CTGttW Question 7: Transformation

NeilNjae

Transformation is a key idea in the book. People change, the train changes, and at the end the whole world changes. Some of those changes are in the physical world, some in the bodies of the crew and passengers, and some are in their mental state. The Wastelands change everything they touch, and everything that observes them.

What's your reading of the fact that the supposedly impenetrable train is infiltrated by the Wastelands? How are windows and glass important to that, and what is glass a metaphor for?

Beyond the effects of the Wastelands, how do the characters change throughout the book? Which progress, which regress? How do the character's goals and relationships change through the book?

How does the transformation of the train itself reflect the transformation of the people within it?

Apocryphal

In my ecological reading of the book, this change represents our eventual capitulation to nature. Sure, we can walk it out for a time, but nature always wins. The efforts of humanity to transform the planet in its own image will be a losing proposition in the long run. The change we see in the book is the tipping point from human dominance to nature dominance.

RichardAbbott

I think one of the high points of the book was the realisation that the train was in fact triggering or maybe initiating the changes that were happening in the wastelands - the attempt to isolate from them was doomed to failure. I did like the emphasis on glass with its dual habit of being solid and yet transparent (and it ties in nicely with the emphasis n mirrors in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell).

It wasn't clear to me whether the train was infiltrated simply because it was bound to be in the end, or more specifically because people brought the outside in with them (Grey, Weiwei, Elena and probably the Captain). Which again highlights the futility of trying to keep the worlds separate... they are bound to merge. IN another kind of book this might have brought in conversations about quantum tunneling and the like, but here the emphasis was on people crossing over in ways they weren't supposed to.

BarnerCobblewood

This really is the essence of my critique of the book. Transformation? I didn't see any transformation. Changes, yes, but at the end everything continues as it was, in a clear dream-sequence similar to the end of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, but without the self-awareness.

clash_bowley

@BarnerCobblewood said:
This really is the essence of my critique of the book. Transformation? I didn't see any transformation. Changes, yes, but at the end everything continues as it was, in a clear dream-sequence similar to the end of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, but without the self-awareness.

Entirely agree with Barner here.