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
Patrice goes to an eye clinic and is told she needs glasses. After she gets glasses, the clarity of the world is breathtaking. Wood Mountain tells her she looks like Superman’s girlfriend, and Patrice says no, she looks like Clark Kent. The two kiss as they leave the clinic. They find a place in the woods, and Wood Mountain takes a packet from his jacket pocket. He puts it on, and then he is “inside of her, too eagerly.” Tears blur her vision. They start again, and it gets better. After, their breathing slows until they’re breathing in perfect time.
This chapter presents another counterpoint to the violence that so often accompanies sex in the novel. In this instance, Patrice is able to exercise her agency and enjoy sex after a little while.
Themes
