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Dr. Henry Goose
Vyvyan Ayrs is a famous British composer who has moved to Belgium and hasn’t written any new music in a long time. Robert Frobisher seeks out Ayrs, hoping that by becoming Ayrs’s protégé, he can advance his career and win back the respect of his father (and get back in his father’s will). Ayrs is an eccentric who alternates between insulting Robert and praising him. At first, Ayrs and Robert seem to have a mutually beneficial partnership, but by the end of the story, Robert has grown so much as a composer that Ayrs becomes a parasite, trying to pass Robert’s work off as his own.
Vyvyan Ayrs Quotes in Cloud Atlas
The Cloud Atlas quotes below are all either spoken by Vyvyan Ayrs or refer to Vyvyan Ayrs. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
A telegram, Sixsmith? You ass.
Don’t send any more, I beg you—telegrams attract attention!
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V.A. was unsure of himself for once. “I dreamt of a … nightmarish café, brilliantly lit, but underground, with no way out. I’d been dead a long, long time. The waitresses all had the same face. The food was soap, the only drink was cups of lather. The music in the café was”—he wagged an exhausted finger at the MS—“this.”
She plays with that birthmark in the hollow of my shoulder, the one you said resembles a comet—can’t abide the woman dabbling with my skin.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
Time cannot permeate this sabbatical. We do not stay dead long. Once my Luger lets me go, my birth, next time around, will be upon me in a heartbeat. Thirteen years from now we’ll meet again at Gresham, ten years later I’ll be back in this same room, holding this same gun, composing this same letter, my resolution as perfect as my many-headed sextet. Such elegant certainties comfort me at this quiet hour.
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Chapter 11
Quotes
“The weak are meat the strong do eat.”
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Vyvyan Ayrs Quotes in Cloud Atlas
The Cloud Atlas quotes below are all either spoken by Vyvyan Ayrs or refer to Vyvyan Ayrs. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
A telegram, Sixsmith? You ass.
Don’t send any more, I beg you—telegrams attract attention!
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
V.A. was unsure of himself for once. “I dreamt of a … nightmarish café, brilliantly lit, but underground, with no way out. I’d been dead a long, long time. The waitresses all had the same face. The food was soap, the only drink was cups of lather. The music in the café was”—he wagged an exhausted finger at the MS—“this.”
She plays with that birthmark in the hollow of my shoulder, the one you said resembles a comet—can’t abide the woman dabbling with my skin.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10
Quotes
Time cannot permeate this sabbatical. We do not stay dead long. Once my Luger lets me go, my birth, next time around, will be upon me in a heartbeat. Thirteen years from now we’ll meet again at Gresham, ten years later I’ll be back in this same room, holding this same gun, composing this same letter, my resolution as perfect as my many-headed sextet. Such elegant certainties comfort me at this quiet hour.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
“The weak are meat the strong do eat.”
