OK. Starting fresh, new thread, possibly serious discussion: 1. How big is a dome--would it be the equivalent of, e.g., a city block, The City of London, London, or England? I imagine it must be fairly small--in The Way Back, you can see the light bulb shining through the little bitty windows cut in the styrofoam, the way you can in a building as you walk past. 2. Which brings up the question of how many domes there are, and whether separate countries are still recognized-- i.e., I've made references to Englandome and Helveticadome but even if countries still exist there would probably be lots of domes per country. And the question of whether Blake is Welsh just because Gareth Thomas implies the continued existence of Wales. 3. How do people get around within a dome? I know that personal transportation has been banned, but I can't believe that domes are small enough to walk from one end to the other. I assume something like trams or commuter trains. 4. Are there subcategories in grades (Beta-2, Gamma-4)? That could be what Avon means by a "fifth-grade ignorant," but I assume he means that Vila dropped out of school or was expelled in the fifth grade... 5. Which brings up the question of whether the schools have "grades" or "forms," "high schools" or "comprehensives," "colleges" or "universities."
-(Y)