Short Stories for the Night Stand by Debra Wattes

It is a wide ravine that cuts and twists across the town, a jungle by day, a place to let alone at night, as Mother has often declared. It has a dark sewer, rotten foliage, thick green odor. In back of the church a hundred yards away, the ravine begins. Now you have walked another block and are standing by the holy black silhouette of the German Baptist Church at the corner of Chapel Street and Glen Rock. “The Night”Īpple and oak trees contribute to a cosy, safe vibe, juxtaposing against the hungry ravine lurking nearby.

There is only one store open, about a block away: Mrs Singer’s.

You live in a small house on a small street in the outer part of town where there are few street lights. This must have felt like a return to his own boyhood.įamilies had no freezers in homes, so if anyone wanted ice-cream, someone had to go buy it. Bradbury was born in 1920, which means he was almost the same age as the younger boy of the story.

How will life be different for Shorts from now on? SETTING OF “THE NIGHT” PERIOD.

What does Shorts realise when his mother starts trembling?.

What do all these mentions have in common?

“The Night” contains various mentions of light.

How does the boy feel like an extension of his mother?

At the beginning of the story, the little boy (Shorts) is aligned with his mother entirely.

What effect does this choice have on you, as reader?

Describe Ray Bradbury’s choice of narration.

How does your body feel on very hot summer nights? How does Ray Bradbury extend this feeling using motif?.

Find examples of this motif and describe how it relates to character. In “The Night”, Bradbury utilises a motif of space and nothingness.

In the best stories, the setting and character enmesh and intertwine, building on each other.

Name the juxtapositions can you see in the setting.

This story contains various juxtapositions.

“The Night” is a second-person point of view short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1955.

Short Stories for the Night Stand by Debra Wattes