NIGHT

ALICE MUNRO

BACKGROUND:

Alice Munro is a Canadian writer and Nobel Prize winner. She is best
known for the changes that she introduced to the modern short story,
particularly the way in which she moves the narrative between the past
and the present. She has published several collections of short stories,
including Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) and Open Secrets (1994).

Her stories are often set in Huron County, Ontario, where she was born in 1931. Night appeared in the
collection Dear Life, published in 2012 as the second of four stories in the section titled ‘Finale’. Munro
herself called these ‘not quite stories’ in view of the fact that they are autobiographical writings with
fictional elements.

THEMES:

 family relationships
 dark, haunting thoughts of the psyche
 freedom and responsibility
 parenting
 how attitudes have changed since the past

GENRE:

 An extract from a first person narrative

AUDIENCE:

 Those who are interested in narratives

STRUCTURE:

 The extract takes us from the author’s account of her appendicitis and operation, her return home
and sleepless nights tormented by what she could do to her sister with a series of short paragraphs
highlighting her fear.
 Then there is the account of her night-time wanderings and the exchange (shown in direct speech)
with her father who, although their relationship was clearly not always smooth and easy,
reassures her.
 Only now does she wonder why he himself was up at night dressed in his better work clothes.

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LANGUAGE ANALYSIS:

1. Flashback

Example: “When I was young, there seemed to be never a childbirth…”

Effect: To portray the difference between the past and present while illustrating the
lifestyle of the people in rural Canada

Example: “Now I have to describe the sleeping arrangements in the bedroom …my sister…”

Effect: The happy memories with her sister showcases how much the attitudes and
relationships have changed over the time

2. Pathetic Fallacy

Example: “Now they were all intensely black.”

Effect: portrays her dark haunting psyche

3. Alliteration

Example: “…and a blizzard had to be blowing...”

Effect: The pain she underwent is vividly illustrated through the alliteration and pathetic
fallacy

Example: “…within g a couple of smooth seconds.”

Effect: Reassures herself with better feelings after her first night outside the house.

4. Irony

Example: “A trip of no more than a mile and a half but an adventure all the same.”

Effect: The lack of proper transportation elicits the hardships in rural villages and the life
threatening journey is indirectly signifies

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5. Repetition

Example: “…concerned him was a growth. A growth, my mother said, the size of a turkey’s
egg.”

Effect: The repetition intensifies the seriousness of her sickness along with the metaphor.
Further it portrays how the mother wants the daughter to avoid thinking of the
seriousness by concealing and simplifying the fact.

6. Direct Speech

Example: “But don’t worry, she said, it’s all over now.”

Effect: This example of direct speech without the inverted commas suggests the writer’s
attempt to engage with the readers more towards the family relationships of her
family using a conversational tone.

7. Simile

Example: “… I could spend part of the time wandering about like a warrior.”

Effect: This indicates the readers with how unoccupied she was due to the illness and how
it gradually drove to towards the person whom she is now.

8. Ellipsis

Example: “…this uselessness and strangeness I felt…”

Effect: Her mental breakdown is elucidated

9. Contrast

Example: “… at how wide awake I was, with the rest of the household asleep. “

Effect: Establishes a clear difference between herself and her family

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IGCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ANTHOLOGY A
10. Short sentences

Example: “The freedom. The strangeness.”

Effect: Brings out her loneliness and rejection / distance from the family and highlights the
narrator’s changing perceptions about herself.

Example: “I am not myself.”

Effect: This short sentence has been used along with a single sentence paragraph to
emphasize the realization of her about how her attitudes have changed

Example: “Never mind. From then on I could sleep.”

Effect: This short sentence has been used along with a short paragraph as the final
paragraph denotes her freedom after explaining her feelings to her father.

11. Triplets

Example: “I might do it not for jealousy, viciousness or anger…”

Effect: portrays her dark haunting psyche

EXAM-STYLE QUESTION

How does the writer of ‘Night’ show the varied mental states of the
narrator? In your answer you should write about:

 the background and situation

 the first person narrator’s thoughts and feelings
 the use of language and structure.

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IGCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ANTHOLOGY A