The Living

How does Shy change and develop over the course of the book? What are the factors that incite these changes?

Compare and contrast Addison and Shy. What aspects of their personalities set them apart from each other? Do they have any similarities?

Shoeshine tells Shy, “Names have no meaning out here” (75). Discuss the significance of the book’s various nicknames and titles—Shoeshine, oilman, Shy, the man in the black suit—and contrast them with characters possessing more traditional names.