How do the novel’s competing narratives, from Miles’s bedtime stories to the legend of Jeremiah Wylkes, contribute to its broader messages on the power of storytelling?

How does Daniel Mason use intertextual references to works like John Milton’s Paradise Lost and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to develop character? Citing specific evidence from the text, analyze how these allusions contrast Kate’s and Miles’s worldviews.

Miles, Andrei, and Snowflake Bentley all pursue meaning outside conventional careers. In what ways do their alternative quests represent a search for authentic purpose, and in what ways might they be seen as forms of escapism?