Lincoln in the Bardo

Saunders structures dialogue in this novel as though it were a play. How does this structure influence the development of Saunders’s themes?

Analyze how the backdrop of the American Civil War impacts the themes, characterizations, and plot development of the novel.

Discuss the novel’s imagery. Why do the spirits outwardly manifest their inner conflicts? How does Saunders mix fantasy and reality in his descriptions?

The bardo can be read as a satire of human society. How the ghosts recapitulate mundane human behaviors? What does this say about the bardo as a place of enlightenment?

How does Buddhism inflect Saunders’s portrayal of Lincoln’s dark night of the soul in the cemetery?

Why does Thomas Havens’s narration conclude the novel? What is the symbolism of his new journey with Abraham Lincoln?

What do the invented primary and secondary documents Saunders creates add to the narrative? Why does he choose not to use a more standard narrator to detail these opinions?

Compare at least two of the novel’s groupings: Hans, Roger, and Reverend; the Three Bachelors; the Barrons; Lieutenant Stone and Elson. Why are these ghosts associated with one another? How do their relationships echo the novel’s themes and concerns?