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
It’s raining in London, but Panzerstadt-Bayreuth continues to burn. Crome listens to a report from a security chief who flew an airship near Panzerstadt-Bayreuth and is pleased to hear there are few survivors. The chief warns him that the League of Anti-Tractionists will know London is coming now. Crome isn’t worried, since he’s already given Valentine orders about how to deal with the League.
The burning Panzerstadt-Bayreuth may be a reference to the firebombing of Dresden in World War II, an attack by the U.S. and Britain that also had high civilian casualties. Crome ignores the Historians, making Valentine his servant instead of his advisor, and this means Crome’s London is doomed to repeat history.
Themes
Sometime after the first MEDUSA demonstration, Katherine goes to the Museum of Natural History to visit Pomeroy and Pod. Pod seems to be getting along well, and the other Historians have accepted him, since many of them are also skeptical of Crome. Some other Historians are in the Museum when Katherine visits, and they lament what happened to Panzerstadt-Bayreuth, which was full of history and had a famous museum of its own.
Pod reveals that his old environment in the Gut was holding him back and that when given some encouragement, he is capable of being a good Historian. The loss of important historical and cultural artifacts is a common side effect of war, and so the Historians’ concerns here parallel the concerns of many historians and curators in the real world.
Themes
Katherine says they have to do something to stop Crome from killing more people in Shan Guo. She wants to tell everyone in the city, but Pomeroy points out that most of them cheered the destruction of Panzerstadt-Bayreuth. She says they’ll get help from her father, who will surely be horrified at what Crome’s done when he gets back. Pomeroy is doubtful but hopes for the same.
Even after everything Katherine has witnessed with the horrors of MEDUSA, she continues to believe her father is a good person. In fact, her belief in her father seems to be a defense mechanism to avoid confronting the truth that her father helped bring MEDUSA about.
Themes
