Plot Summary. At the beginning of the story, a man asks his wife what she would do if it were her last day on Earth.
But the story makes clear that the end of the world isn't about guilt or innocence, deserving or not deserving. As the husband explains, 'things just didn't work out.' Even when the wife says, 'Nothing else but this could have happened from the way we've lived,' there's no feeling of regret or guilt. There's no sense that people could have behaved any way other than the way they have. And in fact, the wife's turning off the faucet at the end of the story shows exactly how hard it is to change behavior.
The things the husband will miss are his family and everyday pleasures like a 'glass of cool water.' That is, his immediate world is what's important to him, and in his immediate world, he hasn't been 'too bad.' To behave 'like always' is to continue to take pleasure in that immediate world, and like everyone else, that's how they choose to spend their final night. There is some beauty in that, but ironically, behaving 'like always' is also exactly what has kept humanity from being 'enormously good.'
It seems I'm on a short-story rush. I read.This consists of a dinner-time discussion between a husband and wife.
It appears everybody in the world had the same dream, that the world was ending.' And when will it stop?
The world, I mean.' 'Sometime during the night for us, and then, as the night goes on around the world, those advancing portions will go, too.
It'll take twenty-four hours for it all to go.' The two things that caught my attention are:1.
The date is It seems I'm on a short-story rush. I read.This consists of a dinner-time discussion between a husband and wife. It appears everybody in the world had the same dream, that the world was ending.' And when will it stop? The world, I mean.' 'Sometime during the night for us, and then, as the night goes on around the world, those advancing portions will go, too. It'll take twenty-four hours for it all to go.'
The two things that caught my attention are:1. The date is February the 30th, 1951.2. How everybody all around the world is quite at peace with its demise. The two characters in the story attribute that to logic, yet I'm not convinced.
I would expect some anarchy. But everything is peaceful.And we get no conclusion. I'm a big fan of Ray Bradbury, so I was quite glad to come across this story I hadn't read before free online at esquire.com, but this isn't the best Bradbury story I've read.It is a very dispassionate reaction to imminent apocalypse. In some sense that is a nice change from the usual end of the world panic, or despair that one can often see in stories of that kind, but I think it is just too dispassionate. The world ends (that is what really happens, the story leaves that to the I'm a big fan of Ray Bradbury, so I was quite glad to come across this story I hadn't read before free online at esquire.com, but this isn't the best Bradbury story I've read.It is a very dispassionate reaction to imminent apocalypse. In some sense that is a nice change from the usual end of the world panic, or despair that one can often see in stories of that kind, but I think it is just too dispassionate. The world ends (that is what really happens, the story leaves that to the readers imagination) in such a calm way that it kind of feels as no one care one way or the other.
I don't get why. Reading The Last Night of the World was surreal.Having read another book by Bradbury, I was expecting the tone and style - pleasant and unpretentious, simple and clear.The story itself seems something capsuled by time.
For some weird reason, it felt like a loop. The last night would stretch for 24 hours and those hours will be spent in the way they usually are.Everyone knows its ending. And they go to sleep.Going through short stories is tougher for me than the average novels. A short story Reading The Last Night of the World was surreal.Having read another book by Bradbury, I was expecting the tone and style - pleasant and unpretentious, simple and clear.The story itself seems something capsuled by time. For some weird reason, it felt like a loop.
The last night would stretch for 24 hours and those hours will be spent in the way they usually are.Everyone knows its ending. And they go to sleep.Going through short stories is tougher for me than the average novels. A short story leaves a lot more ambiguity upon the reader.
No background, no world setting, no defined laws - it's up in the air for the reader to put. Or maybe it isn't needed. Too much information. It seems like a dialogue. An excerpt; an anecdote. It is interesting.
'Maybe it's because it was never February 30, 1951, ever before in history, and now it is and that's it.' All the people know the world is going to end that day after having shared the very same dream. However, noone is crying, no one is panicking.
Everyone is doing the pretty same things he/she would do any other day. Because 'you don't scream about real thing' and 'there's nothing else to do'. I found a parallel to what I once heard - if someone is really dying, he is not doing a big 'Maybe it's because it was never February 30, 1951, ever before in history, and now it is and that's it.' All the people know the world is going to end that day after having shared the very same dream. However, noone is crying, no one is panicking.
Everyone is doing the pretty same things he/she would do any other day. Because 'you don't scream about real thing' and 'there's nothing else to do'. I found a parallel to what I once heard - if someone is really dying, he is not doing a big fuss about it. It's interesting to me that people interpret religion from this story of one family's evening on 'the last night of the world.' When reading, religion never even occurred to me, as the characters themselves don't reference any type of religious or spiritual reaction. In my mind, it was more that the family understands an ending as a reasonable conclusion to life, and in this ending, they find comfort in their love.
They do not worry or scream or cry, as they find the end of the world to be It's interesting to me that people interpret religion from this story of one family's evening on 'the last night of the world.' When reading, religion never even occurred to me, as the characters themselves don't reference any type of religious or spiritual reaction.
In my mind, it was more that the family understands an ending as a reasonable conclusion to life, and in this ending, they find comfort in their love. They do not worry or scream or cry, as they find the end of the world to be 'logical.' I saw this more as an almost ecological or sociological statement of fact that if we continue to 'live as we've lived,' there is no conclusion but an ending. I also tend to regard the science fiction universe as a realm where things happening without explanation is acceptable.
From:A reverse take on the end of the world. Most stories are all about people going crazy and totally losing all inhibitions if they know that the world is ending.
In this short, Bradbury is saying that if everyone knows the world is ending at the same time, the acceptance of that fate is easier because it is happening to everyone at the same time. There is nothing that we leave behind, so accepting the end is not difficult.There is perhaps also a theme From:A reverse take on the end of the world. Most stories are all about people going crazy and totally losing all inhibitions if they know that the world is ending. In this short, Bradbury is saying that if everyone knows the world is ending at the same time, the acceptance of that fate is easier because it is happening to everyone at the same time. There is nothing that we leave behind, so accepting the end is not difficult.There is perhaps also a theme here that the routine that some people get into, the lack of living for the moment, is in itself a bit like the end of the world.
I don't know, but I just kind of felt that this story really didn't end 'there' (where they fall asleep expecting 'that night' will be their last). There is no conclusion written by the author, so I'd rather expect what's in stored at the brighter side instead of thinking that 'maybe' they really died in the end. If you see it from a lighter perspective, it would give you the chance to become more open to a lot of 'maybe's', leading all of us to one common thought: 'The story may have not ended I don't know, but I just kind of felt that this story really didn't end 'there' (where they fall asleep expecting 'that night' will be their last). There is no conclusion written by the author, so I'd rather expect what's in stored at the brighter side instead of thinking that 'maybe' they really died in the end. If you see it from a lighter perspective, it would give you the chance to become more open to a lot of 'maybe's', leading all of us to one common thought: 'The story may have not ended there.' Or maybe it did. But sequels exist.
Part 2's exist, or Part 3, part 4, and so on. With that said, the story may really have progressed.
Maybe it continued. Probably the couple woke up the next morning, astonished to see each other both alive and flesh; probably their children got the chance to grow up and see how the world isn't that bad as we/they thought it would be; probably the 'end' wasn't supposed to come expected, or as a dream, but rather something that we didn't think of.
After returning from the existential crisis this book gave me, which encompasses me disturbing Plato, Aristotle and Nietzsche in their respective graves, I am back to review this story.This made me question, a lot. Recited here, so simply, is the last night of the world. After a looong deliberation on this I agree with the vision of Mr. Ray Bradbury. It would be exactly as it's written. We have not seen the end of the world but everybody sees end of their world and they act as is told.
After returning from the existential crisis this book gave me, which encompasses me disturbing Plato, Aristotle and Nietzsche in their respective graves, I am back to review this story.This made me question, a lot. Recited here, so simply, is the last night of the world. After a looong deliberation on this I agree with the vision of Mr. Ray Bradbury. It would be exactly as it's written. We have not seen the end of the world but everybody sees end of their world and they act as is told.
Fascinating stuff. A tantalizing read.
The short story ' The Last Night of the World' is a story based about how the town had a dream about the world ending. The story explains about how a man and his wife spend there last night differently to others. They simply spend it doing what they always do.Personaly I found this book a bit boring and actionless, but I think the book does show a different perspective of how people would spend their last nights. I would recommend reading this short story because it leaves a lot of 'what ifs' in The short story ' The Last Night of the World' is a story based about how the town had a dream about the world ending. The story explains about how a man and his wife spend there last night differently to others.
They simply spend it doing what they always do.Personaly I found this book a bit boring and actionless, but I think the book does show a different perspective of how people would spend their last nights. I would recommend reading this short story because it leaves a lot of 'what ifs' in your brain. I did really enjoy this book because it does leave a lot to the imagination.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,The story was simple but got the idea across. It had a kind of eerie feeling that I think the author was trying to give. There were a few thought-provoking lines in the dialog, prompting the reader to wonder both about the story and themselves: did the children dream the same dream as the adults?
Why did the husband and his coworkers have the dream before the wife and her friends?What would I do if it was the last night of the world? The short story 'The Last Night of The World' by Ray Bradbury is very calmed.
Perhaps because it portrays speculation and 'what ifs?' It gives you an indirect complement, for it does not describe what is causing the end of the world. It centers a man, his wife and his 2 daughters, basically a regular family, but it doesn't make the characters frantic at all. It instead faces facts, like not missing the bad habits we have that are also destroying our world.
The short story appreciates small The short story 'The Last Night of The World' by Ray Bradbury is very calmed. Perhaps because it portrays speculation and 'what ifs?' It gives you an indirect complement, for it does not describe what is causing the end of the world. It centers a man, his wife and his 2 daughters, basically a regular family, but it doesn't make the characters frantic at all.
It instead faces facts, like not missing the bad habits we have that are also destroying our world. The short story appreciates small talks before facing reality. The narration is awesome; while it was written in 1951, it still manages to talk in a future. It seems to be focused on war.
I believe the story may have come from the Cold War:1) Russia announced they had nuclear weapons2) The U.S did as wellMaybe there could of been a massacre. The war could of resulted in the end of the world. Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a 'student of life,' selling newspapers on L.A.
Street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a 'student of life,' selling newspapers on L.A. Street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. He became a full-time writer in 1943, and contributed numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing a collection of them, Dark Carnival, in 1947.His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences.
Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece, a scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are burned by the totalitarian state.
Other works include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!, Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays. His short stories have appeared in more than 1,000 school curriculum 'recommended reading' anthologies.Ray Bradbury's work has been included in four Best American Short Story collections. He has been awarded the O.
Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. In November 2000, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was conferred upon Mr. Bradbury at the 2000 National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City.Ray Bradbury has never confined his vision to the purely literary. He has been nominated for an Academy Award (for his animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright), and has won an Emmy Award (for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree). He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's Ray Bradbury Theater. He was the creative consultant on the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1982 he created the interior metaphors for the Spaceship Earth display at Epcot Center, Disney World, and later contributed to the conception of the Orbitron space ride at Euro-Disney, France.Married since 1947, Mr.
Bradbury and his wife Maggie lived in Los Angeles with their numerous cats. Together, they raised four daughters and had eight grandchildren. Sadly, Maggie passed away in November of 2003.On the occasion of his 80th birthday in August 2000, Bradbury said, 'The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me.
I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you'll come along.'