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
As Tom and Hester escape, they’re lucky that no one sees them at first. But as they cross the threshold of Speedwell into the market town parked next to Speedwell, someone spots them and yells to Wreyland. They run, and Hester suggests they try to find an air-harbor, and fortunately, they do. They can’t steal a ship because neither knows how to fly, so they go to a café to try to book a passage.
Despite Hester’s experience on the ground, neither she nor Tom has ever been in the air before. This passage sets up a journey into the unknown for the two of them where they will be on equal footing.
Themes
Tom and Hester try to book a ride by asking a man polishing glasses at the café. But the man tells them that only licensed merchant ships go to London and none of them would be at this trading cluster. An Asian woman in a red coat (Miss Anna Fang) interrupts and says that perhaps she could take them part of the way, to a place called Airhaven that might have licensed pilots. She asks if they have money. Unfortunately, all Tom has is a few dirty pieces of paper currency that are only valid in London.
Miss Fang represents a world that neither Tom nor Hester has ever seen before. The fact that Tom’s London currency has no value to Miss Fang suggests that he is starting to leave more and more of his past life in London behind. It also hints that, despite its predator status, London has limited power and reach.
Themes
Just then, Wreyland comes in with some allies, shouting that Tom and Hester are his slaves. They flee and lose Wreyland but end up trapped with nowhere to go. They listen as Wreyland approaches. All of a sudden, the injured Hester comes to life again and leaps out with a broken metal lever that she found. She knocks Wreyland out and nearly kills him before Tom intervenes telling her there’s no need. The Asian pilot in the red jacket comes over and agrees with Tom. Her name is Miss Anna Fang.
Hester demonstrates that she’s willing to do whatever it takes to survive. In some ways, her willingness to resort to violence makes her more similar to Valentine than she’d like to admit, although unlike Valentine, Hester acts in self-defense to a direct physical threat.
Themes
Tom asks Miss Fang how he knows she won’t get between him and Hester. Miss Fang says she’ll just have to trust him, then shows Tom and Hester that she has already knocked out Wreyland’s allies. Although they don’t have money for a flight, she takes them to her airship, the Jenny Haniver. Tom says it looks like a heap of junk, but Miss Fang is proud of all the materials she found in scrapyards.
Miss Fang’s junky airship hints at her status as an outsider. This passage also suggests that Tom still has some lingering snobbery from his time in London and doesn’t fully understand what life is like for people outside the city.
Themes
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Inside Miss Fang’s ship, it smells like spice. She speaks in an unusual language as she gets the ship set up, which worries Tom, but she explains that it gets lonely in the air, and so she often speaks to herself in Airsperanto, a language many pilots use. A voice comes over the radio saying that the Jenny Haniver isn’t cleared for takeoff, but Miss Fang just switches it off, and her airship blasts out of the harbor.
Airsperanto is a parody of Esperanto, a real invented language that was supposed to help people from different countries communicate. Miss Fang’s refusal to listen to the radio further establishes that she is a rebel.
Themes
