'The Last Night Of The World'

Later in “The Last Night of the World,” the wife gets out of bed and states, “Wait a moment…I left the water running in the kitchen…I turned the faucet off,” followed by a thought from the husband’s point of view, “Something about this was so funny that he had to laugh” (Bradbury 4). The amused characters symbolize the acceptance of their death. The anticipation of death is typically not responded to with laughter, however, this response could be represented by the feeling of carelessness or why does it even matter? If the faucet was left on that evening, but the world was about to end anyways, why take the time and commit the effort to shutting it off—what is the point? This aspect of the short story raises multiple questions about Bradbury’s
Bradbury’s thrilling opening line of “The Last Night of the World” shakes any reader interested in the Cold War, science fiction, or fantastic literature into thinking quite literally about this exact phenomenon. Published in 1951, Bradbury’s short story relives the shocking possibility of the world ending due to nuclear warfare during the Cold War. During this time, Americans thought extensively about their procedures during a potential airstrike. Death was a true possibility. In “The Last Night of the World,” all adults received a common dream telling them that the world was about to end on a particular night. Readers closely follow along as a husband, wife, and their young family live through this uncomfortable situation. Instead of rioting or panicking, the family decides to spend their last night at home doing house chores and passing time with each other. There were many clues given to the reader that the husband and wife had accepted their fate that was about to come. In the short story, all adults capable of understanding the magnitude of the situation had received the same dream. The main characters were not alarmed, however, and instead were very calm when discussing the issue with one another. Next, the main characters were extremely nonchalant in their attitudes and mannerisms after discussing the news of their approaching death, and they stated phrases that embodied their perspective of, “why does it even matter?” The characters had questions about whether or not they deserved to die, but quickly pushed those thoughts to the wayside and instead basked in each other’s company. Finally, thinking about the historical context of “The Last Night of the World,” readers understand that Bradbury was drawing a comparison between the main characters and American citizens during the Cold War. These characters embodied the perspective that Americans lived in such constant fear of