The Sunken Cathedral Literary Elements

Historical Fiction

Set in modern-day Chelsea, Manhattan in New York City

Narrator: Omniscient speaker;
Point of View: Third-person

Humorous, Elegiac, Pessimistic, Sorrowful

Protagonist: Marie and Simone; Antagonist: The social and cultural changes in the 21st century.

The narrative follows the lives of women from different generations as they navigate the complex dynamics of modern 21st-century society. The conflict emanates from the doubts and desires the characters harbor as they reconcile the realities of the social environment they inhabit.

The climax is not clear.

The opening foreshadows the storm, alluding to Hurricane Sandy, that devastates the city during the course of the story.

“They met at the top of a Ferris wheel”

The novel alludes to the New York City cityscape and cultural climate following the 9/11 attacks and the concurrent Hurricane Sandy in the narrative.

“In the corner, the tattooed model almost dozing on the pile of their soft winter coats lets out a small snort and shifts her position to fetal. Then silence. Snow, again. Tiny flakes like spewed ash swirl through the alley, the air shaft, ticking the filthy windows that later someone, unable to bear the dry heat any longer, chisels open. And from below a burst of laughter seems to set off a raucous scuffle, as if the waitstaff at the Chinese restaurant were chasing a greased pig.”

“No, no, I mean meeting on top of a Ferris wheel. How would you meet on top of a Ferris wheel? You’re either in the same carriage or not, and if you’re not, then you wouldn’t be shouting across the void.”

Marie and Simone's friendship is one build off a shared history and past from the Second World War into the present day.

“Here I am like a chicken with my head cut off.”

“The bird sang its heart out…You should have heard, she told him. It sang like nothing.”