Under the Dome, what I would guess it was about

[Originally posted at Ana Mardoll's Ramblings.]
[The question was how descriptive the title "Under the Dome" was, following the lead of Will Wildman and Ana Mardoll who each described what they would guess a story with said title was about, I wrote out my guesses.]

Under the dome says to me that it's about a city in a great geodesic dome, the first of it's kind (history or discovery or science channel or some such had a thing where they followed the hypothetical construction of the Huston dome.) The divide between those under the dome and not is unlike any divide previously seen, the demographics of those under the dome mirror those of those not under the dome as much as any city would. People or all incomes and races and job descriptions would live on both sides of the dome.

Many would live outside the dome but work within it.

Perceptions of the dome would be completely different, of course. From outside of the dome you couldn't miss it, but from inside, unless you were near one of the walls, you wouldn't even see it, like looking through a clean screen window from a distance, you don't see the screen,

Weather within the dome would be completely controlled, weather outside would be as it always has been. Some of the people commuting in might find themselves transported from vicious thunder storm to perfect day in the time it takes to get from one side of the barrier to the other (presumably a tunnel or gateway.) If, during the day, they should say something like, "Damn, that was some storm," an under the domer might respond, "What storm?" not even having been aware of it.

And then, within the context of this strangely divided society, something happens. Could be anything. Massive natural disaster, zombie hordes, the mist (which I have neither scene nor read and do not intend to) and everything changes.

At the beginning those under the dome seem completely protected, possibly oblivious, there's massive resentment from outside, but then things begin to change, infected people make it through a check point and the dome, now overcrowded with refugees, is subject to a zombie outbreak, or the disaster is so bad as to threaten the integrity of the dome itself and what looked like a safe haven may turn out to be a death trap. Or keeping out the strange and evil mist is forcing them to recycle air, which normally wouldn't be so much of a problem (there's a lot of it, they have trees and such) but it's so thick it's cutting off photosynthesis which means that air really is being used up as fast as they breathe, the hope is that things will solve themselves before the time comes, because there's strange scratching noises near all of the air intakes, scratches with force no living thing should be able to produce, and no machine should be present to make. As the usable air dwindles, and the tension mounts, with everyone trapped under the dome with nowhere to go all the old problems come out, bitter divisions are rehashed, and it becomes clear that whatever is waiting outside the dome, when it finally makes it in what it will find is not a united front, but a population at each others throats.

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Or, you know, anything that one might reasonably expect from a work titled under the dome. It could be about religious disputes in the shadow of the dome of the rock, or I might like a fantasy with dragons set in a place where the dome of the sky is a tangible thing.

Certainly dome has strong Christian religious connotations, so one might expect something in a cathedral. (I know everyone's first thought is St. Peter's but I recommend the Doumo in Florance, you could not ask for a more perfect setting for demons to come to earth requesting amnesty or at least parole and resulting in protracted international legal battles mixed with a lot of unwanted paternity tests when officials determine that it is important to know who the half humans are. Actually, regardless of the story, you could not ask for a more perfect setting.)

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