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Reincarnations
Next Life: Poor Hotel Guest
Adam Ewing
Novel
Appears The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
Referenced Letters from Zedelghem
Relationships Tilda Ewing, wife
Jackson, son
Film
Adam Ewing
Appears Adam's Journal
Referenced Robert's Letters
Actor Jim Sturgess
Relationships Tilda Ewing, wife
Jackson, son
Character

Adam Ewing is a San Francisco-based attorney, and it is his journal that is the basis for The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing - which consists of chapters 1 and 11.

Biography[]

Adam Ewing is a notary from San Francisco, California living in the nineteenth century. He is sent to the South Pacific, charged with finding the beneficiary of a will under probate in California. Chapters 1 and 11 unfold as the reader is permitted to read parts of a daily journal Ewing is keeping of his travels. On his return voyage from Australia, Ewing is delayed on one of the Chatham Islands as the ship he is on - the Prophetess - makes repairs. It is on this island that he meets the English "doctor," Henry Goose, whom the ship's captain invites aboard once the ship is seaworthy. Also in the island, he encounters a member of the native Moriori people named Autua. Ewing observes the native being flogged by Maori, no doubt a driving factor in Autua's later appearance in Ewing's cabin as a stowaway. Ewing and Goose become friends and the "good" "doctor" treats him for a mysterious "ailment." Goose turns out to be poisoning Ewing, plotting to rob him blind (if not dead), but the notary is pulled back from the brink of death by the native stowaway, Autua.

Quotes[]

"What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops?"
—Adam Ewing
"Glass and peace alike betray proof of fragility under repeated blows."
—Adam Ewing
"One fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself...In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction."
—Adam Ewing
"History admits no rules, only outcomes. What precipitates outcomes? Vicious acts & virtuous acts. What precipitates acts? Belief."
—Adam Ewing
"If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth & claw, if we believe diverse races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass."
—Adam Ewing
"[The Shark's] mouth and eyes called to mind Tilda's mother."
—Adam Ewing

Film portrayal[]

In the film adaptation, Adam Ewing is portrayed by actor Jim Sturgess.

Image Gallery[]

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