A major theme throughout the novel is The Nonlinearity of Time. Think about the nature of time and history. Where do these concepts come from? Are time and history objective things, or are they social constructs? What are some alternatives to linear time, and how do these alternatives feature in the novel?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from discussions on the development of the concepts of history and time that emphasize how different societies have approached these concepts. Many early societies, for example, viewed time as cyclical, with events repeating themselves over and over; others have distinguished between profane, human time (marked by change and decline) and sacred, eternal time (marked by changelessness). You might introduce several different types of time to the class and ask students to think of examples for each of them.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who would benefit from assistance with abstract thinking, it might be useful to incorporate a visual approach in a classroom discussion. For example, you might present different concepts of history or time to the class using graphic organizers, such as a Venn diagram or T-chart.