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
Valentine escapes in his ship, not noticing Tom because of all the smoke and noise. Tom wonders what to do next and whether he should flee Batmunkh Gompa before London arrives with MEDUSA. He wishes he had let Hester kill Valentine after all. Hester arrives and is sad and furious to see that Valentine killed Miss Fang. Tom takes the key to the Jenny Haniver off Miss Fang and says they need to go get revenge.
Although Miss Fang’s death is a sad event in the story, it also represents a passing of the torch as her ship, the Jenny Haniver, becomes Tom and Hester’s new ship. This passage offers a glimmer of hope suggesting that even a defeat can inspire others to act.
Themes
Tom and Hester head for the Jenny Haniver. Hester isn’t sure they know how to fly it, but Tom says Miss Fang showed him some of the controls in the mountains. At the air-harbor, people try to stop Tom and Hester from taking off, but Khora tells everyone to stand back and wishes Tom and Hester luck. They take off in the Jenny Haniver and head for London.
Tom prepares to end his journey by going right back to where he started, echoing a trope that has survived in adventure stories since the Iliad and the Odyssey of ancient Greece.
Themes
