Mortal Engines

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2001

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-8

Part 1, Chapters 9-12

Part 1, Chapters 13-16

Part 1, Chapters 17-18

Part 1, Chapters 19-23

Part 2, Chapters 24-26

Part 2, Chapters 27-30

Part 2, Chapters 31-34

Part 2, Chapters 35-37

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Historical Context: Victorian-Era Britain and Steampunk

Mortal Engines draws on many of the cultural ideas of Victorian-era Britain while putting a steampunk spin on them. During Britain’s Victorian era (1837-1901), British influence was felt across the world as Britain used colonies throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa to advance through a technological age. While Mortal Engines is set in a dystopian Europe, London in the story mirrors Victorian Britain’s colonialism and forced labor. As London advances across the Hunting Grounds, it overtakes smaller towns, repurposing any technology as its own and assimilating citizens into London’s workforce against their will. Once brought into the fold, people in the lower ranks of society are worked tirelessly under terrible conditions, all in the name of progress and power for London’s elite few.

The steampunk genre is often set against the backdrop of London’s Victorian era, depicting the excitement of new inventions and elegance of high society, typically omitting the less glamorous elements that made Victorian Britain’s quick growth possible. In particular, steampunk rarely pays attention to the downsides of uncontrolled advancement. Mortal Engines, however, subverts steampunk and the glossy image of Victorian London by taking a more realistic view of fast-moving progress, the unwilling labor behind such growth, and the destruction of resources when the problem of waste is pushed aside in favor of advancement. Mortal Engines opens on a world devoured by large traction cities, where resources are scarce and only the powerful survive and thrive. The book focuses on the long-term effects of progress without consideration of sustainability. The top tiers of London represent Victorian Britain—complete with gardens, shining platforms, and the glittering steeple of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The city’s lower levels represent the future of London’s top tiers if London continues on its unsustainable course.

Geographical Context: Europe in a Dystopian World

Mortal Engines takes place in a dystopian Europe and includes references to how other areas of the world have changed or fallen, presumably since the time readers are familiar with. The Hunting Grounds of western Europe stretch across where countries such as Italy, Spain, and France once were. After the destruction of these nations in the long-ago Sixty Minute War, city movement became associated with life so that cities—and their people—could outrun conflict or take the fight where they’d have the advantage. London is a “predator city,” a larger city that preys on smaller, weaker towns. As the first moving—or traction—city, London paved the way for other cities to move and forced movement on places that didn’t want to be eaten and assimilated by London. Brief mention is given to America as it was seen by other parts of the world in 2001 when the book was published. In the world history of Mortal Engines, America is power-hungry and responsible for the Sixty Minute War that decimated itself and left the rest of the world to deal with the aftermath.

The plot of Mortal Engines follows London to eastern Europe, into the Himalayan Mountains, and toward Asia. While Europe has become a wasteland in the wake of cities hunting down towns, Asia is the home of the Anti-Traction League and static cities. Befitting the tropes of dystopian fiction, traction cities represent destructive advancement seeking power, while Asia’s static cities symbolize the change that could bring the world back from the brink of annihilation. While London tears across the land, leaving deep grooves and waste in its tracks, static cities exist in harmony with nature, built into the earth so as not to disrupt the planet’s systems of survival.