Part 2: Act 4, Scene 5 Summary

It is the same day. Joe arrives at the promenade to find Harper in a light dress and bear feet, staring at the city skyline. She says the end of the world is near. The storm begins. She has thrown her shoes in the river. He says he has come back to her. She says that it will be a fire, not a flood, which ends the world.

Part 2: Act 4, Scene 5 Analysis

Harper is symbolizes her physical vulnerability by dressing inappropriately for the weather. By throwing her shoes away, she is demonstrating that she has chosen stillness over movement. She tells Joe that the city is going out of business. This seems to be a metaphor for the collapse of reality as they know it. The judgment is described as devastating and catastrophic - the opposite of the great...