Why is the novel subtitled “An Awakening of Terror”? Which terror awakens in the novel? What character best experiences or exemplifies this awakening?

Nat Cassidy admits that he may not have been the most appropriate person to write a book from the point of view of a middle-aged woman. Do some aspects of the novel point to the novelist’s unfamiliarity with a woman’s experience of life? Why or why not?

Is Mary a feminist text? Why or why not?