GR 'Streets'

[s~Z]

>>>my argument that the tone of the narrative voice is at odds with those
Christian certainties which were
preached by the chaplains.<<<

I will respond to the rest of your post later, but in the meanwhile, your
position initially what that the narrative voice was atheist, and that the
phrase 'dead now' was synonymous with 'godless, final death' in the chaplain
paragraph. I disagree with that for reasons explained ad nauseum.

I agree that the narrative voice in the section as a whole is at odds with
Christian faith. It compares the attitude of a nuclear cloud with the
attitude of the Cross. It presents the Virgin, as Western deity, watching a
city nuked.