Sam the Lion, Coach Popper, and Abilene represent distinct models of masculinity rooted in different eras. Analyze how these characters function as foils. To what extent do Sonny and Duane internalize or reject the values embodied by these older men in their searches for identity?

Examine how McMurtry subverts specific tropes of the traditional Western genre in The Last Picture Show. How do events like the boys’ trip to Mexico or Duane’s fight with Sonny replace heroic myth with a narrative of disillusionment and failure?

Both Ruth Popper and Lois Farrow use illicit affairs to cope with their disillusionment, but their approaches and motivations differ significantly. What do their choices reveal about the forms of agency available to women within a patriarchal social structure?

Analyze how the theater’s decline and final closure parallel the narrative’s structure and the developmental arcs of characters like Sonny and Duane.

How does Billy’s character arc serve as a symbolic microcosm for the final collapse of social order in Thalia?

The public scandal involving John Cecil exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Thalia’s moral code. In what ways does the community use public piety and moral panic to avoid confronting its own internal decay? Are there other examples of this in the novel?

Jacy Farrow is often seen as the novel’s primary antagonist, a catalyst for chaos and heartbreak. Propose an alternative reading of her character, tracing her arc and exploring how her actions are the result of social expectations placed upon young women in Thalia.

What does the novel’s final scene between Sonny and Ruth Popper suggest about the possibilities for human connection in a world defined by loss and disillusionment?