A Ladder to the Sky

How does Boyne’s fragmented narrative structure, which shifts between the first-person accounts of Maurice’s victims before finally adopting his own perspective, construct Maurice Swift as a central void defined only by the lives he consumes?

How does Boyne differentiate Maurice Swift’s narrative predation from the traditional avarice of Patricia Highsmith’s character, Tom Ripley, from The Talented Mr. Ripley? How might this offer a unique critique of ambition within the literary world?

Trace the symbolic meaning of fatherhood throughout the novel. How does Maurice’s professed desire for a child evolve from a seemingly humanizing impulse into another manifestation of his narcissistic ambition, culminating in the murder of his son, Daniel?