Character Introduction (part i, ii, iii)

I was warned that the beginning of Cloud Atlas would be a bit slow and dry, but that I should keep reading on because it would be worth it. I did as suggested and discovered that after about thirty pages in the book picked up speed. Another suggestion was to keep a dictionary near by, which proved to be very helpful. I decided to read this book because of the fact that it is split into six parts. This satisfies my short span of attention, and actually makes me sit down for long periods of time to read. That, along with the fact that I did not take the opportunity to get ahead with my AP English reading and blog assignment during my week and a half of vacation. My typical procrastination at its best.

In "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing", part one of Cloud Atlas, there are two main characters who lead contrasting lives. One, Adam Ewing, is a man who stays on an island while his ship "The Prophetess" is being repaired. He befriends an odd doctor, and the two board overnight on the island. They run into a group of natives who are whipping a man tied to a pole. This man is known as Autua. The two characters had their first encounter when Ewing witnessed the Autua's punishment and "swooned under each fall of the lash. Then a peculiar thing occurred. The beaten savage raised his slumped head, found my eye & shone me a look of uncanny, amicable knowing! As if a theatrical performer saw a long-lost friend in the Royal Box and, undetected by the audience, communicated his recognition". This first eye contact carries over to when Ewing boards his ship, and Autua stows in Ewing's room. Autua proves to be very desperate to leave his home, but also extremely confident that Ewing is someone he can trust based solely on the eye contact the two shared. I like this part of the book because it shows one's background does not interfere with strong connections between people. Ewing's act of helping Autua stay on the ship also shows a small portion of compassion that he has, even if Autua is not a wealthy white man.

After finishing part one of Cloud Atlas,  I was pleased to change scenery and dates for the next section: "Letters from Sedelghem".  The main character in this section is so far my favorite one. The text that the reader is given is letters by Robert Frobisher, to an unknown character, Sixsmith.  The first couple of pages seems to outline Frobisher as crazy when the character writes about his dream where he "stood in a china shop so crowded from floor to far off ceiling with shelves of porcelain antiquities etc. that moving a muscle would cause several to fall and smash to bits. Exactly what happened, but instead of a crashing noise, and august chord rang out, half-cello, half-celeste, D major (?), held for four beats". My initial thoughts were that this guy was either completely mad, or exquisitely talented in music; so much so that he could identify notes and instruments in his dreams. Frobisher demands a job from a composer who is mostly blind and very sick. This young musician's personality is entertaining and stubborn. He proves his strong personality when he replies to  criticism from Ayr (his new boss) by saying that he needs "a little time to decide whether or not to [he] could find use for [his boss's]...gift". Frobisher has just mocked what his boss had said to him earlier when Ayr decides whether or not to hire Frobisher as his eyes to create Ayr's music. This part of the book mentions the first part of the book when Frobisher find's Adam Ewing's journal that we read in part one. Nothing more is said about the journal other than the fact that Frobisher asks the man he is writing to, Sixsmith, to find a copy of the rest of the journal that was left out of the edition that Frobisher found. The next section ties into who Sixsmith is. 

Part three of Cloud Atlas has proven to be the most exciting section of the book so far. In "Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", the old man that Frobisher has been writing to meets a girl in an elevator, and he almost spills his large secret to her at that very moment. Little did he know that he would eventually send his secret to Luisa Rey, the girl from the elevator, before he is shot. Sixsmith is a scientist in his sixties who has discovered risk in the hydro power that a big company known as Seaboard Corporation's HYDRA project has just launched. Sixsmith is forced to keep this secret so that the company is not shut down. Since Sixsmith's morals are straight he wants to tell the public, like any good-natured human would attempt to do. This results in the murder of Sixsmith by a man who works for the Seaboard company. Before the murder, Sixsmith sends the letters that Frobisher has written to him, to Luisa Rey. This lets the secret of human safety to Luisa, and puts her life in danger. Luisa proves to be a trustworthy and strong willed when she stands up to her boss about having the chance to write an article on the fact that Sixsmith was murdered, and did not commit suicide. She replies to her boss's refusal of letting her write it by saying "that exposé on Ross Zinn's campaign fund's in 'sixty-four. You took the bone-chilling white supremacist out of politics for good. Dad called you dogged, cussed, and indefatigable. [...] I'll do the nerve and sweat, all I need from you is a little time. [...] Journalism calls for dirty tricks". This shows her persuasion, wit, and determination towards the task in front of her. In fact, she is so trustworthy that an insider of Seaboard leaves the report of Sixsmith's findings about the unsafe power in Luisa's car. This put Luisa's life in danger, and the last scene of part three is Luisa and the report being thrown off a bridge while in the car, into water. 

The characters of these three sections all have something to do with each other, although I expect that in as the book continues, more connections between these characters will be revealed. The strong personalities of the main characters that I have described to you seem to be so strong for a purpose. It is unclear what exactly that purpose is so far, but I cannot wait to continue the adventure of Cloud Atlas.