Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Night Watchman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power, Solidarity, and Community Action
Oppression and Supposed Good Intentions
Humor and Pain
Sex, Violence, and Gender
Agency and Exploitation
Summary
Analysis
Unnamed men smell of hot oil, liquor sweat, and spoiled meat. Another unseen character struggles against them. If she wants to get away, she’ll have to run through knives. She would be “raw flesh” and in pure agony. Occasionally, she hears her mother call her name.
This is the first glimpse into what Vera is experiencing. The way that the passage is written—in brief flashes of vivid and violent images—seems to suggest that the suffering that’s being inflicted on Vera is almost too much to be captured in words.
Themes
