Cloud Atlas

by

David Mitchell

The Abbess of the Mountain Colonists Character Analysis

The Abbess is a woman in her 60s who leads an anarchist colony that lives in the mountains, away from the corpocracy that rules the nearby urban centers. Her colony sits next to a giant stone carving of Siddhartha, and she promises Sonmi that Siddhartha will help her reincarnate in the Abbess’s colony someday. Since Meronym has the same comet birthmark as Sonmi (suggesting she is a reincarnation of Sonmi), this could imply that the Abbess of the Valleysmen is a reincarnation of this Abbess.
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The Abbess of the Mountain Colonists Character Timeline in Cloud Atlas

The timeline below shows where the character The Abbess of the Mountain Colonists appears in Cloud Atlas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
Cycles of History Theme Icon
Aging and Mortality Theme Icon
...colony of purebloods who have abandoned city life. An old woman greets them. She is the Abbess of the Mountains . (full context)
Cycles of History Theme Icon
Greed Theme Icon
Aging and Mortality Theme Icon
...to use the colony as a safe house. When Sonmi wakes up the next morning, the Abbess of the Mountains greets her and tells her about the colony. She explains that the giant carved stone... (full context)
Cycles of History Theme Icon
Greed Theme Icon
Slavery and Imprisonment Theme Icon
Aging and Mortality Theme Icon
Soon, Hae-Joo and Sonmi must leave the colony. As they do, the Abbess of the Mountains whispers in Sonmi’s ear that she’ll ask Siddhartha to grant Sonmi’s wish. While Hae-Joo and... (full context)