Under the Dome

How do Big Jim Rennie’s evangelical beliefs collide with, or perhaps even justify, his illegal activities? Do you think his motivations are a comment on human nature, on religion, both, or on something else?

Do you think that Junior Rennie is more like or more different from his father? How? Does either character warrant sympathy from the reader? Why or why not?

How does the author use prophetic visions to foreshadow events to come? Which become actual events, and which do not? What is the author’s purpose in granting truth to some visions and not others?

How does the suspension of democracy impact the events in Chester’s Mill under the Dome? Do you think this kind of social chaos is inevitable in these circumstances, or is Chester’s Mill a special case? 

How does the meaning of “us versus them” shift throughout the novel? There are several groups pitted against one another, from within and without the Dome. What is the result of these various antagonistic relationships? Do you see any parallels between the various groups within the novel and those in real life?

How does the weather serve as a symbolic representation of what is happening under the Dome? While not a focus of the novel, could the changing ecosystem be a larger metaphor for climate change? How might this novel add to a conversation about climate change?

What role does the omniscient narrator play in the novel? What is the purpose of directly addressing the reader?

What is the role of the media in the plot of the novel? Examine the media presence both inside and outside the Dome.