The effects of trauma, childhood friendship, and silence are demonstrated throughout the text. Explain how the combination of these contributed to the climactic events at the end of the novel. Choose either Dave, Jimmy, or Sean and trace the effects of trauma, childhood friendship, and silence on his life.

Consider Jimmy, Sean, and Dave’s relationship to women. How is each man changed by the woman they marry? How do their marriages reflect or respond to their relationships to their mothers? What effect do you think these relationships have upon their decisions?

Would you describe the main characters as dynamic or static? Which characters grow by the end of the novel, and which remain the same? In what ways are they changed or the same?