaboard greatly abuses their power to deceive

everyone of the outcome of the reactor to get even more power and money. This theme can also

be said about the genre of mystery fiction as a whole because power drives people mad and
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willingly to hurt innocent people along the way. The plot of this section and the plots of the

mystery/detective fiction genre emphasize the theme of ​Cloud Atlas.

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Works Cited

Chiu-Yen, Wu and Lin Chi-Shiou. "The Pleasures of Reading Mystery Fiction and Mystery

Readers’ Book Selection Behavior." Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences,

Vol 53, Iss 3, Pp 361-388 (2016), no. 3, 2016, p. 361. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.6120/JoEMLS.2016.533/0027.RS.AM.

Flynn, Gillian. ​Gone Girl​. Phoenix, 2013.

Martin, Rebecca. Crime and Detective Fiction. Salem Press, 2013. Critical Insights. EBSCOhost,

0-search.ebscohost.com.library.4cd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=520329

&site=eds-live.

Mitchell, David. ​Cloud Atlas​. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004.

Schwentke, Robert, director. ​Flightplan​. Buena Vista Entertainment, 2006.