Prejudice Quotes in Cloud Atlas

Not even in the far future (in Sloosha's Crossin', for example) does racial prejudice diminish. Even though the "darker races" are now superior races in that time period, some people of the Nine Valleys still look down on them for their skin color.

Men call Fay Li Mister Li because she doesn't take any crap from them. They believe she should take their sexual harassment as a compliment. Way to go, guys, you've just turned the male race into an embarrassment and an insult.

Cavendish feels the need to append the gender of the author to this statement, even though he doesn't do the same when it's a male author. That shows us that he looks upon "lady authors" with a little bit of disdain.

Wow, could there be more prejudice packed into one sentence? This speaker is referring to Cavendish's racism while also being ageist toward Cavendish. Plus, Cavendish calls the guy a "skinhead." Who hasn't been offended here?

To Sonmi, it's "curious" that people once judged others on their skin tone. Has racism been eliminated in Sonmi's age? If so, that's one thing they've done right in the age of Corpocracy.

Racial tensions have diminished a bit in Zachry's time, but they're not quite gone. Check the next quote to see where we're going with this. We feel like pointing out here, by the way, that some of the most despicable characters in Cloud Atlas are well-off, "civilized" members of the dominant race.

Okay, so, no one really seems to mind that Meronym is darker, except for this voice in Zachry's head. Where did it come from? Are we just hardwired to be prejudiced? Why does this keep going on?

A grebo is a slur referring to an African tribe that may or may not have been cannibalistic—the implication being that a black person is an uncivilized savage. That sentence is cut off because right after that, its speaker, Johns Hotchkiss, gets a tooth knocked clean out of his mouth. That punch might be a savage act, but this guy sure seems to have deserved it.

Yeesh. There can be more prejudice packed into one sentence. This sentence is anti-disabled, transphobic, racist, and classist—and it even makes fun of people who are scared of spiders. What? Who likes spiders?

Bill Smoke's flunky, Bisco, gets his head beaten in by a Mexican woman with a wrench. If he hadn't used a racist slur on her, well, he'd still probably be dead, but at least his family would be able to have an open-casket funeral.