Cloud Atlas question

1. I thought Somni became a goddess because her name was attached to a revolution which occurred just before the apocalyptic event. The people on Hawaii only remembered her name and had transformed her into a goddess but Meronym's people still had access to documentation about her.

2. I thought the Luisa Rey thing was supposed to create confusion, but it goes further than that. The Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish is nothing more than a film once viewed by Somni. Maybe only the post-apocalyptic world inhabited by Zachry and Meronym is real and the rest is all they have left of what came before, fictional or non-fictional. But I don't think there's a right answer. I think it's meant to keep us wondering.

I agree with the other commentators that the Somni was the beginning of a revolution or a turning point in history. I do not agree that the film better clarifies what occurs as the thread of reincarnation does not follow the same path as that in the novel, though, it is in an enjoyable film.

I think that all of the characters are reincarnations in the next era, however, one could interpret the stories as the reincarnated character's art not their own experience, but it is a thread that ties them all together. I think the point of the novel is that there is a thread of both light and dark that ties everything together even if it is misunderstood as in the case of Somni. What then is truth? And how can we interpret it if we have limited knowledge, as in the case of Timothy Cavendish?

I loved and despised this novel. It was quite an experiment and ambitious. I recommend it just because of the creativity and ambition taken to write it. I think that it also has many flaws and holes.

The reverence of Sonmi illustrates reincarnation on the macrocosmic, societal scale. Not only is the individual reincarnated, but culture also manifests as cyclical incarnations. Sonmi illustrates the redemption of society though the re-embodiment of myth.

The history of literature chronicles the reinvention of a resurrecting redeemer: Inanna (~2,000 BC), Osiris (~1000 BC), Dionysius (~800 BC), Gautama Buddha (~600 BC), Orpheus (~200 BC), Jesus of Nazareth, Bran the Blessed (~300 AD), Wotan (~800 AD), the Fisher King (~1100 AD), etc. This redeemer is depicted as being sacrificed for the sake of revitalizing a spiritually depleted world. The historical redeemer is resurrected as a mythological embodiment. In sacrifice and the resurrection, this redeemer redeemed brings the potency of the human spirit across the threshold, into the world of the living.

Sonmi’s resides in a purely material system. Mitchell showcases the spiritually depleted nature of Sonmi’s culture through the consumption of the body, and within their reverence of commodity. The dog tossed over the bridge is everyone in existence. Through a willing sacrifice, Somni rekindles the spirituality of her world, which nevertheless destroys itself. This is also the underlying message of the ant bridge. The ants are emptied, not from the dish but of their spiritual content. Through the parson’s intent only our material form is allowed to persist.

Another point to ponder is the nature of our mythological conveyances, which are conducted through art—journalism, music, literature, film and religion. History shows that, progressively, all events are reframed as the monomtyh, exposing mythology as a projection of the innate soul. Again the emphasis is on the transformation of historical events into mythological driving forces.

Richard answered your first question. Sonmi's recording of her talking to the Archivist became their bible. Kind of a New New Testament.

As for Luisa's story seeming fictional, I kinda pieced together a theory. Back in grade school, while reading The Outsiders, my teachers explained to us that S.E. Hinton used her initials because women writers weren't taken seriously, especially when writing about anything that wasn't specifically womanly things. She had to submit under a masculine sounding name to get published.

Given that Luisa is around roughly the same era, I figure she had to tell her story as if it were JUST a story, rather than a real biography. Given the way she's treated by the men around her, it seems to enforce this.

When I read it, I interpreted it as a demonstration of reincarnation. The comet birthmark identifies the person who has been reincarnated. Therefore, I interpreted each story as a real account of events rather than a fictional story. Sonmi became a goddess of sorts because over time, the message she recorded during her "trial" became the basis of moral code for the new generations following the apocalypse. However, I can see now how this book can be interpreted as stories embedded within stories like matryoshka. In this scenario, it is less clear how the link between Sonmi and future Hawaii was established as they did not appear to have documentation. Their lore was passed on verbally, so how did they discover Sonmi's message unless it had existed in some physical form for society to read or listen to and eventually pass on to future generations verbally?

1. The future revolution that led to the fall of corpocracy was probably based around Sonmi's Orion. So was probably hailed as a messiah, which was, in later years, taken literally. So David Mitchell is showing us the formation of religions.

2. A good observation; to make things even more convoluted, don't forget that Ayers had a dream about the Papa Song diner, which gave him his tune. And Forbisher had a vision of slitting Ayers' throat - a throwback from Zachery slitting the Kona's throat? Ultimately, 'reincarnation' does not mean so in the literal sense. The comet can also imply the 'reincarnation' of a fighting spirit, a desire ot stand up to injustice, etc etc. As such, Luisa and Cavendish can easily live at the same time. While Luisa is living up to her birthmark, Cavendish is not, and when he finally decides to fight back, Luisa's story with Swannekke is long done.

That's just my take.

"it is a thread that ties them all together."

Yup. Mitchel has said as much in several interviews. He uses Buddhist re-cognitions not as a practitioner, but as literary devices, and not just in Cloud Atlas.

"I think the point of the novel is that there is a thread of both light and dark that ties everything together even if it is misunderstood as in the case of Somni. What then is truth? And how can we interpret it if we have limited knowledge, as in the case of Timothy Cavendish?"

Yessss!

"I think that it also has many flaws and holes."

Sigh.

watch the movie, it clarifies the rougher edges but i'd say no, lusia is not a fictional account, her tale was spun into an adventure narrative

each story hinges on the one before, so in the far flung post apocalypse hawaii somni was a goddess because her account was available to watch. it was a historical document with heart, soul and emotion and it was basically all they had


i really would recommend the movie, it is utterly beautiful and the music is wonderous




http://atheistdad74.blogspot.com.au/ - Indiana Jones & The Intelligent Design

What I think the author did was take what was a collection of short stories and broken them up. If memory serves, we get the first set of halves in ascending order: 1,2,3,4. Then all of story 5 in the middle. Then the second halves in descending order: 4,3,2,1. I think he knew it would not have sold as a regular set of short stories, so decided to be clever. Didn't work for me.