Essay Questions

What is the symbolic meaning of the title ‘Music for Torching’?

Paul and Elaine are a disgruntled couple, and they find life to be hollow. Their sex life is chaotic because sometimes they engage in extreme intercourse to satisfy themselves and try to experience new satisfaction tactics. One day, they decide to torch their house because they consider it the source of their unhappiness. Consequently, the torching of the house symbolizes freedom from hell. After burning their house, Paul and Elaine start all over again as a new couple, and this time the connection between them is more robust.

What is the main issue that is discussed in the novel?

Marital issues emerge as the novel's central theme because the marriage between Paul and Elaine is full of drama. Paul is having multiple sex partners besides his wife. This novel's sexual appetite is out of this world, and it embodies what some American couples go through every day. Paul sometimes engages in extreme sexual intercourse with Elaine, but he does not get satisfaction. He goes ahead to have sex with his friend's girlfriends to satisfy his ego. Similarly, Paul engages in phone sex with his girlfriends to seek satisfaction. Therefore, sexual immorality is rampant throughout the novel, and it depicts the challenges most couples go through.

What is the irony of Elaine in the novel ‘Music for Torching’?

Elaine is a married woman, and she regularly does intercourse with her husband, but, ironically, she is also a lesbian. The reader wonders what she lacks when she decides to have sex with another woman. Paul realizes that Elaine is having sex with Liz, and this does not surprise him at all. The reader finds it dramatic that a married woman can bisexual. Elain's dramatic irony depicts sexual dissatisfaction among the couple that drives them to explore new ways of satisfying themselves.