Steven Millhauser’s “The Dome” tells a story about a few wealthy Americans who begin to put up domes over their homes. This causes problems and challenges how things are solved and reviewed. The building of domes starts to spread across towns, neighborhoods, and eventually the whole country.
At first, the story does not seem to have a character, and if it does it’s unclear what the character’s place is. I really like that about the story, because it leaves room for interpretation. However, it seems that toward the end the character that isn’t there is really just humanity and society as a whole. I think that the way the story is written leaves lots of space for your mind to wander and come up with questions to fill in the blanks.
My biggest question after finishing the story is: If this were to happen in real life, how would society act? Would we just conform and be followers or would some people hold firm?
Also, Alec Baldwin did an audio reading on this story, and all I have to say is wow…