Nathan Phillips
English Composition 1Instructor Wendy Moore
5/20/2015
The meaning of Ray Bradbury's short story “The Last Night of the World,” is misconceived by most people, I believe it represents a stoppage of time, the existence of a time loop, and a general skepticism of death. This story, published in Esquire magazine February 1951, centers around a husband and wife and a conversation they have in regards to a dream that postulates the end of the world occurring on the following day, February 30th. Since the telling of the story, it has drawn the attention of many readers and has sparked several philosophical theories about the end times, as well as a general acceptance of death. I believe, however, the story actually theorizes the possibility of time loop that occurs on February 30th, 1951; affecting the entire world. Additionally, I believe the characters assumed acceptance of death could more likely be interpreted as subconscious skepticism. I find that most people never truly believe in something unless the evidence is literally in front of them.
Several people who read this story believe the context alludes to the end the world or an extinguishing of life itself; I disagree. The male protagonist says to his wife, “I dreamt that it was all going to be over… it said things would stop here on Earth” (Bradbury, 1951). I believe when Bradbury wrote the word “stop,” he meant exactly that, to cease movement. The theory that time could stop is possible. Professor José Senovilla, Marc Mars and Raül Vera from University of Salamanca, Spain published in the journal Physical Review D a proposal on, what they thought of as the universe expanding is actually time itself slowing down. Senovilla states, “We do not say that the expansion of the universe itself is an illusion,” he explains. “What we say it may be an illusion is the acceleration of this expansion… [sic]” (2010). Bradbury shows another example in this quote, “There are bombers on their course both ways across the ocean tonight that’ll never see land again” (1951). I believe this demonstrates that the bombers will never land (nor crash) because, I believe time itself will stop and restart. This theory of a day ending and starting again is commonly known as a time loop.
There are other examples from the “text” that lead me to believe that a time loop might be what Bradbury is alluding will happen to the world on this final evening. In the story, the protagonist states, “Maybe it’s because it was never February 30, 1951, ever before in history…” (Bradbury, 1951). February 30th does not exist as a real date. Back in Roman times, the calendar started on the month of March because the Romans did not care about the winter as the non-harvesting months. Julius Caesar felt that it was foolishness to have 60 days not included on the calendar and later added the months, January and February at the end of the year; February got the left over days, which happened to be 28. Lucas Reilly states, “February has 28 days because, to the Romans, the month was an afterthought” (2014). Later on January and February were placed at the beginning of the year.
There are experts who theorize parallel universes may exist. Scientists from Stanford University have stated, “Parallel universes may exist invisibly alongside ours, on their own membranes less than a millimeter away from ours” (Scientific American, 2000). So it is possible in Bradbury’s story, February 30th did, in fact, exist. So the question is what happened to February 30th? In this short story, written by a legend of sci-fi, I think he places that date and its inhabitants into an eternal time loop. More evidence of this is also seen when the male protagonist says to his wife, “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” (Bradbury, 1951). I feel that Bradbury is applying a symbolic correlation between when the world will end (stop) and how long it takes to complete a one day cycle. I believe it is possible the 24-hour period represents the quantitative time associated with the time loop. Not so much when everything will be over permanently, but rather, once twenty-four hours commences, time for the next (same) day will restart at hour zero. This concept ties in greatly with mankind’s perception of time, purpose, and the desire to survive and move forward.
A lot of readers believe this story is about the acceptance of death as seen in the Kübler-Ross model. I, however, believe there are several examples within the story demonstrating people’s innate instinct for survival. In the story, the wife of the protagonist asks what everyone around the world will be doing on this final evening. The husband replies, “Go to a show, listen to the radio, watch the TV, play cards, put the children to bed, get to bed themselves, like always” (Bradbury, 1951). The husband seems to believe that people carrying on their typical routine, despite their impending doom, is normal behavior. I do not believe that to be true. From experience, I have seen how people respond to seemingly hopeless situations; not all minds are created equally. In fact, not even main characters in the story truly believe that things are going to end on earth as seen with this quote, “He heard her get up and go out into the back of the house, and then he heard the soft shuffling of a swinging door. A moment later she was back. ‘I left the water running in the kitchen,’ she said. ‘I turned the faucet off’” (Bradbury, 1951). There would be no reason to shut off the faucet if they believed everything was going to be over.
From start to finish Ray Bradbury’s story “The Last Night of the World” plays out as if the world is going to end, extinguish all life on earth while everyone mindlessly accepts their fate. When looking at the story from a different point of view, we see that story shows significant examples of something more scientific rather than philosophical. This, however, does invoke the question of what really did happen to February 30th and with that, where does yesterday truly go?
Several people who read this story believe the context alludes to the end the world or an extinguishing of life itself; I disagree. The male protagonist says to his wife, “I dreamt that it was all going to be over… it said things would stop here on Earth” (Bradbury, 1951). I believe when Bradbury wrote the word “stop,” he meant exactly that, to cease movement. The theory that time could stop is possible. Professor José Senovilla, Marc Mars and Raül Vera from University of Salamanca, Spain published in the journal Physical Review D a proposal on, what they thought of as the universe expanding is actually time itself slowing down. Senovilla states, “We do not say that the expansion of the universe itself is an illusion,” he explains. “What we say it may be an illusion is the acceleration of this expansion… [sic]” (2010). Bradbury shows another example in this quote, “There are bombers on their course both ways across the ocean tonight that’ll never see land again” (1951). I believe this demonstrates that the bombers will never land (nor crash) because, I believe time itself will stop and restart. This theory of a day ending and starting again is commonly known as a time loop.
There are other examples from the “text” that lead me to believe that a time loop might be what Bradbury is alluding will happen to the world on this final evening. In the story, the protagonist states, “Maybe it’s because it was never February 30, 1951, ever before in history…” (Bradbury, 1951). February 30th does not exist as a real date. Back in Roman times, the calendar started on the month of March because the Romans did not care about the winter as the non-harvesting months. Julius Caesar felt that it was foolishness to have 60 days not included on the calendar and later added the months, January and February at the end of the year; February got the left over days, which happened to be 28. Lucas Reilly states, “February has 28 days because, to the Romans, the month was an afterthought” (2014). Later on January and February were placed at the beginning of the year.
There are experts who theorize parallel universes may exist. Scientists from Stanford University have stated, “Parallel universes may exist invisibly alongside ours, on their own membranes less than a millimeter away from ours” (Scientific American, 2000). So it is possible in Bradbury’s story, February 30th did, in fact, exist. So the question is what happened to February 30th? In this short story, written by a legend of sci-fi, I think he places that date and its inhabitants into an eternal time loop. More evidence of this is also seen when the male protagonist says to his wife, “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” (Bradbury, 1951). I feel that Bradbury is applying a symbolic correlation between when the world will end (stop) and how long it takes to complete a one day cycle. I believe it is possible the 24-hour period represents the quantitative time associated with the time loop. Not so much when everything will be over permanently, but rather, once twenty-four hours commences, time for the next (same) day will restart at hour zero. This concept ties in greatly with mankind’s perception of time, purpose, and the desire to survive and move forward.
A lot of readers believe this story is about the acceptance of death as seen in the Kübler-Ross model. I, however, believe there are several examples within the story demonstrating people’s innate instinct for survival. In the story, the wife of the protagonist asks what everyone around the world will be doing on this final evening. The husband replies, “Go to a show, listen to the radio, watch the TV, play cards, put the children to bed, get to bed themselves, like always” (Bradbury, 1951). The husband seems to believe that people carrying on their typical routine, despite their impending doom, is normal behavior. I do not believe that to be true. From experience, I have seen how people respond to seemingly hopeless situations; not all minds are created equally. In fact, not even main characters in the story truly believe that things are going to end on earth as seen with this quote, “He heard her get up and go out into the back of the house, and then he heard the soft shuffling of a swinging door. A moment later she was back. ‘I left the water running in the kitchen,’ she said. ‘I turned the faucet off’” (Bradbury, 1951). There would be no reason to shut off the faucet if they believed everything was going to be over.
From start to finish Ray Bradbury’s story “The Last Night of the World” plays out as if the world is going to end, extinguish all life on earth while everyone mindlessly accepts their fate. When looking at the story from a different point of view, we see that story shows significant examples of something more scientific rather than philosophical. This, however, does invoke the question of what really did happen to February 30th and with that, where does yesterday truly go?
References
Arkani-Hamed, N., Dimopoulos, S., & Dvali, G (2000). The Universe’s UNSEEN DIMENSIONS. (EBSCOhost)
Scientific American, Aug2000, Vol. 283 Issue 2, p62. 8p.
Bradbury, R (2012) The Last Night of the World. Retrieved from
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a14340/ray-bradbury-last-night-of-the-world-0251/
Kübler-Ross, E (1969) On Death and Dying
New York, NY: Scribner
Reilly, L (2014) Why Are There Only 28 Days in February? Retrieved 5/12/2015
http://mentalfloss.com/article/55327/why-are-there-only-28-days-February
Sato, R and KazanIs, C (2010) Time Disappearing from the Universe? Retrieved 5/12/2015
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/07/is-time-disappearing-from-the-universe-radical-theory-says-yes.html
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a14340/ray-bradbury-last-night-of-the-world-0251/
Kübler-Ross, E (1969) On Death and Dying
New York, NY: Scribner
Reilly, L (2014) Why Are There Only 28 Days in February? Retrieved 5/12/2015
http://mentalfloss.com/article/55327/why-are-there-only-28-days-February
Sato, R and KazanIs, C (2010) Time Disappearing from the Universe? Retrieved 5/12/2015
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/07/is-time-disappearing-from-the-universe-radical-theory-says-yes.html
This is driving my class nut! Is it Feb 30 or Oct 19 as the date of the end of the world. I have publications the have different dates. Do you know?
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