Why does Miller choose not to show us the outcome of these two scenes? How do you imagine the stories ending? Does it matter how they end? What is Miller saying about the importance of taking action, regardless of the results? Why has he chosen epigraphs from Hamlet, the great tragedy of indecision, to begin each of the novel’s parts?

4. László’s play, Oxygene, ends in a similar, open-ended way to the novel itself, with the trapped miner using his last strength to hammer at the rock while a woman digs from above. (47) How does the plot of the play reflect the themes of the novel? Can the novel’s characters be compared to the doomed, suffocating miners in the play?

5. Larry fell in love with America at an early age; to him, it “felt like the last place on the planet where things actually happened, a country where a man’s life could still have a mythic weight to it.” (63) In contrast, Alice and Alec dismiss the U.S. as “Hollywood and Vegas and rednecks ... razzmatazz and bad food ... helplessly vulgar.” (63) Alice views the American impulse toward the mythic thus: “Restless people, the Americans. Everyone wanting to be Péter Pan or Tinkerbell. Foolish to found a country for the pursuit of happiness. People just got into a panic when they hadn’t got it.” (31) How are the differences in the Valentines’ personalities and world views reflected in these differing attitudes toward America?

6. Discuss Alec and Larry’s relationship. Why does Larry seem to be Alice’s favorite, despite the fact that Alec seems to be the more dutiful son?

7. Why does Alec have such trouble expressing emotion? Why is he unable to comfort his mother, or show his fear, as he is driving her home from the hospital? (50) Why doesn’t he believe in God?

8. What do you think of László’s thoughts on the different types of happiness? (111) Which is more important, “the happiness when you know yourself to be happy” or “that which is only apparent afterwards”? Which is more important to László? To Alice? To Larry?

9. László envies the pride the defeated Hungarian revolutionaries feel because “they had played their part; history had not caught them unprepared.” (111) László is denied this “terrorbliss” because of his failure to act to save his friend. On the other hand Alice’s father, “the one who stepped forward when the others were too frightened or wary or confused ... didn’t seem to believe in much ... Something had been lost.” (29) What is the difference between the two men’s experiences of war and the performance of duty? How is it possible for László to overcome the trauma of his war experience, while Alice’s father never does? Do you agree with László that a moment of courage, the capability to “run back into the burning house without hesitation” is a better kind of success than love? (130)