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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mortal Engines, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Class
Sacrifice
Dangers of Technology
The Importance of History
Prejudice and First Impressions
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Tunbridge Wheels heads toward the Rustwater Marshes. It takes over a week for the pirate suburb to make it through the muck. Tom sees the pirates violently devour more small towns and begins to question everything he knows about Municipal Darwinism. Nevertheless, Tom and Hester continue to be Peavey’s honored guests, even though Peavey mistakenly believes Hester is Tom’s girlfriend and tries to convince him that he could find someone much more respectable.
Peavey’s comment that Tom should try to find a more respectable girlfriend shows how Peavey views relationships as transactional. He encourages Tom that rather than looking for love, he should prioritize social advancement, demonstrating one thing that he does perhaps have in common with the upper class of London.
Themes
Tunbridge Wheels makes it out of the marshes and come to the Sea of Khazak. Peavey hopes to raid some of the Anti-Tractionists who live in towns that don’t move so that he can finally turn his pirate suburb into a proper town. After taking damage during Shrike’s attack, Airhaven has landed to refuel with some Anti-Tractionist allies on Black Island, and the pirates want to eat Airhaven too.
Also like London, Peavey prefers to target Anti-Tractionists, who are stationary targets. Peavey’s actions help to reveal how London itself is a bit like a pirate colony, acting in similarly selfish ways despite an outwardly more respectable appearance.
Themes
As Tunbridge Wheels prepares to attack, suddenly an airship lands on it: the Jenny Haniver. Tom is happy to see Miss Fang’s ship, but Peavey warns that she is a dangerous spy who has murdered thousands of people with her bombs. After the Jenny Haniver’s surprise attack fails to do serious damage, it retreats. Tunbridge Wheels keeps going, planning to eat some fishing boats outside one of the towns.
Tom already has doubts about Miss Fang, and so he is willing to listen to Peavey’s warnings about her. While it’s possible that Peavey is lying about Miss Fang, this passage once again shows that life in the Hunting Ground can be morally gray.
Themes
The fishing boats, however, are a trap to lead Tunbridge into rocky, shallow water. The pirate suburb lurches, and the engines give out. Peavey shouts that everyone will have to abandon the town. Tom ends up on a raft with Hester, Peavey, and a couple other pirates as the suburb goes down.
Peavey becomes a victim of his own pride and greed. Shallow waters are a common literary trope suggesting danger, and Peavey’s rush into the shallows represents his reckless nature.
Themes
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