Discuss the reasons that Dan was willing to kill Joy. Would Dan have let Joy go if she hadn't had the secrete to the glaze figured out? Is there any indication that Dan loved Joy?

Later in the story Jim admits that it was the old Joy that he had been thinking of and not the way she was just before she had been killed. What appears to be the differences in Joy between her younger and older stages? What appears to be similar? What does it reveal about Jim that he is able to realize that she wasn't the same girl he had cared for?

Hixie is very anxious to get married. Is it understandable that Hixie is desperate to find a husband? Explain. Is it possible that Dan really cared about Hixie? Explain.

What role does Koko and Yum Yum play for...