CHARACTERS: LETTERS FROM ZEDELGHEM

CHARACTERS: LETTERS FROM ZEDELGHEM

CHÂTEAU ZEDELGHEM,

NEERBEKE,

WEST VLAANDEREN

8-II-2018

Readers,

I am now going to tell you a little bit about the characters in section two of Cloud Atlas. This section is composed of a series of letters written by Robert Frobisher to his lover Rufus Sixsmith. Frobisher is a promising young composer who drops out of  Caius College in Cambridge, and develops a gambling problem after he is disinherited from his father (a well respected ecclesiastical). As a result of his gambling, he falls into debt and out of desperation begins to stay in expensive hotels that he can’t pay for. The first letter in section two begins with his entertaining  account of jumping from a second story window to avoid the hotel manager demanding payment. He soon develops a reputation among all of the nice hotels in Britain and must take to the streets. Frobisher claims that he would “rather jump off the Waterloo bridge and let Old Father Thames humble me.” than ask his father for help and he begins to consider alternative options: I.) beg for money from his rich uncle II.) stay with someone from Caius for the summer III.) visit a turf accountant IV.) spend his remaining savings on a train ticket to Chateau Zedelghem in Bruges and convince the reclusive English composer Vyvyan Ayrs to take him on as an amanuensis. Frobisher decides on option IV.) because he is far too proud to ask anyone for help and a turf accountant would be too risky.

En route to Bruges, Frobisher’s dining-table companion offers him a steady job selling silverware but Frobisher turns up his nose at this, claiming that he would “rather swallow cutlery than ever have to sell the stuff.” This one of many examples where Frobisher is given an opportunity to do honest work but considers himself above it, choosing instead to make a living by exploiting others. When Frobisher arrives in Bruges, he falls asleep on the steps of a windmill and has no means of transportation to the remote village where Ayrs lives. In the end he uses his charisma and considerable talent for manipulation to convince a police officer to lend him a bike. Frobisher  makes the fifteen mile journey through difficult conditions on a bicycle which shows us that he can be determined and hardworking when he wants to be.

Vyvyan Ayrs as it turns out, stopped composing many years ago after contracting syphilis and has no hope or intention of ever returning to it. He is not very fond of strangers and greets Frobisher with a gruff “Who in hell are you?” Frobisher uses his charm once again to convince Ayrs to let him try out for a position that he did not advertise for. Ayrs quickly begins to see himself in the young, ambitious composer. While neither one would ever admit to it, the two men have a lot in common. They are both gifted musicians who are pessimistic, arrogant and often times selfish. They share the the same sarcastic sense of humor and begin to banter back and forth. Ayrs agrees to let Frobisher audition but this does not go well at all because Frobisher’s pride prevents him from learning from others or taking criticism. The fact that he is so sensitive to criticism reveals that his sense of self is actually quite fragile, despite his arrogant facade. In reality, we see that he is deeply unhappy and he briefly considers suicide at one point in the novel.

Robert Frobisher seems deeply wounded by his estrangement from his father even though he never actually says anything of the sort. He is unable to move past his bitterness about his father and it taints his perception of the entire world. He is judgmental of everything from the poor with their “bad teeth, parrot voices, and unfounded optimism.” to the landscape which he describes as “cancerous suburbs, tedious farmland, soiled Sussex. Dover an utter fright staffed by Bolsheviks.” He is brutally honest and is always ready with the perfect insult or witty remark for every situation. While these insults are pretty funny to read in a book, some of them would be extremely hurtful to hear in real life. For example he tells a church organist that his “only hope for salvation is a bullet through the brain.”

Its seems as if the only person, place or thing (aside from music) that Frobisher does not hate is Rufus Sixsmith. He is always able to see Sixsmith’s positive qualities and in one of his letters he says to him that “You groan and shake your head Sixsmith, I know, but you smile too, which is why I love you.” While Frobisher may love Sixsmith, he is still extremely selfish and in all of his letters he asks his lover very few questions about his own life. Frobisher’s letters talk almost exclusively about his own problems, triumphs, opinions, music, schemes and even his affair with Ayrs’ wife Jocasta van Outryve de Crommelynck (I’m not kidding that is actually her real name). It is really unfair of him to talk about his relationship with another man’s wife in such detail to Sixsmith, who genuinely loves him. Frobisher is completely blind to this and for an extremely intelligent man, he misses some pretty obvious and important things.
Robert Frobisher is the center of his own world and this is probably why he is so unfulfilled in life. Frobisher actually reminds me a lot of Macbeth because they both have the same fatal flaw, their own ambition. Frobisher dreams of becoming the greatest composer of his time but he isn’t able to follow through with commitments and is unwilling to do the work that it takes to be become great. He has this unrealistic view of himself and thinks very highly of his own “education, breeding and talent.” Like Macbeth, he is willing to take down anyone in his path to the top, even a friend. Both characters betray someone they are close to out of self-interest.

Frobisher repeatedly betrays his mentor Vyvyan Ayrs throughout this section. What makes this betrayal worse is that Ayrs grows to love and trust Frobisher as if he were his own son. Frobisher even seems to enjoy his company on certain occasions and describes their work together by saying that “he whispers the verses as I recite, as if his voice is leaning on me.” Ayrs begins to depend on Frobisher, teaching him all of his secrets and even giving him generous gifts. Eventually Ayrs begins to suspect that his wife may be cheating on him and directly asks Frobisher if she has made advances on him. Frobisher lies directly to his face and Ayrs trusts him. Frobisher doesn’t give a second thought to betraying his mentor and steals Ayrs’ possessions to make a profit. He shows no remorse for any of this but i suspect that this may begin to change in the coming sections...

Vyvyan Ayrs is clearly no saint but he does not deserve such cruelty from a man to whom he has given so much. At least Ayrs has the capacity to love which is more than I can say for Frobisher. Love requires at least some degree of selflessness and sacrifice which I’m not sure Frobisher is capable of. I think he likes Sixsmith more than anyone else but a lack of hatred is not love. Frobisher has so much potential for good which make his actions even more conflicting and disappointing. I have a love hate relationship with Frobisher because he does so many terrible things yet he is still endearing in his own way.

All of his terrible qualities don’t cancel out his wonderful ones. He is a virtuoso with a beautiful way of seeing and describing the world (when he is not overcome by his own cynicism). I love the way in which he describes his musical dreams. One of these dreams takes place in a crowded china shop and everytime that Frobisher moves, something breaks. Each shattering object sounds like a different instrument and together these objects create a symphony. This is genuinely one of the most beautiful descriptions that I have ever read. The way that he articulates his feelings towards music personally resonated with me: “How vulgar, this hankering after immortality, how vain, how false. Composers are merely scribblers of cave paintings. One writes music because winter is eternal and because, if one didn't, the wolves and blizzards would be at one's throat all the sooner.” Frobisher lives and breathes music. He requires it for survival.

Thanks for reading!

-Maggie