In-class writing

The tone of Night Women is really dark and depressing. The narrator mentions a lot about the physical feelings, focusing much on bodies and flesh. For example, "I feel as bare as open flesh" (pg. 70) is written in the very first paragraph. And this is captured in a dark room at night. Throughout the story, I feel like the narrator blocks herself at night, starring and observing at her son who is in his puberty. While her son is sleeping, the narrator is awake. The environment of the room is also dark. She mentions about "shadow" many times to reflect her interior struggling. We can refer that she is widowed and her life has lost hope. The narrator seems addicted to observing her son when he is asleep, and vividly describes the different tiny actions of her son. The night is so quiet, and it makes all the things, even a little sound of groan so loud and clear.

The narrator describes herself as a woman who is "stuck between the day and night in a golden amber bronze", which gives me a feeling of she is still struggling for her life even it's already hopeless. Her desire of light and hope is as strong as that of flesh, the body, and the temporary happiness. There is one part that confuses me a lot. When the narrator is with the doctor, she still mentions about the doctors' wife. "I see his wife's face in the beads of sweat marching down his chin" makes me think that probably the narrator wants to be like the doctor's wife with a brighter life? The tone of the story is dark, but I still feel like she is still struggling.