Dec 21, 2009

Nightfall | Style

Character
The characters in this story are not aliens with four eyes and antennae. They are human. They may have numbers for last names, but they are physically the same as humans and use contemporary language. Asimov wanted the story to be a metaphor for life on earth, so he wanted his readers to be able to identify with the characters. Consequently, he has a ‘‘tubby’’ psychologist, a redheaded newspaper reporter, a white-haired pedantic director, and a cast of otherwise ‘‘just-like-us’’ characters who may be able to give the reader some insight about how to...