Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Cloud Atlas

 Cloud Atlas
type
TVTItem
 Cloud Atlas
label
Cloud Atlas
 Cloud Atlas
page
CloudAtlas
 Cloud Atlas
comment
The third novel by David Mitchell (no, not that one), Cloud Atlas is a sweeping epic that connects wildly different genres and writing styles into a single narrative. The novel consists of six nested stories, each set in a different place and era, moving forwards in time from the 19th century all the way to the future. Each story and style is a pastiche of the most recognisable examples of the genre (which the characters swiftly realise and comment on), and lovingly combines old clichés with new twists. A comet-shaped birthmark appears in each story, generally on the protagonist, and the characters often recognize names, places, and experiences from other stories. In order of introduction, the six stories are: The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing (1859): An American notary, returning by ship from the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, keeps a journal of his journey through the Pacific Ocean accompanied by a Moriori stowaway. Ewing has been infected with a parasitic worm, of which Dr. Henry Goose is trying to cure him. A partial copy of the edited and published journal is found by... Letters from Zedelghem (1931): Robert Frobisher, a tremendously snarky English musician and aspiring composer, formerly Rich in Pounds, Poor in Sense and now penniless after a bad game. On the run, he charms his way into a job as an assistant to a retired composer, settling with his employer in Zedelghem, Belgium. He records his experiences in a series of letters, which he sends to his friend and lover Rufus Sixsmith. Much later in life, the letters are read by... Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (1975): Luisa Rey, a reporter for a fluffy media magazine in Northern California, when she crosses paths with the old Dr. Sixsmith. She starts investigating reports of ongoing corruption connected to the local nuclear power plant, and winds up with Sixsmith’s collection of letters. Her story is presented as a mystery novel manuscript, submitted to... The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (2012): Timothy Cavendish, an old, glum British vanity press publisher who gets into trouble with the mob when one of his authors tosses a book critic off a roof, and he ends up trapped by his brother in a retirement home in a rather undignified Kafka Komedy. His experience forms the basis of a film, which is seen by... An Orison of Sonmi~451 (2144): Sonmi~451, a fabricant, a genetically-engineered clone, employed at the Papa Song's diner chain. She lives in Nea So Copros (formerly Korea) in a dystopian near future. Fabricants have been created as slaves to a capitalist, totalitarian society — and Sonmi had the misfortune of developing intelligence far beyond the limits of her genetic engineering. Her story is told in a final interview, during which she's allowed to tell an uncensored account of her entire life. The recording of this interview, called an orison, is viewed by... Sloosha’s Crossin’ an' Ev’rythin’ After (106 years after the Fall): Zachry, an elder of a tribe in post-apocalyptic Hawaii that regards Sonmi as their god, meets Meronym, a member of Earth's last advanced civilization. His story is set in a distant future, where most of humanity has died out. In his old age, he narrates his experiences around a camp-fire.Instead of being completely sequential, each of the first five stories ends halfway through, sometimes on a cliffhanger, once in mid-sentence. The sixth and central story is the only one presented in one go — afterwards, each of the other five resumes in reverse order, taking the reader back to the beginning (notably, there are also in-universe explanations for the stories resuming, with the protagonist of each story finally getting around to reading/watching the later half of the chronogically preceding story). This mirrored pattern can be found throughout the novel in other things: most prominently, in the Cloud Atlas Sextet, the tangled musical piece that Robert Frobisher feverishly composes.The film version — which is a gorgeous Pragmatic Adaptation, with some of the storylines significantly altered — is written and directed by Tom Tykwer, the director of Run Lola Run and Perfume, and The Wachowskis. The All-Star Cast includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Keith David, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw and many others. It was released in October 2012.
 Cloud Atlas
fetched
2023-10-18T13:30:43Z
 Cloud Atlas
parsed
2023-10-18T13:30:43Z
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to AnAesop: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to BladeRunner: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to BraveNewWorld: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to CallBack: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to DoorStopper: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to Fahrenheit451: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to GenreBusting: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to MagicalRealism: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to MobyDick: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingComment
Dropped link to SoylentGreen: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Cloud Atlas
processingUnknown
MagicalRealism
 Cloud Atlas
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Cloud Atlas / int_12dd1d4c
type
Rape as Drama
 Cloud Atlas / int_12dd1d4c
comment
Rape as Drama: Used several times in the novel, and foreshadowed when Cavendish is momentarily scared that he might get raped. Completely Played for Drama in all cases.
 Cloud Atlas / int_12dd1d4c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_12dd1d4c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_12dd1d4c
 Cloud Atlas / int_171e14be
type
London Gangster
 Cloud Atlas / int_171e14be
comment
London Gangster: Dermot "Duster" Hoggins is such a criminal. And he'll do anything to get the returns from his autobiography.
 Cloud Atlas / int_171e14be
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_171e14be
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_171e14be
 Cloud Atlas / int_183b52
type
Kafka Komedy
 Cloud Atlas / int_183b52
comment
Kafka Komedy: Cavendish’s story. A book publisher is being tormented by a bunch of east end thugs, his older brother, and an evil nurse. This is also the lightest segment of the book, thanks to its playful narration and its absurdity.
 Cloud Atlas / int_183b52
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_183b52
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_183b52
 Cloud Atlas / int_1869b4b1
type
Unreliable Narrator
 Cloud Atlas / int_1869b4b1
comment
Unreliable Narrator: Most of the stories are told in first-person perspective, and it’s occasionally suggested that some of them are not being entirely honest. Zachry’s narration, in particular, is heavily influenced by his tribe's superstitions and storytelling conventions (and presumably by the copious amounts of weed he smokes throughout). He freely talks about the wind and the animals whispering things to him, about his dead father appearing to him, and about corpses speaking and time freezing and the devil himself appearing before him, because that's just how his tribe traditionally experiences life. Robert Frobisher's ending seems initially arbitrary, as it doesn't fit the cavalier tone of his letters, until you realize the space between letters increase and he's being *overly* glib about events and it makes sense.
 Cloud Atlas / int_1869b4b1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_1869b4b1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_1869b4b1
 Cloud Atlas / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 Cloud Atlas / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: Zachry talks about wishing he had some kind of map to track souls as they move across the ages, like clouds across the sky. He calls it an "atlas o' clouds". Cavendish, in an oddly poignant moment, writes a passage about the futility of recording the ephemeral, once again referring to an "atlas of clouds". The title of Frobisher's masterpiece is The Cloud Atlas Sextet. Its structure is described as extremely similar to that of the novel, with six individual parts slowly woven together into one greater whole. Frobisher himself isn’t sure if it's clever or gimmicky.
 Cloud Atlas / int_18d15922
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_18d15922
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_18d15922
 Cloud Atlas / int_1a066f1d
type
Last Breath Bullet
 Cloud Atlas / int_1a066f1d
comment
Last Breath Bullet: A heroic example shown from the perspective of the one firing it.
 Cloud Atlas / int_1a066f1d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_1a066f1d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_1a066f1d
 Cloud Atlas / int_1ba09c9d
type
Human Resources
 Cloud Atlas / int_1ba09c9d
comment
Human Resources: Fabricants are turned into food for new fabricants.
 Cloud Atlas / int_1ba09c9d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_1ba09c9d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_1ba09c9d
 Cloud Atlas / int_1e1afc1b
type
Framing Device
 Cloud Atlas / int_1e1afc1b
comment
Framing Device: Adam Ewing's story was documented in his journal, which is being read by Robert Frobisher, whose story is in turn unfolding in letters he writes to his lover Rufus Sixsmith. Sixsmith is also a character in Luisa Rey’s story, the events of which are packaged into a novel and are being read by Timothy Cavendish. A film based on his shenanigans is eventually made, which Sonmi-451 watches. Sonmi tells her own story in the interview leading up to her execution, which is viewed by Zachry and the rest of the characters of Sloosha’s Crossin’.
 Cloud Atlas / int_1e1afc1b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_1e1afc1b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_1e1afc1b
 Cloud Atlas / int_22071825
type
I'm a Humanitarian
 Cloud Atlas / int_22071825
comment
I'm a Humanitarian: Cannibalism, both literal and figurative, is a running motif through most of the stories.
 Cloud Atlas / int_22071825
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_22071825
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_22071825
 Cloud Atlas / int_242f638e
type
Pastiche
 Cloud Atlas / int_242f638e
comment
Pastiche: Every story. Most notable in Sonmi’s chapters.
 Cloud Atlas / int_242f638e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_242f638e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_242f638e
 Cloud Atlas / int_264e3bd0
type
Sticky Bomb
 Cloud Atlas / int_264e3bd0
comment
Sticky Bomb: Hae-Joo uses sticky bombs to dispose of some Corporacy aircrafts.
 Cloud Atlas / int_264e3bd0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_264e3bd0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_264e3bd0
 Cloud Atlas / int_294ed981
type
Bilingual Bonus
 Cloud Atlas / int_294ed981
comment
In Greek, "néa sou kopros" would be "your new shit".
 Cloud Atlas / int_294ed981
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_294ed981
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_294ed981
 Cloud Atlas / int_2a8a7ea6
type
Bury Your Gays
 Cloud Atlas / int_2a8a7ea6
comment
Bury Your Gays: Robert Frobisher is the only main character to explicitly die, and his lover Sixsmith is murdered in the next story.
 Cloud Atlas / int_2a8a7ea6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_2a8a7ea6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_2a8a7ea6
 Cloud Atlas / int_2c9e262
type
Catapult Nightmare
 Cloud Atlas / int_2c9e262
comment
Catapult Nightmare: Zachry awakens from a bad dream prophetic dream in this manner in the last story.
 Cloud Atlas / int_2c9e262
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_2c9e262
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_2c9e262
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d409194
type
Unsettling Gender-Reveal
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d409194
comment
Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Cavendish has sexual fantasies about the writer of Half-Lives (who goes by the name of Hilary), only to be put down when they finally meet and Hilary turns out to be male.
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d409194
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d409194
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_2d409194
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d6f00e4
type
Psycho for Hire
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d6f00e4
comment
Psycho for Hire: The novel makes it clear that Bill Smoke is quite obsessed with murder. Smoke also briefly employs another killer who keeps a book of his victims' last words.
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d6f00e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_2d6f00e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_2d6f00e4
 Cloud Atlas / int_2ed5e99d
type
Depraved Bisexual
 Cloud Atlas / int_2ed5e99d
comment
Depraved Bisexual: Robert Frobisher — charming, hedonistic, manipulative, thieving, sees no problem with cheating, freely admits he'll never truly love anyone but himself (though in the end, he almost admits he loves Sixsmith) and leaps easily from one conquest to the next. He's a true self-absorbed sensualist and opportunist. Even when he's being thrown out by his romantic rival, he marvels over his rival's fingers.
 Cloud Atlas / int_2ed5e99d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_2ed5e99d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_2ed5e99d
 Cloud Atlas / int_32d0784e
type
Stop, or I Will Shoot!
 Cloud Atlas / int_32d0784e
comment
Stop, or I Will Shoot!: “Excessive force authorised.”
 Cloud Atlas / int_32d0784e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_32d0784e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_32d0784e
 Cloud Atlas / int_334e48a1
type
After the End
 Cloud Atlas / int_334e48a1
comment
After the End: Zachry's era. Nea So Copros also exists after a period called "The Skirmishes", suggested to be a series of "limited" nuclear wars which have already left much of the planet a "deadlands". Presumably a bigger one after Sonmi's period finished the job.
 Cloud Atlas / int_334e48a1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_334e48a1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_334e48a1
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dcfc96
type
Kick the Dog
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dcfc96
comment
Kick the Dog: The assassin in 1973 shoots the dog of a woman who is annoying him by not speaking English.
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dcfc96
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dcfc96
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_34dcfc96
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dd5f3
type
La Résistance
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dd5f3
comment
Unanimity, the government ruling Nea So Copros, means the uniting of an undivided opinion. This foreshadows the fact that Union, the rebellion against Unanimity, is actually a part of it.
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dd5f3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_34dd5f3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_34dd5f3
 Cloud Atlas / int_36c64123
type
Gentle Giant
 Cloud Atlas / int_36c64123
comment
Gentle Giant: Wing the disasterman, who stands almost ten feet tall and was genomed to clean up disasters. He’s kind to Sonmi and carries her up to the roof to see the sights.
 Cloud Atlas / int_36c64123
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_36c64123
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_36c64123
 Cloud Atlas / int_37c6c0f3
type
William Telling
 Cloud Atlas / int_37c6c0f3
comment
William Telling: Boom-Sook Kim and his friends get drunk and use Sonmi for this. This is what convinces Mephi to get her away from Boom-Sook as soon as possible.
 Cloud Atlas / int_37c6c0f3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_37c6c0f3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_37c6c0f3
 Cloud Atlas / int_37cb353b
type
Ate His Gun
 Cloud Atlas / int_37cb353b
comment
Luisa has a deep-seated fear of guns. Her predecessor, Frobisher, Ate His Gun.
 Cloud Atlas / int_37cb353b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_37cb353b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_37cb353b
 Cloud Atlas / int_38d02d44
type
Batman Gambit
 Cloud Atlas / int_38d02d44
comment
Batman Gambit: Sonmi was knowingly cooperating with Unanimity the entire time to have the opportunity to spread her message.
 Cloud Atlas / int_38d02d44
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_38d02d44
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_38d02d44
 Cloud Atlas / int_39ba2515
type
Advert-Overloaded Future
 Cloud Atlas / int_39ba2515
comment
Advert-Overloaded Future: Sonmi's era is a capitalist, corporate-run dystopia where even the Moon is an advert.
 Cloud Atlas / int_39ba2515
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_39ba2515
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_39ba2515
 Cloud Atlas / int_3b39c254
type
Dystopia
 Cloud Atlas / int_3b39c254
comment
Dystopia: Nea So Copros. How dystopic? Sonmi refers to other dystopian authors as "optimists."
 Cloud Atlas / int_3b39c254
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_3b39c254
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_3b39c254
 Cloud Atlas / int_3bc88a7f
type
Foregone Conclusion
 Cloud Atlas / int_3bc88a7f
comment
Foregone Conclusion: Frobisher's early death is hinted at in the first half of the Luisa Rey storyline. Ewing's poisoning is mockingly spoiled by Frobisher. The post-apocalyptic wasteland and deification of Sonmi spell out the end of her chapter Zachry's asides to others listening to his story imply from the start that he survives the ordeal, since he's the one telling the story.
 Cloud Atlas / int_3bc88a7f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_3bc88a7f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_3bc88a7f
 Cloud Atlas / int_3d2c6d30
type
Skewed Priorities
 Cloud Atlas / int_3d2c6d30
comment
Even when he's being thrown out by his romantic rival, he marvels over his rival's fingers.
 Cloud Atlas / int_3d2c6d30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_3d2c6d30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_3d2c6d30
 Cloud Atlas / int_3ed17fe0
type
Wide-Eyed Idealist
 Cloud Atlas / int_3ed17fe0
comment
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Adam Ewing. At one point he sees a sailor carried off by the First Mate and his cronies and assumes they're taking him down to his lodgings to get some sleep. They actually rape him. This, and the man's subsequent suicide, goes some way towards shaking Ewing out of his naiveté.
 Cloud Atlas / int_3ed17fe0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_3ed17fe0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_3ed17fe0
 Cloud Atlas / int_3f45aa4b
type
Epistolary Novel
 Cloud Atlas / int_3f45aa4b
comment
Epistolary Novel: Letters from Zedelghem is comprised of Frobisher detailing his life in a series of letters to Sixsmith.
 Cloud Atlas / int_3f45aa4b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_3f45aa4b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_3f45aa4b
 Cloud Atlas / int_407d3e6d
type
Morton's Fork
 Cloud Atlas / int_407d3e6d
comment
Morton's Fork: Luisa and Fay both encounter this in their dealings with boorish men.
 Cloud Atlas / int_407d3e6d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_407d3e6d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_407d3e6d
 Cloud Atlas / int_40c57041
type
Manipulative Bastard
 Cloud Atlas / int_40c57041
comment
Manipulative Bastard: Frobisher, very much so. As is Ayrs.
 Cloud Atlas / int_40c57041
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_40c57041
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_40c57041
 Cloud Atlas / int_40cc0c7e
type
Bittersweet Ending
 Cloud Atlas / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: The ending of each individual story ranges from tragic to uplifting, so in the end, the book as a whole is bittersweet. The last (chronological) story ends with only a few human survivors and the likely extinction of humanity, whereas the last (actual) few pages of the book end with a stirring monologue from Adam Ewing, declaring the need to fight for good and equality despite hopelessness and constant setbacks.
 Cloud Atlas / int_40cc0c7e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_40cc0c7e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_40cc0c7e
 Cloud Atlas / int_415b3315
type
Stylistic Suck
 Cloud Atlas / int_415b3315
comment
Stylistic Suck: Cavendish's story in the book is far worse written than the other storylines, with intrusive similes, plenty of tangents, and stylistic levels swinging wildly between the pompous and the slangy. Luisa Rey's story is written in the present tense, and intentionally feels like a somewhat clumsy imitation of mystery novels, which Cavendish (ironically) decides to edit into something better.
 Cloud Atlas / int_415b3315
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_415b3315
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_415b3315
 Cloud Atlas / int_48d9e12d
type
Funetik Aksent
 Cloud Atlas / int_48d9e12d
comment
Funetik Aksent: Zachry’s narration.
 Cloud Atlas / int_48d9e12d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_48d9e12d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_48d9e12d
 Cloud Atlas / int_4a3e547f
type
Leaning on the Fourth Wall
 Cloud Atlas / int_4a3e547f
comment
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When he finds out he's been locked into a mental hospital, not a hotel, Cavendish relates that the reader probably figured that twist out long before he did.
 Cloud Atlas / int_4a3e547f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_4a3e547f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_4a3e547f
 Cloud Atlas / int_4ac8b81f
type
Humans Are the Real Monsters
 Cloud Atlas / int_4ac8b81f
comment
Humans Are the Real Monsters: Played straight, subverted, invoked, played straight again, and discussed at length. Arguably, the degree of truth to this trope is the main theme of the novel.
 Cloud Atlas / int_4ac8b81f
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Cloud Atlas / int_4ac8b81f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_4ac8b81f
 Cloud Atlas / int_4afa0e25
type
Bio Punk
 Cloud Atlas / int_4afa0e25
comment
Bio Punk: The Sonmi section takes place in a future setting where humanity is heavily genetically engineered, Uterine Replicators are common, and clones perform most unwanted tasks. It's a dystopia, and the biotech in the story is used to enhance the power of the corporate hierarchy that makes the world a dystopia.
 Cloud Atlas / int_4afa0e25
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_4afa0e25
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_4afa0e25
 Cloud Atlas / int_4e3d253b
type
Downer Ending
 Cloud Atlas / int_4e3d253b
comment
Downer Ending: Zachry’s tale ends with the extinction of all free tribes on the Big Island, the Kona expanding across the Hawaiian archipelago, and the collapse of the last advanced civilization on Earth. It's implied that the reason the novel doesn't continue further into the future of the human race is because there isn't any future for it to probe. The only thing that saves the entire book from being an example of this is that after his story concludes, the Nested Story moves back in time and shows that despite its faults and failings, humanity perseveres.
 Cloud Atlas / int_4e3d253b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_4e3d253b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_4e3d253b
 Cloud Atlas / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 Cloud Atlas / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: Ewing's parasite. Zachry's baby, who is born without a nose or mouth due to mutation.
 Cloud Atlas / int_504a1991
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_504a1991
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_504a1991
 Cloud Atlas / int_50f5dabe
type
Reincarnation
 Cloud Atlas / int_50f5dabe
comment
Reincarnation: A recurring theme in the novel (though it is left ambiguous whether it is real). Also an explicit belief of the Valleysmen in Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev'rythin’ After, of the Buddhists in Sonmi's era and of the Moriori. Luisa doesn't believe in it at all.
 Cloud Atlas / int_50f5dabe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_50f5dabe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_50f5dabe
 Cloud Atlas / int_5148024
type
Locked into Strangeness
 Cloud Atlas / int_5148024
comment
Locked into Strangeness: Zachry tells a story about a man named Truman, whose black hair went white from the shock of seeing Old Georgie harvesting a soul.
 Cloud Atlas / int_5148024
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_5148024
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_5148024
 Cloud Atlas / int_53f88d36
type
Reincarnation-Identifying Trait
 Cloud Atlas / int_53f88d36
comment
Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: It is heavily implied that five of the six protagonists of the Nested Story are all the same soul (the exception is Zachry; it's Meronym who's got the mark), and are identified by their comet-shaped birthmark.
 Cloud Atlas / int_53f88d36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_53f88d36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_53f88d36
 Cloud Atlas / int_55404918
type
Knuckle Tattoos
 Cloud Atlas / int_55404918
comment
Knuckle Tattoos: Dermot Hoggins (Tom Hanks) in the 2012 story.
 Cloud Atlas / int_55404918
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_55404918
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_55404918
 Cloud Atlas / int_557a31ce
type
Actual Pacifist
 Cloud Atlas / int_557a31ce
comment
Actual Pacifist: The real life pacifism of the Moriori tribe (not to be confused with Maori), even in the face of genocide, is discussed in depth in the first story. It didn't go well for them.
 Cloud Atlas / int_557a31ce
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_557a31ce
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_557a31ce
 Cloud Atlas / int_55bf1a48
type
At Least I Admit It
 Cloud Atlas / int_55bf1a48
comment
At Least I Admit It: Henry Goose may be a murderer, a racist, and a con man, completely devoid of morality and empathy, but he is almost sympathetic when he skewers the hypocritical missionaries that exploit the natives. He is the only character that feels no need to disguise his brutal Social Darwinism behind religious, pseudo-humanitarian, or patriotic reasons.
 Cloud Atlas / int_55bf1a48
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_55bf1a48
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_55bf1a48
 Cloud Atlas / int_5798bfbf
type
Reassigned to Antarctica
 Cloud Atlas / int_5798bfbf
comment
Reassigned to Antarctica: As a way around Morton's Fork, Fay Li in Half-Lives transfers the employee mentioned to Kansas as punishment.
 Cloud Atlas / int_5798bfbf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_5798bfbf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_5798bfbf
 Cloud Atlas / int_57b80b45
type
Fantastic Racism
 Cloud Atlas / int_57b80b45
comment
Fantastic Racism: Against fabricants — just look at Sonmi's attempt to attend a university lecture. By her time, however, actual racism is completely gone.
 Cloud Atlas / int_57b80b45
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_57b80b45
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_57b80b45
 Cloud Atlas / int_57cfcbdd
type
Meta Twist
 Cloud Atlas / int_57cfcbdd
comment
Meta Twist: Timothy mentions Soylent Green in connection with cloned Koreans before Sonmi's story even starts; the clones all drinking the same nutrients each day invokes the connection very strongly. But the plot thread seemingly gets dropped very early on in Sonmi’s tale, to focus on political intrigue instead. Small hints are dropped — a reference to Malthus, for example. By the time Sonmi reaches the ship, it's of course a Foregone Conclusion that Xultation isn't real... but the sudden return of the Soylent Green theme is unexpected, if just because the story already includes such a large number of other famous sci-fi twists in its loving pastiche. And then it gets taken a step further when it turns out that not just the Soap is made of discarded clones, but also the regular food in Papa Song's diner.
 Cloud Atlas / int_57cfcbdd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_57cfcbdd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_57cfcbdd
 Cloud Atlas / int_59aa1ff8
type
Deface of the Moon
 Cloud Atlas / int_59aa1ff8
comment
Deface of the Moon: In the 22nd century, the moon has been turned into a nightly projection screen, and the idea of a "naked" moon freaks the characters out.
 Cloud Atlas / int_59aa1ff8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_59aa1ff8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_59aa1ff8
 Cloud Atlas / int_5a4aa505
type
Government Conspiracy
 Cloud Atlas / int_5a4aa505
comment
Government Conspiracy: The Corporacy organizing Sonmi's ascencion in order to radicalize public opinion against fabricants and distract from the system's real problems. Sonmi realised it very early on, and decided to play along anyway, since it gave her a chance to start a revolution even if the revolution was engineered.
 Cloud Atlas / int_5a4aa505
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_5a4aa505
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_5a4aa505
 Cloud Atlas / int_5e5ee986
type
All Animation Is Disney
 Cloud Atlas / int_5e5ee986
comment
All Animation Is Disney: Exaggerated — in 2144, all films are referred to as "disneys", because the world has become a total plutocracy. Pun not intended. invoked
 Cloud Atlas / int_5e5ee986
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_5e5ee986
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_5e5ee986
 Cloud Atlas / int_5f52cfcf
type
Intrepid Reporter
 Cloud Atlas / int_5f52cfcf
comment
Intrepid Reporter: Luisa Rey is the classical example of this trope.
 Cloud Atlas / int_5f52cfcf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_5f52cfcf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_5f52cfcf
 Cloud Atlas / int_60441d9
type
Future Slang
 Cloud Atlas / int_60441d9
comment
Future Slang: Sonmi’s era has been hit hard by this trope. Anything that began with 'ex' now only starts with 'x', and everyday items are referred to by the brand we would most readily associate with them, only without the capital letter. Hence nikes (running shoes), sonys (computers), disneys (movies) etc. Explicitly an example of Brand Name Takeover on a global scale, as her world is run by corporations. The humans of Zachry’s era developed their own future slang as well, though it’s more primitive.
 Cloud Atlas / int_60441d9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_60441d9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_60441d9
 Cloud Atlas / int_6114a875
type
Lost Technology
 Cloud Atlas / int_6114a875
comment
Lost Technology: By the time of Zachry's era, technology has mostly devolved back to the iron age, but a small group has access to some stuff on our current level and a even a few objects more advanced than anything we currently have.
 Cloud Atlas / int_6114a875
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_6114a875
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_6114a875
 Cloud Atlas / int_64edb99c
type
Always Save the Girl
 Cloud Atlas / int_64edb99c
comment
Always Save the Girl: Hae-Joo and Sonmi have this trope going on... Although Sonmi is convinced he was in on the Government Conspiracy in the end.
 Cloud Atlas / int_64edb99c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_64edb99c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_64edb99c
 Cloud Atlas / int_67f26dcc
type
Planet of Hats
 Cloud Atlas / int_67f26dcc
comment
Planet of Hats: Sonmi's time period. The hat in question? Capitalism.
 Cloud Atlas / int_67f26dcc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_67f26dcc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_67f26dcc
 Cloud Atlas / int_6a3c49f
type
Direct Line to the Author
 Cloud Atlas / int_6a3c49f
comment
Direct Line to the Author: Played with. Despite the characters apparently being reincarnations or something similar of each other, some of the stories are presented as fiction when they appear in another story. Lampshaded by Frobisher, who points out to Sixsmith in his letters that The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing feels a bit too well-structured to be a true diary. The logical overlap between the lives of Rey and Cavendish only makes things more confusing. The novel lampshades this when Cavendish outright rejects the idea of his birthmark being similar to a comet.
 Cloud Atlas / int_6a3c49f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_6a3c49f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_6a3c49f
 Cloud Atlas / int_6acebb1e
type
Mistaken for Insane
 Cloud Atlas / int_6acebb1e
comment
Mistaken for Insane: Both the book and the movie, Timothy Cavendish is pranked by his brother into committing himself into a mental institution. He tries to convince the staff that he is mentally healthy, but they refuse to allow him to leave, keeping him trapped on the property.
 Cloud Atlas / int_6acebb1e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_6acebb1e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_6acebb1e
 Cloud Atlas / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 Cloud Atlas / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: Two of the Corrupt Corporate Executives of Seaboard in the Luisa Rey story have the last names "Hooks" and "Wiley". Sixsmith partially inspired Frobisher's creation (smithing) of the Cloud Atlas Sextet (a piece written for six players). Jocasta, the composer Vyvyan Ayrs's wife. In Greek Mythology, the wife of King Laios of Thebes and mother of Oedipus. In the novel, Depraved Bisexual Robert Frobisher (son figure) makes love with Jocasta (mother figure), the wife of Vyvyan (father figure). A "meronym" means something that is part of a whole. Bill Smoke’s surname evokes his status as a shadowy assassin. Unanimity, the government ruling Nea So Copros, means the uniting of an undivided opinion. This foreshadows the fact that Union, the rebellion against Unanimity, is actually a part of it. In Greek, "néa sou kopros" would be "your new shit".
 Cloud Atlas / int_6bda9a30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_6bda9a30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_6bda9a30
 Cloud Atlas / int_6d332aea
type
Driven to Suicide
 Cloud Atlas / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: Frobisher shoots himself in the mouth. In Adam Ewing’s storyline, Rafael, after being repeatedly raped by the First Mate and his goons.
 Cloud Atlas / int_6d332aea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_6d332aea
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_6d332aea
 Cloud Atlas / int_716d9138
type
Bar Brawl
 Cloud Atlas / int_716d9138
comment
Bar Brawl: At the very end of the Cavendish story. It's engineered by the old folks as a way of escaping the bad guys.
 Cloud Atlas / int_716d9138
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_716d9138
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_716d9138
 Cloud Atlas / int_72bafff5
type
Doomed Moral Victor
 Cloud Atlas / int_72bafff5
comment
Doomed Moral Victor: Sonmi cooperated with the Government Conspiracy to spread her message, despite knowing it would lead to her death. To the point that she's worshiped as a god in the future.
 Cloud Atlas / int_72bafff5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_72bafff5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_72bafff5
 Cloud Atlas / int_73dd919c
type
Genteel Interbellum Setting
 Cloud Atlas / int_73dd919c
comment
Genteel Interbellum Setting: Frobisher's era. His letters read like a particularly bitter P. G. Wodehouse novel.
 Cloud Atlas / int_73dd919c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_73dd919c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_73dd919c
 Cloud Atlas / int_7464705c
type
Arc Words
 Cloud Atlas / int_7464705c
comment
Arc Words: There are all kinds of repeated references across the six eras. Hydras, feeding ducks, a "crocodile" of people, eating soap, cannibalism, etc. Frobisher's "Cloud Atlas Sextet" follows the same pattern the novel does, and he associates each of the six movements of his piece with an instrument. "The weak are meat the strong do eat."note The odd syntax is a direct translation of "jakunikukyoushoku". "An atlas o(f) clouds."
 Cloud Atlas / int_7464705c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_7464705c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_7464705c
 Cloud Atlas / int_76df59f1
type
Thicker Than Water
 Cloud Atlas / int_76df59f1
comment
Thicker Than Water: Cavendish refers to this pretty much word-for-word.
 Cloud Atlas / int_76df59f1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_76df59f1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_76df59f1
 Cloud Atlas / int_80a247a9
type
Breather Episode
 Cloud Atlas / int_80a247a9
comment
Breather Episode: The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish, while creepy in places, is funnier and more light-hearted than the other segments. Especially noticeable since it comes right before/after the very depressing An Orison of Sonmi~451.
 Cloud Atlas / int_80a247a9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_80a247a9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_80a247a9
 Cloud Atlas / int_83a903f6
type
Stepford Smiler
 Cloud Atlas / int_83a903f6
comment
Stepford Smiler: The fabricant waitresses are genetically engineered to always smile. Even if they wish they could kill themselves.
 Cloud Atlas / int_83a903f6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_83a903f6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_83a903f6
 Cloud Atlas / int_8573ac0a
type
The Social Darwinist
 Cloud Atlas / int_8573ac0a
comment
The Social Darwinist: Another running theme throughout multiple stories.
 Cloud Atlas / int_8573ac0a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_8573ac0a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_8573ac0a
 Cloud Atlas / int_867f9f5c
type
Alien Non-Interference Clause
 Cloud Atlas / int_867f9f5c
comment
Alien Non-Interference Clause: Meronym in the final segment is from a more advanced Earth civilization, not an alien, but this still applies to her. Zachry manages to convince her to use her medical equipment to save Zachry's sister. To avoid potential problems, they inject her secretly, so she just appears to have a miraculous recovery.
 Cloud Atlas / int_867f9f5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_867f9f5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_867f9f5c
 Cloud Atlas / int_87629455
type
No Communities Were Harmed
 Cloud Atlas / int_87629455
comment
No Communities Were Harmed: Half-Lives is set in Buena Yerbas, a fictional Californian metropolis somewhere between LA and San Francisco. It gets a callback later on when Meronym mentions having lived among the Swannekke tribe.
 Cloud Atlas / int_87629455
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_87629455
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_87629455
 Cloud Atlas / int_898d0f32
type
Teeth Flying
 Cloud Atlas / int_898d0f32
comment
Teeth Flying: At the previously-mentioned Bar Brawl.
 Cloud Atlas / int_898d0f32
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_898d0f32
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_898d0f32
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ae880f7
type
Deconstruction
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ae880f7
comment
Deconstruction: Of a large number of tropes (see the entire page).
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ae880f7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ae880f7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_8ae880f7
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ca20b69
type
Out-of-Character Moment
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ca20b69
comment
Cavendish, in an oddly poignant moment, writes a passage about the futility of recording the ephemeral, once again referring to an "atlas of clouds".
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ca20b69
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ca20b69
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_8ca20b69
 Cloud Atlas / int_8d23f3a7
type
Timey-Wimey Ball
 Cloud Atlas / int_8d23f3a7
comment
Timey-Wimey Ball: The narrative structure of the novel weaves together themes, ideas, and people forward and backward in time.
 Cloud Atlas / int_8d23f3a7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_8d23f3a7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_8d23f3a7
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ffcbb25
type
Matter Replicator
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ffcbb25
comment
Matter Replicator: Sophisticated 3D-printer-like devices are seen rapidly assembling fast food in Papa Song's.
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ffcbb25
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_8ffcbb25
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_8ffcbb25
 Cloud Atlas / int_93c74ab3
type
Cult Classic
 Cloud Atlas / int_93c74ab3
comment
Cult Classic: In-Universe, The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish is considered something like this by 2144.
 Cloud Atlas / int_93c74ab3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_93c74ab3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_93c74ab3
 Cloud Atlas / int_96fbeaf
type
There Are No Therapists
 Cloud Atlas / int_96fbeaf
comment
There Are No Therapists: Frobisher has the bad luck of being a manic-depressive in 1931.
 Cloud Atlas / int_96fbeaf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_96fbeaf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_96fbeaf
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: All over. Just a few examples: Ayrs talks about a dream he has in "Letters from Zedelghem" — of a restaurant where all the waitresses have the same face, in a reference to "An Orison of Sonmi~451". As Cavendish travels through the countryside, he mentions one area has been turned into a facility for "cloning humans for shady Koreans". A bit later, as Cavendish escapes Aurora House, he makes a crack about Soylent Green. The nurse also threatens to make him eat soap. These all apply to "An Orison of Sonmi~451".
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d12bbc1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d12bbc1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_9d12bbc1
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d1cc720
type
Barbie Doll Anatomy
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d1cc720
comment
Barbie Doll Anatomy: Fabricants in the novel. Kidnapped ones are given cheap surgery and sold as prostitutes.
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d1cc720
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_9d1cc720
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_9d1cc720
 Cloud Atlas / int_9dab0a6e
type
Continuity Nod
 Cloud Atlas / int_9dab0a6e
comment
Continuity Nod: Timothy Cavendish and Luisa Rey appears as a minor character in Ghostwritten, and also to point out that Katy Forbes had the same comet-shaped birthmark.
 Cloud Atlas / int_9dab0a6e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_9dab0a6e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_9dab0a6e
 Cloud Atlas / int_9f541b68
type
Brand Name Takeover
 Cloud Atlas / int_9f541b68
comment
Sonmi’s era has been hit hard by this trope. Anything that began with 'ex' now only starts with 'x', and everyday items are referred to by the brand we would most readily associate with them, only without the capital letter. Hence nikes (running shoes), sonys (computers), disneys (movies) etc. Explicitly an example of Brand Name Takeover on a global scale, as her world is run by corporations.
 Cloud Atlas / int_9f541b68
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_9f541b68
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_9f541b68
 Cloud Atlas / int_a58802b7
type
Happiness in Slavery
 Cloud Atlas / int_a58802b7
comment
Happiness in Slavery: A running motif. Slavery appears in some form or another in every story: Adam Ewing slowly comes to realise that social darwinism is wrong. The entire Moriori race becomes enslaved to the Maori. Vyvyan Ayres tries to blackmail Frobisher into remaining his assistant and supplying him with music to steal. Luisa and Joe stumble on a sweatshop. The retirement home that Cavendish is sent to is essentially a prison. Residents are expected to pretend to be happy with their "new life." Sonmi and her fabricant sisters are engineered to be happy in slavery. Zachry's brother was enslaved when he was very young, and the slavers come back for the rest of the island.
 Cloud Atlas / int_a58802b7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_a58802b7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_a58802b7
 Cloud Atlas / int_a7ae597a
type
No New Fashions in the Future
 Cloud Atlas / int_a7ae597a
comment
No New Fashions in the Future: Averted. While the fashion changes between 1974 and 2012 aren't much, 2144 is another matter altogether. Apart from some working overalls, virtually nothing is recognizable.
 Cloud Atlas / int_a7ae597a
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_a7ae597a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_a7ae597a
 Cloud Atlas / int_a8af3e53
type
Secret Police
 Cloud Atlas / int_a8af3e53
comment
Secret Police: Somni drops a figurative bomb on her archivist when she reveals that she suspected she was in their grasp almost from the beginning but played along at the end at least because the book they wanted her write would be more influential and important than they realized. Considering how she is regarded in Zachry's era, she was probably right.
 Cloud Atlas / int_a8af3e53
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_a8af3e53
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_a8af3e53
 Cloud Atlas / int_a971e83c
type
Hidden Elf Village
 Cloud Atlas / int_a971e83c
comment
Hidden Elf Village: Meronym's civilization is strongly implied to be this, due to the fact that they've retained technology from Sonmi's time.
 Cloud Atlas / int_a971e83c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_a971e83c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_a971e83c
 Cloud Atlas / int_a9c40434
type
Birthmark of Destiny
 Cloud Atlas / int_a9c40434
comment
Birthmark of Destiny: Ewing, Frobisher, Rey, Cavendish, Sonmi, and Meronym all have the exact same birthmark, in exactly the same place; this birthmark is one of the main manifestations of the reincarnation theme.
 Cloud Atlas / int_a9c40434
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_a9c40434
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_a9c40434
 Cloud Atlas / int_aa8dcc21
type
MegaCorp
 Cloud Atlas / int_aa8dcc21
comment
Mega-Corp: The Corpocracy in 2144. Doubles as The Government and Police State.
 Cloud Atlas / int_aa8dcc21
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_aa8dcc21
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_aa8dcc21
 Cloud Atlas / int_aabe2fb
type
Deliberate Values Dissonance
 Cloud Atlas / int_aabe2fb
comment
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Ewing is very progressive for his time period, but still a product of his age. He's initially frightened that a Moriori stowaway will eat him, right after being told at length about how their own pacifism has nearly driven the tribe extinct. Frobisher is antisemitic and looks down on the working classes, as a typical son of wealthy British gentry of his period would. Timothy Cavendish has the lingering racism and disgust for youth culture that you might expect a bitter old man to have in modern times. Future Korea is a dystopia filled with deliberate values dissonance. In future Hawaii, Zachry has a child at a very young age with a girl he barely knows. This doesn't seem to be considered abnormal, probably because life expectancies are so short.
 Cloud Atlas / int_aabe2fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_aabe2fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_aabe2fb
 Cloud Atlas / int_aaf19fae
type
Doesn't Like Guns
 Cloud Atlas / int_aaf19fae
comment
Doesn't Like Guns: Luisa says that guns make her sick. This might tie her story in with the pacifist Moriori tribe in the Adam Ewing storyline, and more prominently with Robert Frobisher's story.
 Cloud Atlas / int_aaf19fae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_aaf19fae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_aaf19fae
 Cloud Atlas / int_ac995846
type
NuSpelling
 Cloud Atlas / int_ac995846
comment
Nu Spelling: In 2144, many spellings are truncated (particularly, "gh" seems to have been dropped entirely, resulting in "lite" and "thoro", etc.; additionally, "exactly" has become "xactly", etc.) and brand names have substituted several everyday terms ("disney" versus "film"). Both spelling and grammar have changed a good deal after the Fall, although Meronym speaks it in a more twentieth century form in her communication with her ship's captain.
 Cloud Atlas / int_ac995846
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_ac995846
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_ac995846
 Cloud Atlas / int_b6c6e9ed
type
Violence Is Disturbing
 Cloud Atlas / int_b6c6e9ed
comment
Violence Is Disturbing
 Cloud Atlas / int_b6c6e9ed
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_b6c6e9ed
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_b6c6e9ed
 Cloud Atlas / int_b707726f
type
Hypocritical Humor
 Cloud Atlas / int_b707726f
comment
Hypocritical Humor: Timothy Cavendish initially criticises the manuscript of Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery sent to his publishing house for being badly written and obviously intended to be turned into a screenplay. His own story suffers from Stylistic Suck, and he ends up putting in explicit directions for its future director (whom he imagines as a reclusive Swede named "Lars").
 Cloud Atlas / int_b707726f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_b707726f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_b707726f
 Cloud Atlas / int_b7c85c86
type
Free-Love Future
 Cloud Atlas / int_b7c85c86
comment
Free-Love Future: Sex absolutely isn't taboo anymore in Zachry's time, though society still follows the classic pattern of monogamy, marriage and jealousy. Zachry becomes a father at age 12 and doesn't see anything wrong or shameful about it.
 Cloud Atlas / int_b7c85c86
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_b7c85c86
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_b7c85c86
 Cloud Atlas / int_bb0b2739
type
Nested Story
 Cloud Atlas / int_bb0b2739
comment
Nested Story: With the relationship between the various narratives left deliberately unclear. Robert Frobisher thinks Adam's journal looks fake, the archivist interviewing Sonmi refuses to accept parts of her story, and Zachry's son thinks his dad probably made part of his story up. It's entirely purposeful, and it ties into what Isaac Sachs writes about virtual pasts and virtual futures.
 Cloud Atlas / int_bb0b2739
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_bb0b2739
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_bb0b2739
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc3b029b
type
Impairment Shot
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc3b029b
comment
Impairment Shot: From the POV of a man who is being poisoned.
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc3b029b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc3b029b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_bc3b029b
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc5ddda5
type
Thematic Series
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc5ddda5
comment
Thematic Sequel: The six stories come together to form three thematic pairs. The two stories within each pair are united by a common thematic/plot element. To paraphrase Kyle Kallgren: A strongly moral woman learns of a great societal injustice committed by greedy businessmen and sets out to right it (Luisa and Sonmi). A Pacific Islander meets a person from an advanced civilization, and they save each other's lives (Adam Ewing and Zachry). An artist (Frobisher) creates a piece of work, only to be screwed over by his supervisor and cause the artist's downfall/An artist creates a piece of work, which screws over his supervisor (Cavendish) and cause the supervisor's downfall
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc5ddda5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc5ddda5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_bc5ddda5
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc74ef27
type
Berserk Button
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc74ef27
comment
Berserk Button: The Mexican woman kills the assassin after he shoots her dog and calls her a wetback.
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc74ef27
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_bc74ef27
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_bc74ef27
 Cloud Atlas / int_bef696dd
type
Mind Screw
 Cloud Atlas / int_bef696dd
comment
Mind Screw: Each story initially appears to be set in the same universe as its predecessor. This is toyed with when Frobisher questions the veracity of Ewing’s journal, then completely undermined when Cavendish receives Rey's story as a manuscript for a fictional novel. Yet connections between the characters seem to bridge this fiction-reality divide, such as the shared birthmark of Frobisher, Rey, Sonmi, and Meronym. Similarly, the reader is led to believe that all of the protagonists are one reincarnated soul, marked by the distinctive birthmark, but this is disputed since the lifespans of Luisa Rey and Timothy Cavendish should exactly overlapnote she was born in 1947 (would turn sixty-five in 2012), and Cavendish is "65 and a half" in 2012. Can one soul be divided in two?... unless they’re two aspects of the same person, since they're the exact same age. Her being a fictional character in his universe might be a more significant barrier, unless she was real and "Half-Lives" is a story based on her adventures — which is entirely possible.
 Cloud Atlas / int_bef696dd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_bef696dd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_bef696dd
 Cloud Atlas / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Cloud Atlas / int_c75df49a
comment
The name of one story's title character, Luisa Rey, is an apparent reference to the book The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.
 Cloud Atlas / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_c75df49a
 Cloud Atlas / int_c9597a03
type
Self-Deprecation
 Cloud Atlas / int_c9597a03
comment
Self-Deprecation: Cavendish finds a manuscript of Luisa Rey's adventure and dismisses the Reincarnation angle as far too New Age-y, despite having a similar birthmark himself. He also describes the birthmark in decidedly less romantic imagery than the comet everyone else seems to see it as.
 Cloud Atlas / int_c9597a03
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_c9597a03
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_c9597a03
 Cloud Atlas / int_cbe687ab
type
Corrupt Corporate Executive
 Cloud Atlas / int_cbe687ab
comment
Two of the Corrupt Corporate Executives of Seaboard in the Luisa Rey story have the last names "Hooks" and "Wiley".
 Cloud Atlas / int_cbe687ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_cbe687ab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_cbe687ab
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce6555f0
type
Lighter and Softer
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce6555f0
comment
Lighter and Softer: Cavendish’s story is the most comedic, though its narrator is also the most curmudgeonly.
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce6555f0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce6555f0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_ce6555f0
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce68d46b
type
Next Sunday A.D.
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce68d46b
comment
Next Sunday A.D.: "The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish" takes place in 2012; the novel was published in 2004. Ironically, the movie was released in 2012, so the story became a contemporary one, even though it wasn't so in the book.
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce68d46b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce68d46b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_ce68d46b
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce75a983
type
Screw Destiny
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce75a983
comment
Screw Destiny: Zachry intentionally ignores his personal prophecy and murders a man, believing that his soul is already doomed to never reincarnate and that it therefore won't matter what he does. Adam Ewing's description of the Moriori culture already foreshadowed that this would stop reincarnation; Zachry's tribe has the same belief, almost to the letter.
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce75a983
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_ce75a983
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_ce75a983
 Cloud Atlas / int_d17eaa9f
type
Postmodernism
 Cloud Atlas / int_d17eaa9f
comment
Postmodernism: Yes. Pushed further with this meta joke:
 Cloud Atlas / int_d17eaa9f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_d17eaa9f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_d17eaa9f
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a060a8
type
Interchangeable Asian Cultures
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a060a8
comment
Interchangeable Asian Cultures: The name of Nea So Copros, the future version of Korea, is a corruption of New East Asian (Sphere of) Co-Prosperity. It is named after the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which is Imperial Japan's attempt to establish a pan-Asian union.
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a060a8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a060a8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_d5a060a8
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a08429
type
No-Paper Future
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a08429
comment
No-Paper Future: 2144. The Fabricants thought a book was a broken computer, and where surprised to inside find "the grimy server serving three ugly sisters; seven stunted fabricants carrying bizarre cutlery behind a shining girl; a house built of candy".
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a08429
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_d5a08429
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_d5a08429
 Cloud Atlas / int_d72b162f
type
Technicolor Eyes
 Cloud Atlas / int_d72b162f
comment
Technicolor Eyes: Sonmis have white irises in the novel.
 Cloud Atlas / int_d72b162f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_d72b162f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_d72b162f
 Cloud Atlas / int_df4d868c
type
Battleaxe Nurse
 Cloud Atlas / int_df4d868c
comment
Battleaxe Nurse: A scary one runs the nursing home where Cavendish is confined.
 Cloud Atlas / int_df4d868c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_df4d868c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_df4d868c
 Cloud Atlas / int_dffd6a64
type
Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex
 Cloud Atlas / int_dffd6a64
comment
Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: Between Sonmi and Hae-Joo after witnessing the fabricant recycling plant. Sonmi describes it as "joyless". The two also have to improvise, since fabricants are not genomed to be able to have intercourse.
 Cloud Atlas / int_dffd6a64
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_dffd6a64
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_dffd6a64
 Cloud Atlas / int_e06d3a98
type
In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves
 Cloud Atlas / int_e06d3a98
comment
In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves: Discussed. "Human hunger birthed the Civlize, but human hunger killed it too."
 Cloud Atlas / int_e06d3a98
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e06d3a98
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e06d3a98
 Cloud Atlas / int_e11b003d
type
Translation Convention
 Cloud Atlas / int_e11b003d
comment
Translation Convention: "An Orison of Sonmi~451" is presumably actually in a future version of Korean.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e11b003d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e11b003d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e11b003d
 Cloud Atlas / int_e294a0be
type
Our Souls Are Different
 Cloud Atlas / int_e294a0be
comment
Our Souls Are Different: In 2144, "Soul" refers to an electronic tracking device implanted in the index finger by the totalitarian government, which functions as identification and an electronic wallet. Fabricants have similar Soulrings worn around the neck. Despite their mundane, technological nature, the Archivist in "An Orison of Sonmi~451" refers to them as "eternal Souls" as if the metaphysical concept and the electronic device have been conflated.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e294a0be
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e294a0be
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e294a0be
 Cloud Atlas / int_e303d198
type
Whole-Plot Reference
 Cloud Atlas / int_e303d198
comment
Whole-Plot Reference: "An Orison of Sonmi~451" has several key similarities to Brave New World, such as the foundation of a dystopia following a Great Offscreen War, mandatory consumer quotas, tailor-made clones, a populace kept happy with psychoactive drugs, and the protagonist opposing the regime due to exposure to literature from a previous era. Sonmi actually reads Brave New World halfway through her story. Adam Ewing’s plot to Moby-Dick, with Melville himself and whales being mentioned frequently. Cavendish’s story to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (he saw the film once).
 Cloud Atlas / int_e303d198
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e303d198
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e303d198
 Cloud Atlas / int_e3c36782
type
Call-Forward
 Cloud Atlas / int_e3c36782
comment
Call-Forward: There's also the opposite — Frobisher, when presented with the opportunity to slit Ayrs's throat, has a sort of reverse deja vu calling forward to Zachry slitting a Kona's throat.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e3c36782
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e3c36782
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e3c36782
 Cloud Atlas / int_e431c24c
type
Not Quite Dead
 Cloud Atlas / int_e431c24c
comment
Not Quite Dead
 Cloud Atlas / int_e431c24c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e431c24c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e431c24c
 Cloud Atlas / int_e5ea3e9a
type
Page-Turn Surprise
 Cloud Atlas / int_e5ea3e9a
comment
Page-Turn Surprise: The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing is cut off mid-sentence in such a way that the sentence appears to run onto the next page, but it turns out that the next page is blank, and the page after is the title page for the next story.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e5ea3e9a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e5ea3e9a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e5ea3e9a
 Cloud Atlas / int_e663d3ef
type
Only a Flesh Wound
 Cloud Atlas / int_e663d3ef
comment
Only a Flesh Wound: "The bullet went right through and killed nothing but his appetite."
 Cloud Atlas / int_e663d3ef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e663d3ef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e663d3ef
 Cloud Atlas / int_e794cb54
type
Powered by a Forsaken Child
 Cloud Atlas / int_e794cb54
comment
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Fabricants that serve out their time as workers are killed and recycled into Soap and food to feed fabricants and purebloods, respectively. Sonmi has the good fortune to watch this happen.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e794cb54
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e794cb54
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e794cb54
 Cloud Atlas / int_e796ce97
type
Blackface
 Cloud Atlas / int_e796ce97
comment
Blackface: Inverted and discussed in Zachry's storyline. Some of Zachry's compatriots start painting their faces out of admiration for the dark-skinned Meronym, but she tells them to stop since her more advanced civilization is unrelated to her skin colour.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e796ce97
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e796ce97
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e796ce97
 Cloud Atlas / int_e8cfde67
type
Ambiguous Disorder
 Cloud Atlas / int_e8cfde67
comment
Ambiguous Disorder: Frobisher suffers tremendously from bipolar disorder, but being from 1931, he has no idea what's happening or how to handle it.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e8cfde67
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e8cfde67
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e8cfde67
 Cloud Atlas / int_e91a2f04
type
Cloning Blues
 Cloud Atlas / int_e91a2f04
comment
Cloning Blues: Various types of fabricants are mass-produced to perform all sorts of tasks in Sonmi's era. As a result, human society has become dependent on the fabricants never questioning their lot in life. Indeed, fabricants are created specifically to be incapable of questioning their lot. How and why Sonmi (and her predecessor and friend Yoona) are different is an important plot point.
 Cloud Atlas / int_e91a2f04
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_e91a2f04
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_e91a2f04
 Cloud Atlas / int_efc1cb35
type
Kukris Are Kool
 Cloud Atlas / int_efc1cb35
comment
Kukris Are Kool: Autua has one in the scene where he asks Adam to kill him rather than give him up to the Captain.
 Cloud Atlas / int_efc1cb35
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_efc1cb35
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_efc1cb35
 Cloud Atlas / int_f197c220
type
Burger Fool
 Cloud Atlas / int_f197c220
comment
Burger Fool: Papa Song's Dinery where Sonmi~451 and her fellow clones work is a nightmare version of a fast food restaurant. In the novel, it's strongly implied to literally just be McDonald's, with multiple references to its "Golden Arches", the red and yellow colour scheme, and the Papa Song mascot resembling a clown.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f197c220
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f197c220
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f197c220
 Cloud Atlas / int_f19ff224
type
TheUNFavourite
 Cloud Atlas / int_f19ff224
comment
The Un-Favourite: Robert Frobisher is this to his parents, who much prefer his older brother who died in World War I. Frobisher isn't too fond of his Mater and Pater either.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f19ff224
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f19ff224
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f19ff224
 Cloud Atlas / int_f3626b09
type
Mercy Kill
 Cloud Atlas / int_f3626b09
comment
Mercy Kill: Hae-Joo Im shoots Xi-Li in the head when the latter is hit by a government weapon that causes agonising pain while keeping the victim conscious. Similar mercy kills are accepted practice among Union.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f3626b09
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f3626b09
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f3626b09
 Cloud Atlas / int_f47bdd2a
type
Violent Glaswegian
 Cloud Atlas / int_f47bdd2a
comment
Violent Glaswegian: Cavendish and his co-conspirators manage to throw off their captors for good in a pub in Scotland by appealing to this trope. The Scots Rugby team have just lost a televised match against England, and the escapees turn the patrons' built-up anger against the mostly English hospital staff (by saying that the latters are trying to claim 'dominion' over them).
 Cloud Atlas / int_f47bdd2a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f47bdd2a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f47bdd2a
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6624c30
type
Together in Death
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6624c30
comment
Together in Death: Frobisher hopes that this will be the fate of himself and Sixsmith. Considering that the entire plot is about reincarnation, not the afterlife, this may be either false hope or they could be together in another timeline.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6624c30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6624c30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f6624c30
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6972f9d
type
The Mourning After
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6972f9d
comment
The Mourning After: It's implied Sixsmith lived forty-five more years, but never loved again after Frobisher. Ouch.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6972f9d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6972f9d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f6972f9d
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6c36157
type
Stab the Salad
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6c36157
comment
Stab the Salad: Zachry looks like he's about to stab Meronym but instead stabs a weird hologram thing next to her.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6c36157
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f6c36157
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f6c36157
 Cloud Atlas / int_f722f635
type
Great Offscreen War
 Cloud Atlas / int_f722f635
comment
Great Offscreen War: An Orison of Sonmi~451’s Skirmishes.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f722f635
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f722f635
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f722f635
 Cloud Atlas / int_f93f10e
type
Can't Stop The Signal
 Cloud Atlas / int_f93f10e
comment
Can't Stop The Signal: Sonmi's revelations somehow escape to reach all of Nea So Copros, and are passed down word-for-word until they are regarded as sacred texts.
 Cloud Atlas / int_f93f10e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_f93f10e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_f93f10e
 Cloud Atlas / int_fa73ee9d
type
Explosive Leash
 Cloud Atlas / int_fa73ee9d
comment
Explosive Leash: Not technically an explosion but the Fabricants' collar kills them instantly if they try to escape.
 Cloud Atlas / int_fa73ee9d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_fa73ee9d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_fa73ee9d
 Cloud Atlas / int_fc1ee7d5
type
Deadly Doctor
 Cloud Atlas / int_fc1ee7d5
comment
Deadly Doctor: Henry Goose, though Ewing eventually doubts that he was anything more than a murderous confidence trickster.
 Cloud Atlas / int_fc1ee7d5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_fc1ee7d5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_fc1ee7d5
 Cloud Atlas / int_fe6c146e
type
The Corrupter
 Cloud Atlas / int_fe6c146e
comment
The Corrupter: Old Georgie, the future Hawaiian imagery of the devil. Zachry's tribe have a strong storytelling culture and smoke a whole lot of weed, so for them, seeing and hearing Old Georgie is as normal as anything.
 Cloud Atlas / int_fe6c146e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_fe6c146e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_fe6c146e
 Cloud Atlas / int_feaf12e8
type
Survivor Guilt
 Cloud Atlas / int_feaf12e8
comment
Survivor Guilt: Zachry gets this twice — once when during his childhood a band of Kona kill his father and kidnap his brother, and again in his adulthood when the Kona destroy his camp and kill or enslave his family and people.
 Cloud Atlas / int_feaf12e8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_feaf12e8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_feaf12e8
 Cloud Atlas / int_ff90e4ca
type
Cross Through
 Cloud Atlas / int_ff90e4ca
comment
Cross Through: Basically Cross Through: The Novel.
 Cloud Atlas / int_ff90e4ca
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_ff90e4ca
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_ff90e4ca
 Cloud Atlas / int_name
type
ItemName
 Cloud Atlas / int_name
comment
 Cloud Atlas / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cloud Atlas / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cloud Atlas / int_name
 Cloud Atlas / int_name
itemName
Cloud Atlas

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
A Family Affair / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Ate His Gun / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Bad Samaritan / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Bath Suicide / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Battleaxe Nurse / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Brand Name Takeover / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cross Through / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Cyberpunk / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Deface of the Moon / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Ear Ache / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
English Literature / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Epistolary Novel / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Erotic Dream / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Eternal Recurrence / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Future Slang / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Gender-Blender Name / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Genre Roulette / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Hurricane of Excuses / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Industrialized Evil / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Interchangeable Asian Cultures / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Jeanne d'Archétype / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Kafka Komedy / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Language Drift / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
London Gangster / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Magic Realism / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Mistaken for Insane / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Nested Story / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Nested Story Reveal / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
No Such Thing as Bad Publicity / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Noughties Drama Series / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Nu Speling / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Page-Turn Surprise / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Pastiche / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Pastoral Science Fiction / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Picaresque / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Plucky Middie / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Recursive Reality / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Reincarnation / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Reincarnation-Identifying Trait / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Scandalgate / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Servant Race / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Sleeping Dummy / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Smart People Play Chess / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Space-Filling Empire / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Stuck on Band-Aid Brand / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
Teeth Flying / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
The Mourning After / int_492d7923
 TheThousandAutumnsOfJacobDeZoet
seeAlso
Cloud Atlas
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
The World Is Just Awesome / int_492d7923
 Cloud Atlas
hasFeature
William Telling / int_492d7923
 cloudatlas
sameAs
Cloud Atlas