In The Middle of the Night
"The sin of a father is visited upon the son." Robert Cormier entangles accidents, death, life, and revenge in the novel In The Middle of the Night. In The Middle of the Night is about a sixteen-year-old boy named Denny whose parents didn't allow him to answer the phone. Twenty-five years earlier Denny's father, Jean Paul, was in accident at the Globe Theater that killed twenty-two children on Halloween. Many people blame Jean Paul for the accident the Globe Theater. Now every year around the time of the accident someone calls in the middle of the night, to talk to Jean Paul. Because of this mystery caller Denny is not allowed to answer the phone. But, one day Denny can't take it anymore; he picks up the phone and talks to the mystery person, Lulu, a victim of the accident. In The Middle of the Night shows how Denny starts a dangerous, yet intriguing, relationship with Lulu over the phone. Something his parents had shielded him from for so long. Two main characters of In The Middle of the Night are Denny and Lulu. Lulu was a victim of the tragic accident that happened twenty-five years at the Globe Theater. She was eleven at the time and was attending the magic show with her younger brother, Dave, and some frie
One theme from In The Middle of the Night was about how one person can blame themselves for something that wasn't truly their fault. Jean Paul did that with the accident and he let all that pain and guilt build up inside him. He never told anyone outside of his family what had truly happened. But, he let the victims of the accident vent out their anger. This also affected how he raised his child. He was very protective of Denny. Another theme was about how Denny was affected by this accident, not only through Lulu, but through everyone. It affected the way he lived and everything. He had to constantly move and change schools. His parents were very overprotective and Denny didn't have any friends. People because of the accident also harassed Denny. In The Middle of the Night had many conflicts. One conflict was between Denny and himself. He was debating about whether he should obey his parents and not pick up the phone or should he rebel. He tried to not the phone's ringing get to him, but he lost the battle with himself. He gave in and answered the phone. Another conflict was between Lulu and Dave. Lulu was set in killing Denny, but Dave didn't agree with it. . He had tried to stop her before by talking to her, but Lulu wouldn't waiver. When it finally came down to when Lulu was about to kill Denny, Dave refused to give her the needle. Instead, he injected her with the poison, killing her and than he committed suicide. A third conflict was between Jean Paul and himself, about whether or not he was to blame for the accident. At first Jean Paul couldn't understand why people were so mad at him. But, than he came to grips with what had happened. Jean Paul felt that he was to blame, so he let the people harass him, feeling he could take in their pain, causing a conflict within himself. That is why he sheltered Denny so much, because if his pain and conflicts.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jean Paul, Middle Night, Globe Theater, Denny Dave, jean paul, Robert Cormier, Lulu Denny, Paul Denny's, Night Denny, Globe Zabor, middle night, Evidence Zabor, answer phone, globe theater, paul accident, jean paul accident, killed twenty-two children, denny's father, accident globe, killed twenty-two, middle night denny, blame evidence, blame evidence zabor, paul accident globe, lulu victim,
Approximate Word count = 1286
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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