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 spends long hours alone in the room, fearing she’s failed in her quest to forge a connection with the girl. At some point, she senses that the Aurora’s engine has stopped. That means it must be Friday, the final day of the cruise, and the ship must have stopped at Bergen, where everyone will disembark.
Even though none of the other passengers know where she is, Lo has taken comfort in knowing they’re still above her on the boat. If they leave—and if she indeed fails in making the girl her ally—then Lo will be totally alone.
Themes
Lo panics and begins to yell desperately and bang on the ceiling as she hears the thumps of luggage and people on the gangway far above her. At last she collapses in despair, thinking of her loved ones and the “endless sentence” that likely awaits her.
This scene hearkens back to Lo being trapped in her flat at the beginning of the novel. Now it’s an even more desperate scenario because she has no ready means of escape, and by the time it’s realized she’s missing, it may be too late. Her despair is much darker and more resigned than mere panic.
Themes
A devastated email, sent by Judah to a list of family and friends on the following Tuesday, reports that photographs of clothes, including vintage boots that were unmistakably Lo’s, were shown to him by Scotland Yard for identification.
Strangely, there’s no body for identification, just Lo’s clothing. This suggests that there might be more going on than meets the eye.
Themes
