The Chowder Society members suffer from nightmares. What role do bad dreams play in the development of character and plot? Why does Straub use dreams to further these elements?

What is the role of the shapeshifter’s changing identities/names in this novel? What does this communicate about the society which the shapeshifter confronts?

Why does the shapeshifter shift only into women or animals? What does this communicate about the shapeshifter and those it targets? Choose a female character the shapeshifter changes into and an animal it shifts into and compare how the female and the animal operate within the narrative. What do they symbolize?