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?

If you have read Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, compare Konstantin Levin’s experience with scything to Miles’s. What does Mason’s modern reinterpretation of this scene suggest about contemporary anxieties surrounding masculinity and authentic labor?

How does Mason’s satire of specific social trends and character types in rural life ultimately function to critique or reinforce the novel’s central theme of authenticity?

The narrative consistently undermines the Krzelewski-Petrosian family’s idealized vision of the country. Why, then, do they ultimately choose to make Vermont their permanent home? Use at least three examples from the novel to support your position.

Analyze the narrative function of The Miscellaneous Minute. How do the radio-show segments shape the novel’s conclusion and its ultimate position on the relationship between belief and reality?

How do Wesley’s and Olive’s activities—such as Wesley playing Cosmos and working for the school paper or Olive’s love of art class and telling stories to her friends—relate to the development of the novel’s other characters and themes?

How does Kate’s development from a pragmatic academic into a member of the Jeremiah Wylkes Society imply a character arc of her own, rather than simply serving as a foil to Miles?