The Relationship between Past and Present

The book’s structure (both overall and chapter by chapter), its character development, its use of secondary characters and symbols, and its use of language all suggest that its primary thematic focus is on the relationship between the past and the present. In terms of overall structure, the book moves from a primary focus on the past and its interactions with the present towards a place, at the end, in which the characters have made a degree of peace with their pasts, and are living in a present that is troubled but tolerable, and as a result, are moving into a future with a degree of hope. In terms of chapter by chapter structure, many chapters (particularly the early ones) are focused on defining just what has gone on in the pasts of the characters that has given their present its...