New York

New York is a bustling port metropolis and the largest city in the state of New York. It is home to the narrator of “10:04” and most of the characters in the novel. In the novel, New York is threatened by rising water due to global warming. It is also the main setting of the short story “The Golden Vanity” and is where Ben Lerner breaks the fourth wall by directly addressing the audience, and then personally inserting himself into the plot.

Financial District

The financial district of New York’s Manhattan is an area of New York that mostly loses power during and after the second storm that hits New York. It is while walking through this specific part of the city that Ben Lerner supplants the narrator by addressing the audience directly, and talking about the cover of the novel the reader is now reading. The...