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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Woman in Cabin 10, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Entrapment and Isolation
Perception vs. Reality
Trauma, Mental Illness, and Resilience
Ambition and Compassion
Wealth and Power
Summary
Analysis
Lo enjoys a fancy shower in her cabin and thinks about the “obscene” cost of the cruise, wondering how one could stand “regular glimpses into a life no regular person would ever be able to afford.” Then she hears the bathroom door abruptly swing shut and begins to panic. She calms herself, refusing to be “that person” who panics over everyday occurrences.
Lo feels ill at ease amid so much affluence. She is still jumpy after having been trapped inside her apartment, but is able to reason with herself in the midst of her panic. Nevertheless, she feels ashamed of her anxiety, thinking it weak.
Themes
Lo reassures herself that the slamming door was caused by the motion of the ship and continues to calm herself down. She also pours herself a drink from the minibar and instantly feels better. She emails her mother and best friend and finally, tearfully, manages to send an apologetic email to Judah.
Though capable of working through panic attacks without it, Lo resorts to alcohol to help with her anxiety, and also to offset her stress about her relationship.
Themes
Lo gets ready for the first evening of the cruise, dressing in a ball gown. As she puts on her makeup, she realizes that her mascara was in her stolen handbag. She hears a noise in the adjacent cabin and goes next door. She knocks three times, “then, as an afterthought, a final loud whack in case they were hard of hearing.” The knocks are answered by a surprised young woman in a ratty Pink Floyd T-shirt.
Lo makes a casual visit to Cabin 10 that will change the course of her life. Her knocking pattern also has significance later. The woman’s outfit contrasts with the extravagance all over the ship, and she clearly wasn’t expecting to see Lo at her door, suggesting she’s not just another passenger.
Themes
Lo asks if she can borrow some mascara, and the girl, flustered, gives her a tube and impatiently tells Lo not to bring it back, then shuts the door in her face. Lo is puzzled and thinks that the girl looked “even more a fish out of water” than she herself does. She finishes getting ready and heads to the cocktail lounge.
The girl next door seems not to want to be interrupted, and Lo can tell she doesn’t really belong here—even more noticeably than Lo herself.
Themes
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