Parenting Across Time
The story “Night” reflects on how parenting strategies or norms can change across time and reflect society as a whole. The narrator of the story is an adult reflecting on a period of time in her childhood. This perspective allows her to comment on the events of the story with more maturity and life experience. The beginning of the core issue of the story, the narrator’s inability to sleep, comes as a result of her…
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The Psychological Effects of Illness
“Night” demonstrates how illness can affect one’s psyche and alter one’s thinking about the world. The story begins with an invocation of illness, starting with the narrator’s line, “when I was young, there seemed to be never a childbirth, or a burst appendix, or any other drastic event that did not occur simultaneously with a snowstorm.” This quote links medical emergencies with other “storms” in life, highlighting the severity of both illness and…
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Silence and Isolation
The short story “Night” explores the narrator’s existence in isolation, arguing that isolation worsens psychological distress and can even be its root cause. While recovering from an appendectomy, the narrator does fewer chores around the house over her summer break. The lack of physical activity leads to trouble sleeping, and the narrator’s lack of sleep isolates her from her family, as she wanders around alone all night. Her time alone at night while…
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Coming of Age
In “Night,” Munro demonstrates how changing perspective is an important part of coming of age. After the narrator has her appendix removed, she is “not herself,” struggling with violent urges. As she wanders the dark night to combat her disturbing and unfamiliar thoughts, she figuratively learns to navigate the darkness of her mind as well. In the pivotal moment of the story when she runs into her father, she at first does not recognize him…
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