Max decides to return to the Cedars after dreaming of trudging through the snow in search of an ever-deferred “homecoming” (25). How does this dream alter your reading of the narrative as a whole?

Using examples from the book, discuss the portrayal of memory in Banville’s The Sea. What is the work suggesting about its key characteristics?

Discuss the uses of literary and artistic allusion in Banville’s The Sea. How, for example, are they connected to the book’s portrayal of memory?