Describe the role of flashbacks in the novel. Why do Larry and Silas become so caught up in the past? How does doing so help them understand themselves?

Why did Silas allow Larry to take the blame for Cindy’s death for so many years? Was Alice right to send Silas away, out of fear of a racial backlash?

Larry references many novels throughout the narrative, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Stephen King’s Night Shift. Choose one of these novels and explain what relevance it has to Larry’s and Silas’s story.