LE3 .A278 2020

2020

Campbell, Wanda

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

English

English & Theatre Studies

Suite for Cathonia is a novella that explores the relationship between people and sound and how a government might use religion and cultural norms to literally silence dissent. The story takes place in the isolated city of Asphel which exists within the underground world of Cathonia, where the very act of speaking in public is a crime. The main character, Phoea, is a girl who is ostracised and controlled by society run by the zealous religious authority—called the Harpokrian Order—due to her condition that causes her to have random outbursts of sound that only get worse the more they are suppressed. She has a love of architecture and hopes to one day live in Styxus, the affluent sector of the city where only the most talented artisans and builders are allowed to live. Phoea has few memories of her parents who died when she was very young and lives with her brother who works as an Inquisitor for the Order. When she discovers a photograph of a boy she does not remember from her past, things begin to change, and she is forced to question whether the life she is working for is the one she really wants.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3456