1. Initially, the dead pilot and the machine gun frighten Chas; this terror, in turn, stimulates Chas's desire for the gun. What does he hope possession of the gun will do for him?

2. How and why do children grow up faster during wartime?

3. Cemetery Jones has a friend in an embalming class who eats lunch while leaning against a corpse. Chas's Uncle George eats lunch directly after removing dead bodies from the rubble on Saville Street. What do these incidents tell us about human nature?

4. Why does Mrs. McGill consider it so important to have chrysanthemums at Christmas?

5. When the police come to his house to investigate Clogger's disappearance, Chas feels that his father makes it easy for him to lie. Why does his father do this?

6. Why does Mrs. McGill focus her fears on the possibility of Mr. McGill being injured or killed while...