Night Analysis

Step 3: Review The story is about a young teenager Alice Munro who after an appendix surgery starts having sleeping problems. Because of this particular issue, thoughts of killing her little sister visit her at nights. Step 4: Read the story a second time *Allusion  —  there  there is no implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a  part of another text. No mention of historical events or biblical allusions.

 Alice Munro: the thought of this character plays an important role to *Character  –  Alice develop the main topic of the story; a sleeping problem during the nights which causes her to wonder what would happen if she actually kills her s ister. This thought leads to a  particular quality of this teenager which is to isolate herself from her family and the house in order not to concrete with the idea of killing her sister. The thing to do was to get up, to get myself out of that room and out of the house. I went down the rungs of the ladder and never cast a single look at my si ster where she  slept. Catherine and Alice’s relationship: one quality which is interesting is that Alice mentions the happy relationship they have as sisters e ven though they are different  persons with different friends so there is no reason for Alice to want to kill her since there is no hatred or jealousy in their relationship. The more I chased the thought away, the more it came back. No vengeance, no hatred as I’ve said, no reason, except that something like an utter ly cold deep thought that was hardly an urging, more of a contemplation, could take possession of me. I must not even think of it but I did think of it The thought was there and hanging on to my mind. The thought that I could strangle s trangle my little sister, who was asleep in the bunk below me and whom I loved more than anybody in the world. The father: there is a peculiar quality in this character which helps Alice to not worry about this new, strange and terrible thought, his nonchalance, when she decides to tell him about her problem, she thought he was going to say that she was c razy, but he didn’t, didn’t, he said that we all sometimes have those kind of thoughts. From then on she is able to fall asleep without any difficulty. difficult y. Then he said not to worry. He said, ‘People have those kinds of thoughts sometimes.’  The character is static since the story is narrated from the author’s view.

*Figurative language  –  but after some time I got out of bed as a regular habit, as  soon as the house seemed to be dreaming. And the moon of course had its own habits,  so sometimes I stepped into a pool of silver .

 My troubles returned with the night, of course. The demons grabbed hold of me again.

*Imagery  —  the author does make use of imagery to provide an insi ght of Alice character in order to help the reader visualize the story in their minds.

Sound: The birds began to stir, and then to sing  But soon, soon after those earliest starting songs Sight: … there got to be a little whitening to the sky. And suddenly I was overwhelmed with sleepiness. I went back into the house, where there was suddenly darkness everywhere, and I very properly, carefully, silently… *Point-of-view —  Here Alice Munro is the author of the story and at the same time the narrator. *Plot  —  the author recalls the surgery of both the appendix and the growth, that took  place in the winter, then she goes back to the present to narrate her life in early June, from then on there is no going back to the past and she does not mention an y flashbacks. *Setting —  one of the factors that cause the narrator to have problems is the night. The night is where the character explains or in some way tries to understand why is she thinking of committing a crime when there is no reason behind such thought, all the action and explaining occurs in this time of the day. *Symbolism —  Catherine, the little sister: she represents a problem for Alice since she is the main source for wanting to kill her.

The night: The night, it is only in this moment when she goes out of the house when she feels free from her thoughts. It represents her remedy, her freedom from everything and everyone. *Tone  —  The story started off with an air of m ystery to it, as you were not quite sure what direction Munro was taking the readers. As the story progressed it became darker until it came to the point where you were scared to read further, is she really going to kill her sister? But the tone changes when she speaks with her father leaving us confused of the nonchalance that her father spoke with her as if thinking of killing someone is the most common thing in the world.

Towards the end of the story, Munro gets caught by her father wondering at night and was finally able to tell him of her thoughts and fears. Then she tells us that by

expressing her thoughts aloud, she can finally sleep. In some way, she feels relieved and comforted by the nonchalance of her father. Step 7: Create an outline Alice Munro “Night” is a short story illustrating the life of a young Alice who after an appendix surgery starts suffering from insomnia; this produces dreadful thoughts of killing her little sister. Integrated into the plot is Alice permission to think about dangerous acts and peace found in the darkest place. Munro achieves this effect through her use of character, plot, symbolism and setting. (Since she cannot find a way to fall asleep, she wonders outside her house to get awa y from everything and everyone that is causing her such problems.) The first element of the story is the sleeping habit or lack thereof. The insomnia causes the main character, Alice, to be in a state of madness to the point where she was not herself anymore and when does she realize that the girl before the summer is different from the one lying awake in bed during the nights waiting for sleep to come to her? When a thought comes to her mind out of nowhere, there is no reason to actually kill her sister, no hatred, jealousy, or vengeance. The essay on sleep evolves to reveal the dark thoughts that we all sometimes have, we try to chase them away but they are still there, they slowly start to consume us, to let us think that we are turning into psychos. The story is about letting yourself consider the inconsiderable, the evil, terrifying decision to accomplish the imaginable.  By this time it wasn’t sleep I was after. I knew mere sleep wasn’t likely. Maybe not even desirable. Something was taking hold of me and it was my business, my hope, to  fight it off. I had the sense to do that, but only barely, as it seemed. It was trying to tell me to do things, not exactly for any reason but just to se e if such acts were possible. It was informing me that motives were not necessary.  It was only necessary to give in. How strange. Not out of revenge, or even cruelty, but  just because you had thought of something. The second element of the story is the concept of decay in life. The author eventually  portrays her decay in overall health. Night was a symbol of hes illness; she mentions how she isolates from her family and the world in general b y wondering in the darkness. Whenever the demons grabbed hold of her mind, the author finds peace by wondering through the night, getting away from the house, her family and thoughts. In a sense, the author sees the night as a remedy, a means to protect herself from her loved ones, especially her sister. There. At first everything was black, because I would have lain wakeful for a long time, and the moon had already gone down. I kept on staying in bed as long as I thought  I could for several nights, as if it was a defeat to have to give up trying to sleep, but after some time I got out of bed as a regular habit, as soon as the house seemed to be

dreaming. And the moon of course had its own habits, so sometimes I stepped into a  pool of silver. Munro utilizes four basic tools to illustrate her problem with mental health by character,  plot, symbolism, and setting. Her combination of this tools in “Night” reveals a greater theme of the story- inconsiderable thoughts and