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 tries not to panic, realizing that someone who knows what she’s heard and claimed must have been in her room. She resists the urge to hide under the bed or have a drink from the minibar. She asks the cleaning woman, Iwona, if she’s seen the mascara, which she hasn’t since the night before. Lo then calls Nilsson, who comes to see her. While she waits for him, Lo feels violated and taken advantage of by whomever has been in her cabin.
Lo succeeds in refraining from unhealthy coping mechanisms, in spite of how anxious she’s feeling; this shows she’s capable of managing emotions that trigger memories of the burglary at her flat.
Themes
When Nilsson arrives, Lo explains about the missing mascara. Nilsson reaffirms that all the staff have been accounted for. He also says that he’s spoken with Ben Howard, who told him about the break-in at Lo’s flat. Nilsson goes on to say that he knows Lo hasn’t been sleeping well, and that alcohol doesn’t mix with antidepressants. Though Nilsson is apologetic, Lo is furious that Ben’s made her sound like “an unreliable, chemically imbalanced neurotic.”
Though he doesn’t want to be a jerk, Nilsson is obviously trying to tamp down Lo’s investigation, in light of Lo’s recent difficulties and their presumed effects on her judgment.
Themes
Lo reasons that she’s been “taking—and drinking on—those pills for years,” and that she has anxiety attacks, not delusions. She angrily tells Nilsson that just because she takes antidepressants, it doesn’t give him the right to dismiss what she saw. Nilsson points out that Lo has not actually seen anything, but has jumped to conclusions, which doesn’t warrant a murder investigation. Lo furiously kicks Nilsson out of her room.
While Nilsson is right that Lo doesn’t have solid evidence warranting an investigation, and it’s hard to see what more he could do, Lo’s anger is also understandable. Nilsson is also jumping to conclusions about Lo’s experiences with medication and trauma. Plus, after feeling so powerless in her flat during the robbery, feeling belittled and unheard would be especially difficult for Lo to take. If she wants to figure out what happened to the girl in Cabin 10, she’s truly on her own.
Themes
