Cloud Atlas

“Occasionally, I glimpse a truer Truth, hiding in imperfect simulacrums of itself, but as I approach, it bestirs itself & moves deeper into the thorny swamp of dissent.”

Ewing feels uncomfortable when confronting the realities of slavery and colonialism—but isn’t yet aware enough of his discomfort to fully shed his investment in the status quo. The “truer Truth” that he glimpses foreshadows both the novel’s ensuing stories and the rest of his life. Ewing eventually becomes an abolitionist and a critic of slavery, but he requires the experiences and empathy that come later; even though he can sense the ripples in his future, he can’t yet discern the full scale of what’s causing them.

“Now I protested with the utmost vigor, the Indian had received holy sacrament.”

To Ewing, Autua’s life has value because Autua is Christian. He can’t be killed by Molyneux because he has received the holy sacrament that signifies his acceptance of the Christian God. To the other men, however, Autua’s religion is irrelevant. They see only the color of his skin, so they assign little value to his life. Ewing isn’t as reductionist in terms of race as his fellow passengers, though he still values Christian lives over non-Christian lives.

“Old, blind, and sick as Ayrs is, he could hold his own in a college debating society, though I notice he rarely proposes alternatives for the systems he ridicules.”

Ayrs has many critiques of the current establishment but lacks the imagination to propose any solution. His worldview is little more than a cynical mirror, sneering at everything while being too afraid to put forth anything new.