Cloud Atlas

by

David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Narrator Timothy Cavendish describes a time a few summers ago when he was in his sixties and strolling through London. He ran into three teenagers and yelled at them for littering. They beat him up. When he retells the story to people, he exaggerates to say his attackers were actually five Nazis.
The start of Chapter 4 establishes that yet again, the new chapter means a new genre. The narrator, Timothy, admits at the very beginning that he sometimes lies and exaggerates, showing early on that he is an unreliable narrator.
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Timothy says he got distracted and actually intended to start his story with Dermot “Duster” Hoggins. At the start of the story, Timothy is Dermot’s editor. Timothy is at a bar the night before a big literary prize gets announced with some other high-profile people connected to the publishing industry. Suddenly, Dermot makes an unexpected appearance at the bar. No one knows who invited him, and although some blame Timothy, he insists it wasn’t him.
This section satirizes the publishing industry. Timothy seems to be more an observer than a participant at the bar, suggesting that he is not a major force in publishing. The networking in the publishing industry recalls how earlier Robert Frobisher tried to use his Cambridge connections to advance as a composer.
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Dermot, who will later become famous for a book called Knuckle Sandwich, wants to talk to Timothy, who runs Cavendish Publishing, about the publicity campaign for his upcoming boo. He feels that Timothy isn’t doing enough to promote his book. Timothy assures him that while his resources are limited, he’s supporting Dermot as much as he can.
Timothy named his publishing house after himself, suggesting that he’s vain. In fact, his publishing company is a “vanity press,” meaning it charges money from authors (instead of paying authors for books with the expectation of later making back the money in sales).
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Still at the bar for the literary event, Dermot is enraged when he sees a man named Felix Finch. Suddenly Dermot clangs some trays together to give an award. He says he presents Finch with an “Award for Most Eminent Literary Critic.” People don’t realize Dermot is sarcastic, and even Finch seems to appreciate the attention. But when Finch and Dermot talk and things get heated, Dermot physically attacks the short-statured literary critic, grabbing him by the jacket and throwing him off the roof. Finch dies, twelve floors down. Timothy immediately sees the silver lining: Dermot is about to become a famous murderer, and Cavendish Publishing still has several unsold copies of Knuckle Sandwich.
Although Timothy’s story mostly takes place in the real world, it contains elements of farce. This passage satirizes how scandal helps sell books. Nothing has changed about Knuckle Sandwich, but as soon as its author becomes a notorious murderer, the book becomes an overnight success. This passage captures people’s fascination with violence, and how, even though many people claim to dislike violence, they can’t look away from it. As is often the case in the novel, violence and greed are interconnected.
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Timothy hates flashbacks and other flourishes of postmodern literature, but he refuses to apologize for how he jumps around in time in his own story. He says that shortly after Dermot threw Finch off the roof, Knuckle Sandwich climbed to the top of the bestseller charts. Finch’s reputation also climbs, as people forget how rude he used to be. An ongoing trial gets extensive media coverage. Over four months, Knuckle Sandwich sells 90,000 copies, and Cavendish Publishing, previously a vanity publisher, becomes a success story. Timothy hints that he made so much money that he had a hard time keeping his financial records straight.
Ironically, Timothy would hate the very book that he appears as a character in. This passage further satirizes the absurdities of the publishing industry and of business in general. While Dermot and Timothy benefit from Finch’s death, even Finch himself sees some posthumous benefits after he becomes a martyr. Adding to the humorous contradictions, Timothy becomes so successful that it threatens to cause him problems by messing up his financial records.
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Timothy tries to rebrand his publishing house as a home for serious works, printing new business cards. But his success also brings debt collectors. One day, three burly intruders break into Timothy’s home. Timothy realizes that they are Dermot’s three brothers. One of the brothers says Dermot is getting frustrated with Timothy. Timothy tries to explain that, per the contract Dermot signed, Timothy technically owns the copyright to Knuckle Sandwich. But Dermot’s brothers say things have changed, and they’ll need 50,000 pounds by three o’clock the next day.
Timothy is an opportunist who tries to make the most of his unexpected success. But like Robert Frobisher before him, he finds it difficult to escape his past debts. Dermot’s brothers show how sometimes violence is more influential than the letter of the law. Timothy might legally control Dermot’s copyright, but that legal status means nothing if Dermot’s brothers resort to violence.
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Timothy goes to his publishing office and tries to come up with the 50,000 pounds. His secretary tells him that all his cash is already tied up paying off his other debts. Timothy goes back to his office with a whiskey. On his desk are several junk letters, along as a new manuscript called Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery. He calls some people to ask for money and is unsuccessful. Eventually, he leaves the office, telling his secretary he’s going to meet the one person in the world who will always believe in him.
It shouldn’t be difficult for Timothy to come up with 50,000 pounds, given that he just sold 90,000 copies of a book where he owns the copyright. This suggests that either he’s bad with money or he was already bogged down with previous debts. This passage shows that Luisa Rey’s story exists as a manuscript in Timothy’s world, which explains why the world Luisa lives in feels so much like a detective novel.
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Denholme, Timothy’s brother, doesn’t seem happy to see him. He doesn’t believe Timothy’s claim that gangsters want 60,000 pounds from him. Denholme protests that his own bank has crashed. He says Timothy’s only option is to hide, ideally far away from London—he can’t help Timothy with money, but he might be able to help with a place to stay.
Timothy asks for 10,000 pounds more than he needs from his brother Denholme, suggesting that he views his relationship with his brother as transactional and has no qualms about being dishonest.
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Timothy grudgingly goes to King’s Cross Station and books a ticket to Hull, all the while fighting with other people in line. He boards the train. Shortly after Essex, the train makes an unscheduled stop. Frustrated by the delay, Timothy takes the opportunity to read Half-Lives, finding it entertaining enough. Another announcement informs the passengers that  the next leg of the train is cancelled, and they’ll have to make alternative travel arrangements.
Although Timothy doesn’t seem to be ultrawealthy, he is rich enough that he resents having to mingle with ordinary people. All of Timothy’s struggles with public transit show how far he has fallen from his big recent success.
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Timothy gets off the train, looking at all the suburban homes in the town. He gets the idea of trying to find someone he used to know named Ursula who lives in the area. He gets to the house and sees a girl playing outside, then looks over and sees that Ursula is her grandmother; Ursula looks almost exactly the same, despite all the years that have passed.
Ursula represents a life that Timothy might have chosen instead of his current one. She lives in a more suburban area, whereas Timothy stayed in the heart of London to run his publishing company. Given how things have turned out lately, Timothy seems to regret his decision not to settle down with someone like Ursula and live a different kind of life.
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Suddenly, a boy asks Timothy what he’s doing, startling him. Timothy explains he’s an old friend of Ursula’s. The boy threatens to call the police, but Timothy says he’s the Ghost of Christmas Present and he will send the Ghost of Christmas Future to get the boy and his family if he does anything. And so, the boy lets Timothy go.
The scene of Timothy watching Ursula recalls the episode with the Ghost of Christmas Present from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, which is why Timothy himself references it here. The reference to A Christmas Carol could suggest that selfish Timothy is about to undergo a redemption arc.
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Timothy goes to a café and gets drunk while waiting for the next train. He makes it to Cambridge and finds a shabby hotel for travelers. He imagines Dermot’s brothers are probably robbing his house and not finding much to take. He reads a little more of Half-Lives and falls asleep in the middle. The next day, he struggles and fails to get a refund for the cancelled part of his train ticket.
Timothy’s interest in Half-Lives comes at the point when his own life becomes more like a thriller, as he skips town to avoid Dermot’s violent brothers. Timothy’s struggles at the ticket office illustrate how, despite his big literary success, he remains a nobody in other parts of his life.
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Timothy gets back on the train. It makes another unscheduled stop. Later, a brake issue at a rural station means the rest of the trip gets cancelled. But after all these setbacks, Timothy finally makes it to Hull, where an Arabic man greets him and takes him in a taxi. Later, as Timothy goes to leave the taxi, he realizes he’s missing his wallet, so he pays the man with his leftover pocket change. At last, Timothy gets to Aurora House, where Denholme has sent him. He’s happy to be safe—and that his brother is paying for his lodging.
Denholme and Timothy have a strained relationship, so it should perhaps seem a little suspicious that Denholme would be willing to pay for Timothy’s lodging. Timothy, however, has a high opinion of himself, and this sometimes presents him from seeing when he’s being tricked—until it’s too late.
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The next morning, Timothy finds a woman looking through his things and scolds her. Her name is Mrs. Noakes, and she scolds him back for his bad language. She slaps Timothy and says he’d better learn not to go against her. Timothy is shocked at the way she treats him, but she shows no remorse. At breakfast, Timothy finally learns the problem: Aurora House is a nursing home for the elderly.
Timothy seems to be the last one to realize the situation he’s in. An aurora is a natural light that appears in the sky at night, meaning it connects to some of the other sky phenomena that recur throughout the book, like comets and clouds.
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Timothy protests to Mrs. Judd, a woman at reception, that he doesn’t belong at Aurora house. But he’s informed that he already signed a custody document the previous night (which he thought was a hotel registry). Timothy wants to speak with management, but in fact, that’s Nurse Noakes. Timothy keeps complaining that she’s holding him illegally, but Mrs. Judd doesn’t budge.
Timothy’s time in Aurora House draws a lot of inspiration from the novel and film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which is about a mentally healthy man who ends up trapped in an asylum. Timothy references the book at one point, just as he references A Christmas Carol earlier. Since he is a publisher, Timothy sees the world through the lens of books.
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Timothy goes back to his room, plotting vengeance. Someone locks the door behind him. Around 11 a.m., the door unlocks the man and woman in charge of the residents’ committee arrive. They warn Timothy that if he keeps acting up, they’ll have to medicate him. They try to convince him to make the best of his time at Aurora House.
The concept of making someone docile with medication will play an important role in the next chapter. More broadly, the question of how people wield and maintain power echoes throughout the entire book.
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Later that day at Aurora House, Timothy has a bland lunch. He realizes that he won’t get out of his situation by yelling, so maybe he should take some tricks from Knuckle Sandwich and learn how to be more cunning. But just as he’s scheming, he suddenly feels like fireworks are going off in his skull.
Although Timothy feels strongly that he doesn’t belong in Aurora House, his chapter ends with a cliffhanger that suggests he might be suffering from some sort of medical emergency (not so different from the head pain that Adam Ewing experiences in Chapter 1 or perhaps the bullet to the head that Rufus Sixsmith gets in Chapter 3).
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