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
Elnath and Vernon have grown sick of each other. One night, Elnath sees Vernon coming out of the barn instead of from the outhouse, and he thinks Vernon must have been trying to “get up to the worst kind of sin” with Grace. Elnath considers turning him in—he’s sure Vernon would turn him in if the roles were reversed—but decides against it, opting to try to talk to Vernon instead, even though he knows that will mean wading into difficult territory.
Elnath and Vernon, as Mormon missionaries, have their own ideas about sex and morality; specifically, they think that sex outside the bounds of marriage is the “worst kind of sin.” Even though Elnath is put in a difficult position by what Vernon is doing, he chooses to do the harder thing and approach his fellow missionary personally instead of immediately appealing to authority.
Themes
