City of God Themes

City of God Themes

There are four major themes in City of God: (1) The far-reaching process of evolution; (2) The City as the theater and testingground, for good or ill, of human experience and human endeavor; (3) The question of a millennial imperative and what it may mean for people; (4) The fusion and confusion of real life and life as depicted in cinema.

The idea, the process, of evolution is considered across a wide spectrum, from mundane to divine, and like the other three thematic elements, evolution helps to shape and define Doctorow's (and, supposedly, co-author Everett's) world-view. The first two pages of City of God, ominous and puzzling, set the tone of the book. Creation in the primordial sense is taking place, in the mind of the narrator explaining matters to us—someone knowledgeable and wise who does not articulate like Everett. That mind restates the theory of the "singular...
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