Genre
Science Fiction
Setting and Context
1920s New England, Louisiana, Australia, and Norway
Narrator and Point of View
Francis Wayland Thurston (First Person)
Tone and Mood
Horrific, Supernatural, Ominous
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Thurston. Antagonist: Cthulhu cult.
Major Conflict
The conflict is between Thurston and the Cthulhu cult, and more broadly, between humanity and the "Old Ones."
Climax
Johansen's discovery of Cthulhu's resting place.
Foreshadowing
The subtitle of the story foreshadows Thurston's death.
Understatement
Johansen calls Cthulhu a "mountain" because he cannot describe it.
Allusions
The cities of the "Old Ones" are described as "Cyclopean," an allusion to Greek mythology.
Imagery
The stone idol that Legrasse and Johansen recover is an image that reveals the outline of Cthulhu.
Paradox
Cthulhu's ruins are architecturally paradoxical, described as conforming to "non-Euclidean geometry."
Parallelism
Johansen dies under mysterious circumstances in precisely the same way that Angell died.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Personification
Lovecraft personifies Wilcox's clay bas-relief, calling it "hellish," "puzzling," and "shockingly frightful."
