Greed isn't anything new. It's as old as we humans are, it's one of the seven deadly sins, and it's a bad mamma-jamma, at that. Some say that greed is the stuff that all sins are made of. Cloud Atlas not only shows us how greed got from 19th-century seal clubbing to Gordon Gekko; it also paints a grim vision of the future. Scary thought: how different is the future presented in Cloud Atlas from what he have in the present?
Questions About Greed
- How does greed manifest itself in each of the six major narratives?
- In the world of Sonmi-451, the corporation is king. Do you think our world could end up like that? Why or why not?
- If greed is the Mother of All Sins, what other sins and themes in Cloud Atlas are caused by greed?
- Is Robert Frobisher greedy, or are his moneymaking schemes a necessity?