Cloud Atlas: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Adam Ewing’s journal picks up mid-sentence where it left off in Chapter 1. The ship he’s on, The Prophetess, approaches land for the first time in many weeks, arriving at a Polynesian island called Raiatea. Captain Molyneux invites Henry Goose and Adam to come ashore to a settlement called Nazareth, in Bethlehem Bay. Adam is suspicious of the offer but agrees. First mate, Boerhaave, accompanies them. The captain leads them ashore to a church run by a British missionary, Preacher Horrox. He uses Henry and Adam’s presence to suggest that he runs a respectable ship and never drinks. And so, the captain manages to trick Preacher Horrox and win his favor.

Preacher Horrox and his wife explain that their mission has been so successful on the island because a smallpox plague caused the local Polynesian people to look for spiritual comfort. Captain Molyneux asks how the preacher manages to fund his mission. Preacher Horrox replies that enslaved Black people work on a local plantation, which raises enough to help pay for everything. Captain Molyneux suggests that the preacher’s business might be even more profitable if he could sell his goods to a closer market, perhaps San Francisco, which is just three weeks away by sea and has grown in size considerably since the gold rush. Henry’s reputation as a doctor causes some of the locals to seek him out. Adam Ewing leaves the meeting and goes out on his own to explore the island.

Monday, 9th December—Adam Ewing continues his story from the previous day. He talks to a man he meets in town named Mr. Wagstaff. Wagstaff tells him that white men provide the local “savages” with schools, medicine, and jobs, yet they remain ungrateful. Wagstaff takes Adam to meet his wife, who is resentful that she is stuck on the island but Adam will leave soon. Adam gets embarrassed about starting an argument and leaves. Wagstaff shows Adam around more of the island.

That night, Adam Ewing has dinner next to a bitter old widow at Preacher Horrox’s house. Horrox has agreed to a new business venture with Captain Molyneux. At dinner, Horrox gives a speech about “Civilization’s Ladder,” which suggests that there is a natural hierarchy of the races. Horrox theorizes that in the current century, the superior races will rise up against the weaker ones. Henry protests that all of civilization operates according to an even simpler law: the strong eat the weak. He suggests that white men only rule by muskets, not by any divine right. Horrox argues instead that the musket is merely proof of the white man’s divine right, but Henry sees it as a symbol of greed.

That night, Henry complains to Adam Ewing that all his patients that day were women who exaggerated minor complaints and who fear their husbands are have sex with Polynesian women. The next afternoon, the Prophetess pulls away from the island. Adam muses about what he saw, thinking that Preacher Horrox’s attempts to help Polynesian people “ascend” Civilization’s Ladder appear noble on the surface, but Adam can’t endorse them the way he might’ve when he was younger.

Monday, 16th December—The Prophetess crosses the Equator, and all the experienced crew members haze the new members who haven’t crossed the Equator before. Boerhaave uses this excuse to treat the newest crew members cruelly.

Wednesday, 18th December—Adam Ewing’s headaches get worse, so Henry gives him larger doses of vermicide. The crew members manage to catch a shark and butcher it, although some sailors refuse to eat shark, believing it’s like cannibalism to eat a maneater. Friday, 20th December—Cockroaches bother Adam as he sleeps. One sailor offers to sell him a “roach rat” for a dollar. Sunday, 22nd December—Adam is hot and his skin blisters. He’s been spending a lot of time in his cabin, but he comes up to the deck when several crewmembers point out a pod of migrating humpback whales.

Christmas Eve—Adam Ewing’s finger swells so big that Henry has to cut off his wedding ring. Henry knows a goldsmith in Hawaii who can repair the ring later. Christmas Day—Although the dinner is better than usual, Adam has trouble digesting it. Later that evening, Adam’s parasite causes painful headaches and vermicide doesn’t help the symptoms as much as it used to. Only a few crew members are still sober, including Autua. Rafael has passed out drunk. Boerhaave picks up the unconscious Rafael, slaps his butt, and carries him off.

Boxing Day—Rafael hangs himself from the mainmast. Adam Ewing is shocked and doesn’t understand why. Henry repeats a rumor he heard that Boerhaave raped Rafael, not just on Christmas but frequently. Friday, 27th December—Adam confronts Captain Molyneux, suggesting that Boerhaave and others sexually abused Rafael and he took his own life to escape it. The captain curses him and says he makes all the decisions on the ship, not Adam. Later, Adam wonders if anything he did made Rafael feel like he had “permission” to die by suicide.

Saturday, 28th December—Adam Ewing has nightmares about Rafael killing himself. Sunday, 29th December—Adam feels very sick. Monday, 30th December—Adam believes that his parasite’s poison sacs have burst and that he will die in hours, still two days away from Hawaii. Adam starts writing an unfinished sentence to his son Jackson Ewing about what to do if anything happens to him.

Sunday, 12th January—By New Year’s, Adam Ewing’s condition becomes so severe that he can’t hide his condition from Captain Molyneux anymore. Henry tells the captain and Boerhaave that Adam’s parasite is contagious, so they’ll stay away. Adam spends much of his time in a daze. He overhears Henry telling someone that the worst of Adam’s condition is over and that he’s regaining his color. Autua tries to see Adam to return Adam’s favor and save Adam’s life, but Henry invents lies to keep Autua away, telling him that Adam regrets ever saving Autua’s life.

Henry’s lies surprise Adam Ewing. He suddenly gets the idea that Henry might be poisoning him instead of curing him. He gets up and tries to escape but is too weak. Henry sees him and realizes that Adam has figured everything out, so he drops the ruse. He admits that he’s killing Adam for his money—it’s as simple as that. As a doctor, Henry sees humans as diseased pieces of meat, even his friends, and he lives by his rule of survival that the strong eat the weak. He robs Adam’s trunk and is disappointed at how little it contains.

The next thing Adam Ewing remembers is drowning in salt water. He tries to swim but finds that he’s actually on deck, vomiting and feverish. Autua has been making him drink salt water so that he’ll vomit out the poison. Boerhaave comes over and tries to stop Autua, but Autua just throws the mate overboard. The rest of the crew stays back. Autua carries a weak Adam down a gangplank and off the ship onto what seems to be Honolulu, Hawaii. Autua carries Adam to some nuns at a Catholic mission.

Three days later, Adam Ewing is strong enough to sit up. He thanks Autua, who saved his life, making the two men equal. Later, Adam receives some of his things—Captain Molyneux sent them. Henry apparently escaped and fled somewhere in Honolulu. It’s Adam’s 34th birthday.

Monday, 13th January—It’s a pleasant afternoon, and Adam Ewing is in the courtyard of the mission on a pleasant afternoon. There’s an orphanage next to the convent, and some of the children there are as old as Rafael, which brings up painful memories for Adam. At night recently, Adam has been getting philosophical, wondering what causes humans to do what they do. He wonders if human nature has doomed humanity to eventual destruction. He decides it’s best to believe that a more peaceful world is possible, for Jackson’s sake. He feels that he must battle against the violent parts of human nature, even if it seems foolish to do so. A final footnote from Jackson notes that this is the place in his father’s journal where the handwriting becomes illegible.