The London Eye Mystery

Cameras appear in the mystery and its solution and represent the characters’ deepest yearnings. Salim takes snapshots of his cousins and his friend Marcus, reflecting and literally capturing images of the people who matter the most to him. Long hours of staring at the prints Salim captured helps Ted to realize that the souvenir tourist photo shows, not the expected woman in a pink jacket, but Salim changing clothes. As Salim remains trapped in the Barracks, he takes photos of the Eye, the city’s buildings, and its weather; altogether, these photos are a coalescence of the narrative’s symbols and indicate his desire for reunion. Cameras provide and reiterate perspective, and this is demonstrated in each photo taken. Every individual photo offers a different viewpoint on the mystery, and the ability to see things from different angles is what helps Ted to solve the case.

The London Eye, or Millennium Wheel, is a giant Ferris wheel located next to the Thames River in central London just downstream from the Big Ben clock tower and the British Parliament buildings. It looks like a giant bicycle wheel that spins slowly—about one revolution every 30 minutes—and it’s cantilevered, or suspended above the ground, held in place by an angled A-frame made of long steel tubes several feet wide and hundreds of feet long.