Summary Analysis of Ray Bradbury's "The Last Night of the World"
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Daniel S. Meltzer
Professor Bridget Bell
English 121
07 October 2013
The Unanswered Mysteries of the End of the World Throughout the book “The Last Night of the World” by Ray Bradbury, there are a lot of vague generalizations that are left unanswered. Ray Bradbury is known for his descriptive literature and vast amounts of emotion and mystery; most of which is never completely understood by the reader. Ray Bradbury is well known for his articulate literature as he often portrays thorough coherency throughout his stories. Modern day literature is straight to the point and easy to understand but Bradbury is not only able to connect his stories to real world events but he also engages the reader by personally connecting his literature…show more content… Ray Bradbury continues his writing by asking rhetorical questions such as: “how would the world end” or “why the world would end” but those questions are never actually answered. Rather than answering the questions, Bradbury expands on the thoughts and brings out details that most people would not bother thinking about. He also writes as if the story were an onion, peeling back the layers one by one and slowing getting to the middle rather than cutting right into the onion [story] and answering all of the questions at once. Towards the middle of the story, the characters sit down to have a cup of coffee to discuss how the world would end and after they continue to live as if they normally would; as if they have forever to live. The characters (who are often portrayed as a couple) go about their evening cooking dinner, washing the dishes and then, at the end of the story, tucking themselves into bed and shutting the lights out as if they will wake up tomorrow and everything will be okay. But, Ray Bradbury never explains why he wrote the way he did or exactly why the characters went about their lives as if it was not the end of the world. Most skeptics would believe the ‘end of the world’ would be hectic and crazy. Not only that but it would be emotional