The novel is partly an epistolary novel, or a novel written as a series of letters—and the title, Beautiful World, Where Are You, is an allusion to the poetry of Friedrich Schiller, a German playwright who kept a correspondence with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe during the late 18th Century. Alice’s correspondence with Eileen is a motif directly alluding to these historical figures’ letters as well as their philosophies; in their letters, Schiller and Goethe contemplated the philosophical nature of aesthetic experience, and their writing went on to influence an artistic period in history known as Weimar Classicism. This era emphasized the importance of Romantic and Enlightenment thinking as it relates to the human experience. The allusive motif situates the novel within ongoing intellectual conversations started centuries ago, positioning the text firmly within the historical literary canon, even as Rooney explores the dubious category that is “contemporary” fiction.

Cinematic lighting is one of the most dominating visual motifs in the novel, often underscoring themes of aesthetics and interpersonal communion. Rooney hangs natural light in environments as a visual cue throughout the novel to represent the levels of honesty in communication between characters. Natural light stands in contrast to the “orange glow” of urban light pollution.