1. Could the novel be improved by naming the setting and the two parties (the imperialists and the barbarians)? Or is it best to imagine this encounter happening anywhere in the world?
2. Interpret the recurring dream of the girl building a snow castle. What might the change in the dream at the end (the children don't run, and they are building a snowman) signify?
3. What questions does Coetzee raise about truth and history?
4. How do the ruins and lost language come into play in the novel?Is there any relationship to the presence of the ruins and the idea we have discussed as time as both a linear and cyclical path?
5. "'I ask,' I continue, 'only because if you get lost it becomes our task here to find you and bring you back to civilization.' We pause, savoring from our different positions the ironies of the word." How does this quote from page 13 explain larger ideas and themes in the novel? Isn't it odd that the two can find irony in 'the word,' but still continue to play their roles in the novel?
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