Cloud Atlas

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary: “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish”

Content Warning: This section depicts slavery and discusses racism.

Timothy Cavendish is an English book editor. After he recounts the time when “a trio of teenettes” (147) accosted him in the street, he remembers an “infamous” night at a literature awards show. Cavendish was the editor of a book titled Knuckle Sandwich, written by a violent criminal named Dermot Hoggins, nicknamed Duster. The book was panned by critics, one of whom is at the same awards party. Duster seeks out this critic, Felix Finch, argues with him, and throws Finch from a balcony, killing him. The incident causes Duster’s book sales to dramatically increase due to the “sweet, free publicity” (152). Cavendish is pleased with his financial success. With Duster in prison, however, his brothers visit Cavendish to demand money. The three brothers—Eddie, Mozza, and Jarvis—want £50,000 by the next day or they’ll hurt Cavendish.

Cavendish panics. He tries to raise the money, but no one can help him. In desperation, he calls his brother. Denholme Cavendish has a strained relationship with his brother. Although he doesn’t have the money, he offers to arrange a place where Cavendish can “lie low” until the incident passes. Cavendish accepts and takes a train to Hull in Northern England. While riding the train, Cavendish reads an unpublished manuscript titled Half-Lives—The First Luisa Rey Mystery, written by Hilary V. Hush. He doesn’t appreciate the “artsily-fartsily Clever” (164) prose but enjoys the story. When the train makes an unexpected stop in Little Chesterford, Cavendish fondly remembers an old girlfriend named Ursula. He disembarks the train and finds her address, spotting her through the window as she dresses her grandchildren in Halloween costumes. Cavendish then takes a bus and stops for one night in a “hotel for commercial travelers” (168). He falls asleep reading the Luisa Rey mystery.

The next day, Cavendish takes another train. During another unexpected stop, he reflects on a wasted life in the world of literature and mistakenly smokes cannabis offered to him by a Rastafarian man. Feeling the effects of the drug, Cavendish takes a taxi on the final leg of his journey. He arrives at Aurora House and realizes that his wallet has been “robbed.” He gives the driver what he can and then stumbles into the building, signing into the guest register in a dizzy blur before collapsing onto a bed. When he wakes, an intimidating woman named Mrs. Noakes is searching through his possessions. When he orders her to leave, she ignores him. She doesn’t appreciate his foul language. Gradually, Cavendish realizes that his brother has sent him to a “nursing home for the elderly” (177). The guest register that he signed the previous night is actually his “residency papers.” Now, he can’t leave. When he tries to escape, Mr. Withers (the gardener) catches him. Withers goes so far as to spank Cavendish for trying to escape. In the home, Cavendish meets the other residents. Gordon Warlock-Williams and Gwendolin Bendincks try to convince him to accept his confinement. Cavendish launches into a passionate speech about the aging process and—while eating an unsatisfying lunch—has a stroke.

Chapter 4 Analysis

In his journal, Adam Ewing began to question the racist discrimination of non-white people that he observed in the 19th century. Although he began the diaries with a firm conviction in the “superiority” of the white race, this view begins to falter because of his experiences. Timothy Cavendish is less willing to question himself. He’s writing at a time when racism manifested in a different way. While Ewing existed in an era of legal slavery, Cavendish lives a contemporary Britain, circa 2000. His descriptions of London portray the city as a multicultural and busy metropolis but one that hasn’t yet left racism in the past. Cavendish narrates the novel himself, functioning as the primary storyteller and describing the world from his subjective viewpoint. His descriptions of various non-white people illustrate his struggles with racial equality. Cavendish uses discriminatory language that, given his age, would have been considered permissible in his youth. Cavendish’s use of these racist phrases isn’t necessarily telling in its own right. Rather, his decision to include the incidents in his subjective narrative suggests that he doesn’t consider them condemnatory. Cavendish is the narrator of his own world—and in the world that he describes, discriminatory language is just another rhetorical joke to describe his own victimhood.

Cavendish’s self-serving narration is also evident through his constant use of literary references. He’s a publisher and an editor, but the works that he publishes aren’t well-respected. His most famous publication is a biography of a gangster titled Knuckle Sandwich, one that became successful only because the author murdered a critic. The works that Cavendish publishes have little literary merit, and this makes him insecure. To demonstrate his connection to the world of literature, he constantly cites other, better-respected works, trying to associate himself with a higher class of culture. In addition, he scowls at anyone who doesn’t understand his apparently witty references. Everything Cavendish does—from the literary references to the racist inclusion of his own prejudices—reflects his arrogance and bluster. The arrogance indicates his insecurity, while the bluster acts as a cover to distract from his many faults and failings, hinting at the theme of Authority and Greed.

The contrast between Luisa’s story and Cavendish’s motivations is clear. Luisa works to expose a threat to public safety, while also hoping to make her late father proud. Cavendish wants to hide from men who have threatened to hurt him—men who may justifiably believe that Cavendish has withheld the royalty profits from their brother’s book. While Luisa has a clear and unbreakable sense of right and wrong, Cavendish is morally compromised. While he insists that he’s an innocent man, his actions speak louder than his narrative self-declarations. A conniving, self-serving coward, his main goals are to become very wealthy (likely at others’ expense) and to protect himself from the consequences of his own actions.