The Newspaper

The newspaper represents the city’s citizens and their engagement with the specific story that is being told. It functions as modern Greek chorus, informing the readers of what they need to know and providing an omnipresent backdrop of citizens against which the drama unfolds. The newspaper clippings at the beginning of each part of the novel remind the readers that the subject of the story is really the city of New Orleans itself.

Guns

Guns represent a multitude of themes for various characters throughout the novel. They represent violence and war in Bill’s section, but are also associated with cowardice and mistakes. In Bill’s first section, he, barely in control of his weapon, shoots a man mistaken for the highwayman. Any other weapon would not have made it so easy to make such a disastrous mistake. Later, when Perl confronts Bill, Perl...