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
While visiting the baby at the Paranteau house, Wood Mountain hears the thwack, thwack of an ax as Patrice chops wood. With each thwack, Wood Mountain feels a crack in his chest. Barnes gets his uncle to give Wood Mountain some boxing lessons. He brings an electric turntable and teaches Wood Mountain to coordinate his combinations to the music.
As Barnes’s romantic life becomes more complicated, he also seems to let go of some of the jealousy that led to tension in his relationship with Wood Mountain, allowing them to work together more easily. Wood Mountain, on the other hand, seems to only be becoming more infatuated with Patrice.
Themes
