The way Cloud Atlas was written really intrigued me. The way each story was interupted by a new story kept me interested in wanting to find out more. I thought it was really cool how the story started in the 19th century and peeked in a post apocalyptic future, and then the story seemed to rewind to conclude the remaining stories. I related this part of the book to In the Night Garden and how the stories kept changing. Like I said before I seem to get a new motivation to read when a new story starts. Each of these stories can stand alone as its own, but when all of them are read they reveal the full story put together.
The moral of the stories are somewhat hidden. Mitchell "clouds" his points in a fog of ambiguity. This is why the story was confusing to me. Not because I didn't get the action in the story, but I didn't understand the deeper meaning behind each one. One of these meanings was the theory of recreation. Mitchell proposes that the universe doesn't advance but merely repeats itself.
In class we discussed the topic of reincarnation. This kind of makes me feel that people might not value their life as much if they believe that they can start over. In the novel the characters who were a part of Mitchell's theory of reincarnation they had the same inner beleifs and passions. Although they were different in certain ways they still carried the same beliefs that they had in the group. This brings up the discussion of Karma and what we do in our lives can change our "life after life."
What other morals/theories did you come across that some people might not have noticed.?
I wish I could be reincarnated into a butterfly
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting point you bring up; that people may not value their life because they believe they can start over. If this does happen, I think the outcome of their life would be that they would be farther from the ultimate reality that one seeks that comes along with the belief in reincarnation.
ReplyDeleteI was a caterpillar in my past life. Unfortunately I never became a moth or butterfly. So I wish I could have been a butterfly. Haha
ReplyDeleteI would not go as far as to say that reincarnation makes one value life less, mainly because I have friends who believe in reincarnation and, although I do not fully understand every aspect of their faith, so I cannot decisively say this, it seems as if they have a greater appreciation for life because of it.
ReplyDeleteI personally really like the idea of reincarnation
ReplyDeletei found the story changes to be confusing, it did intrigue me to read more but i couldn't keep up with what was going on and constantly be going back to re read what was going
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the breaks in the stories kept you motivated to keep reading - I had a similar experience when I first read the novel: I suddenly found after the first section ended that the novel wasn't at all what I thought I was reading. I like being surprised out of my everyday life like that.
ReplyDeleteTATY SAYS: I like the thing you brought up about Karma and how what we do affects life after our lives.
ReplyDelete