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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Part 1, Chapters 17-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 17 Summary: “The Pirate Suburb”

At the pirate suburb, Tom and Hester watch from a cage as the suburb catches the smaller town and rips it to shreds, not bothering to let the people out first. The suburb’s mayor comes to the engine room, and Hester recognizes him. She bargains for her freedom, offering to fight for her place among his people, but the mayor sends her and Tom to the engine room. Before his men can chain them up, though, Tom bangs on the cage, calling the mayor a coward who’s “too scared of your own men to help them” (168). Recognizing Tom’s London accent, the mayor frees him. Tom orders that Hester be freed, too, and the mayor reluctantly obliges.

Over a pirate’s version of afternoon tea, complete with skull-and-crossbones napkins, the mayor asks Tom to teach him and his men to be proper gentlemen like the high-society men of London. Not knowing what to do, Tom agrees, and the overjoyed mayor explains that Tom can start as soon as they get past the marshes. Tom is worried because there’s nothing past the marshes but the Sea of Khazak. The mayor explains that the suburb is specialized and tells Tom, “Wait and sea, get it? Wait and sea, ha ha ha ha” (174).

Part 1, Chapter 18 Summary: “Bevis”

As London travels across the Hunting Grounds, it snaps up several small towns before being pursued by a larger city, making its residents flip from exuberant to panicked in the course of a few days. After her trip to the bowels of the city, Katherine can’t bring herself to care about the hunt, pursuit, or anything she found important before, such as boys and clothes. The idea of people toiling in terrible conditions so that she can live a perfect life makes her feel ill. One day, she receives a note from Bevis asking her to meet him at a cafe on a lower tier. Reluctant but overcome by curiosity, she goes.

Bevis apologizes for not telling her anything before, but he was ordered to keep what happened the night Valentine was attacked a secret. He reveals that Hester didn’t drag Tom into the waste chute but that he doesn’t know how Tom fell. The events don’t match with what Valentine said, and Katherine’s sure Bevis made a mistake. She asks what happens to people who die in the Turd Tanks, and Bevis explains that the bodies are turned into Stalkers to protect MEDUSA. Crome plans to appear at a big Engineerium meeting that night to make an announcement, and Katherine realizes that this meeting is “where she would find the clue to her father's troubles” (185). She implores Bevis to help her sneak into the meeting.

Part 1, Chapters 17-18 Analysis

Chapter 17 provides social commentary on London society and yet another perspective on the world of Mortal Engines. While London assimilates the people and cultures it eats, the city is careful to minimize casualties and, to an extent, to preserve history. By contrast, the pirate suburb’s takeover is a violent affair that doesn’t give the people of the overtaken town a chance. Like pirates of real history, the pirates here are more interested in plunder than anything else. They’ll enslave anyone who manages to survive and use everything aboard its prey as fuel or waste, not caring what might be destroyed. Tom’s high-London accent gets the mayor’s attention because it’s an opportunity. The mayor sees Tom as a way to make the suburb presentable so that they can be as great as London. The pirates don’t understand how London’s greatness destroys itself. They only see the carefully curated image that London projects.

Chapter 18 is a turning point for Katherine and the story’s plot. Katherine has changed as a result of her time in the lowest tiers. She can’t fathom the life she led only the day before, and the things that were important then are meaningless now. Bevis’s note is the next catalyst Katherine needs to continue her investigation and fight to help London. Bevis takes a great risk in meeting with her and offering information he’ll likely be punished for sharing. The gag order probably came down from Crome himself, showing how long the mayor’s arm is and how great a threat he poses to those who live at society’s lowest tiers. Katherine’s reluctance to believe Bevis’s version of events shows that she still isn’t ready to let go of her privilege. She wants to believe that her father is ignorant of what’s happening and that he’d do something if he knew.