NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES

Themes
Physical and Mental health – depression and insomnia
Parenting
Relationships – between speaker and parents and speaker and siblings
Night time
Lack of communication
Stream of consciousness

Tone – suspense, fear and doubt within the speaker.

Mood – creates a mood of sympathy for the mental trauma of the protagonist. However
her thought ideally create an eerie and ominous feeling.

S&O
First-person narration
Chronological order
Flashback
Semi-autobiographical (certain details are fiction)

Language – the language is cryptic and ambiguous and this is appropriate as it reveals the
unsteady nature of her mentality.

Setting – rural Canada as this is the home of the writer.

Characters – speaker – witty, anxious, confused, innocent, ignorant, concerned, duty-

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When I was young – first person narration. This is part fiction, part autobiographical.
(S&O)

Never a childbirth, or a burst appendix or any other drastic physical event that did not
occur simultaneously with a snowstorm – triplet and pathetic fallacy show that the
writer’s day to day life was rather eventful owing to the hostile environment they lived
in.

we were not stabling any horses / father’s farm– descriptive detail – indicates that the
speaker’s is from a rural setting or the countryside.

minus my appendix – the writer is witty. She is not horrified after the surgery instead finds
the experience amusing.

() parenthesis as a technique gives the reader additional details about the family and
thoughts of the speaker.

the size of a turkey’s egg – metaphor shows that the mother tries to help the young
daughter understand the gravity of the growth.
NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES

Cancerous or benign – the juxtaposition immediately indicates that the child was kept in
the dark about her situation. This is what confuses her as she doesn’t know how to react
to her parents or herself anymore

there must have been a cloud around that word – metaphor highlights lack of
communication between parents and the speaker; she didn’t question and the parents
believed it was best not to discuss the sensitive topic of the growth being cancerous or
not. (THEME – LACK OF COMMUNICATION)

I looked well, I did chores around the house, I read books as usual - – triplet of actions
shows that she led an ordinary life even after the removal of the growth.

threaten to spit on my little sister – visual imagery connotes that she enjoyed an ordinary
relationship with her sibling. The speaker comes out as a realistic character. (THEME OF
RELATIONSHIPS)

My sister was nine when I was fourteen – the story is given in chronological order of
events so we understand the transformation in her SELF after her family begins to treat
her like a fragile creature. (S&O)

sophisticated counsellor or hair-raising storyteller - the roles she assumed shows that the
speaker was a versatile character who had a lively personality.

we had just enough money at the time – flashback – shows that she comes from a poor
background.

having to tackle any of the jobs that piled up for me in later summers – the descriptive
sentence shows that she was treated with special care by the family because they felt she
was in a delicate condition owing to the cancer. However this is not communicated to her
and so she is left to tackle her own emotions.
NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES

spend part of the time wandering about like a visitor – the simile shows that gradually she
feels useless and begins to idle (AN IDLE MIND IS THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP). She feels
“invalid”

this uselessness and strangeness I felt – both nouns with negative terminology reveal that
being ignorant of the true nature of the cancerous growth, she suppresses her feelings,
her anxieties and doubts to the point where she moves into depression. She is not offered
emotional support until the end.

I was left to make up my own mind – these descriptions reveal that the family
sympathized with her instead of being honest and truthful about her condition. She had
no clue how to deal with the different treatment she received.

it became a stranger place – the comparative shows how even a home could become
unfamiliar if not for the presence of life.

. The freedom. The strangeness – both short sentences indicate that she found solace in
night time. Hence the significance of the title of this particular extract – NIGHT.

I became more and more disturbed - the repetition of the comparative ‘more’ shows that
she becomes an insomniac because her sub-conscience is troubled by her present reality
which is her cancerous condition and the ‘new’ treatment she receives from her family.

I was not myself – short sentence reveals the sinister stream of consciousness or her
thought process. She realizes that her condition worsens mentally but she cannot get a
grip on herself.

So who do you think you are, then? / Think again – the rhetorical question and short
sentences make her thoughts eerie. She is becoming darker by the day.
NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES

No vengeance, no hatred – anaphora indicates that her depression has moved to a

I could strangle my little sister – disturbing visual imagery – the speaker is losing control
of herself. She wants to feel anything other than feel depressed and useless.
A lazy, teasing, half-sluggish suggestion – triplet shows that her idle mind craves for
action.

After the first night I was able to make my moves without a break – the description shows
how she escaped into the night to keep her dark thought from being put to action. She is
innocent but mentally unstable. Night time offers her a place and time to clear her mind.
It is her one safe haven.

The birds began to stir – auditory image suggests that she stayed wandering around the
backyard into the early hours of each morning.

properly, carefully , silently – triplet of adverbs – even though she needed professional
help, she did not want to trouble her parents probably because of their financial situation.
She is as concerned of her family as they are of her but lack of communication leads them
nowhere.

It was in that hammock that I spent much of the days – visual imagery connotes that
inactivity is a consequence of depression and worsens the condition.
NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES

The demons got hold of me again – personification shows how unhappy and anxious she
is deep within.

There was somebody waiting there – this descriptive sentence hints at the fact that the
father would have known about her nights escapades all along just that he was waiting
for the right time to intervene.

natural way – the phrase which describes how the father greeted the daughter indicates
that he is a practical and level-headed man; he does not interrogate her about her nigh
prowling instead works to gain her trust.

"You go to bed tired out and then just as you think you’re falling asleep you’re wide
awake. Isn’t that the way?" – his tone is easy and full of understanding. He encourages
the daughter to confide in him.

Why was that?/ I did not know. / Not bad dreams? / No – certain parts of their
conversation are given in indirect speech. This is effective; presents the anxiety of the
daughter to expose her deep dark secrets and insomnia. The father who probes
reassuring and gently.

He said, "People have those kinds of thoughts sometimes." – direct speech presents what
a mature and practical man the father is. Instead of overreacting, he helps the daughter
understand that this is owing to this phase of depression. He has already forgiven her for
even thinking of the horrific deed.

He did not blame me / Did not wonder at me, - the emphasis on the negative highlights
her astonishment at being understood and communicated to. Moreover she is grateful to
her father for understanding her thoughts from her point of view.
It set me down, but without either mockery or alarm – both nouns show how much she
appreciates the calm and collected approach of the father. It is this method of parenting
that brings her out of her depression.
NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES

If you live long enough as a parent nowadays – the writer changes to second person
narration to involve readers who have been in similar situations and also to indicate that
she was recalling a series of memories – flashback.

the sass beaten out of him – colloquial (informal) term refers to arrogance or vanity and
it indicates the changing times; corporal punishment was a common fact during the
writer’s childhood whereas it is punishable by law, nowadays.

He had worked as hard as he could – her mellow tone indicates what respect she has for
her father and how much she appreciates and values his effort to provide for the family.
The speaker is sensitive.

mother’s shakiness – the speaker’s family suffers more than poverty. It is possible that
this is a reference to Parkinson’s Disease. The fact that the mother too had a health
condition would have been another reason why the family preferred to deny to the
speaker that she suffered from anything at all.

Never mind. From then on I could sleep. – both declarations indicate that all she needed
was someone to confide in. when the father builds her confidence she is able to accept
her unusual imaginations as ‘normal’ and move on.
NIGHT – ALICE MUNRO – SHORT NOTES