The Water Knife Literary Elements

apocalyptic novel

fictional apocalyptic future, Phoenix Arizona

Narrator: omniscient
Point of view: third person

Tone: indirect
Mood: nightmarish, gloomy

Protagonist: three characters with their separate stories set in apocalyptic Phoenix: Angel, Lucy and Maria; Antagonist: corruption, individuals taking advantage of suffering: Catherine Case, Vet.

Set in an apocalyptic world, where the southern parts of America are suffering drought, the human nature and corruption comes out, where a small part of humanity is living luxuriously by cutting off the water supplies of the majority and making the majority of humanity suffer, three people are coming to terms with their surroundings and their inner conflicts of morality and self-preservation.

Maria shoots and injures Lucy who was about to take off with the water rights to give them to the people of Phoenix. She takes them herself and decides to be the one who takes advantage of others for a change.

"It's the end of times, Angel thought as more missiles pummeled the water-treatment plant. It's the goddamn end of times."

"Her entourage of armored SUVs ground out over broken glass, leaving Angel alone, staring out at the broken landscape that Case had created with the stroke of a pen."

Allusion to the book "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner, which will become a large part of the plot.

Imagery of desert and drought is presented throughout the novel.

"A city could blossom in a desert."

"Rain is coming, they'd say knowingly. Rain is coming"-context: Lucy is talking to her friend Jamie who has big plans for his future, having in his possession something that will make him a big shot. He reminds Lucy of the hopeful preachers predicting the rain.

"Maybe there's something down in Mexico, but here you're a ghost. I have uses for ghosts."
-context: Catherine Case recruiting Angel, knowing that there is no one that will search for him.

"Eyes that had seen too many horrors and held no illusion."
"Lucy watched the computer walk away."