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Chapter 5
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
Tom and Hester travel across the muddy Hunting Ground toward London, but the city keeps getting smaller. Hester curses Tom for making her lose her pack, which had food in it. When they pause in the afternoon, Hester scavenges some leaves and catches a frog to eat but doesn’t offer Tom anything.
Hester’s willingness to eat frogs and leaves suggests that she has adapted more to the scavenger lifestyle and is willing to do whatever it takes to survive, even it’s unpleasant.
Themes
Hester occasionally tells Tom about her life, including how her mother hated Traction Cities. Tom doesn’t agree with her but finds the stories much more interesting than silence. Hester says she was born on bare earth (as opposed to a Traction City) in a place that used to be greener than it currently is. She lived in a city called Dunroamin’ that used to be mobile, but over a hundred years ago, its people took off the wheels and engines.
Although Hester and Tom are still far from friends, Hester begins opening up to Tom, showing how time spent together can help people to grow closer. Some places in the story have whimsically on-the-nose names, like Dunroamin’, whose name (like “done roaming”) suggests a place that has stopped moving, while also sounding like a plausible name for a British town.
Themes
According to Hester’s story, Dunroamin’ was peaceful until seven years ago, when Hester woke in the middle of the night and saw Valentine demanding that her mother give him MEDUSA. Valentine used to be her mother’s friend, but that night he looked frightening. When Hester’s mother refused, Valentine drew his sword and killed both of Hester’s parents and even her dogs. He attacked Hester too but left her for dead. Hester managed to escape Dunroamin’ on a boat her father owned, but she passed out on the water and woke up somewhere on the shore of the Hunting Ground.
Many of the characters in the novel are orphans. This lack of parental guidance means that the characters must find their own way in the world, introducing the novel’s recurrent emphasis on coming-of-age and independence. This passage portrays how despite his innocent appearance, Valentine is capable of extreme violence, showing how a polite exterior can hide a dark side.
Themes
Tom wonders aloud what MEDUSA might be. All Hester knows is that it’s a piece of old technology that her mother found somewhere and that it looks like an old, dented soccer ball. Tom feels conflicted: He wants to help Hester, but he doesn’t want to let her kill Valentine. They rest for the night, and Tom expects to reach London by the next evening.
Like many other objects from the past (Mickey Mouse and CDs), MEDUSA mystifies people in this future setting, and its purpose is still deliberately left vague.
Themes
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But when Tom and Hester wake the next morning, London has drifted even further away and Hester’s limp gets worse. As they travel, they reach a small single-tier townlet on wheels and meet a man named Orme Wreyland who welcomes them aboard. The town doesn’t have much in the way of supplies, but Tom trades his “seedy” for some food. Wreyland invites them back to his home, where they eat a type of algae soup.
The introduction of Orme Wreyland helps expand the world of the novel, showing what the people are like in towns like the ones that London typically eats. Suddenly, the people in these towns aren’t just ants that Tom watches from a distance, but people he can see up close and talk to.
Themes
Wreyland discusses the difficulties of running a traction town. At one time, his town of Speedwell was too small to attract attention, but now that times are leaner, Speedwell has to be fast to avoid bigger cities like London. Tom asks if Wreyland can take them to London, perhaps picking up some supplies from London’s discarded scraps along the way, but Wreyland says it’s too dangerous and London rarely drops anything worthwhile anymore.
The town of Speedwell has adapted to avoid London, similar to how some species in nature have adaptations that allow them to better avoid predators. Tom asks Wreyland for help, but Wreyland reveals that his town has to place its own survival above all else.
Themes
Instead, Wreyland says that Speedwell is heading toward “trading-cluster” where small towns gather to trade resources. Tom and Hester might be able to find an air-trader there who will take them to London. But all of a sudden Tom doesn’t feel well. He looks over and sees that Hester has fallen out of her chair. Wreyland’s wife mentions something about using a higher dose next time.
This chapter ends on yet another cliffhanger. The conversation between Wreyland and his wife suggests strongly that they’ve drugged the soup that they fed Tom and Hester, showing how cutthroat life is in the towns outside of London.
Themes
