Sep 5, 2008

Nightfall | Themes

Darkness and Light
The whole story is built around the concepts of darkness and light. On a planet with perpetual sunlight, darkness is inconceivable. The story presents an interesting theory about the effects of darkness on a people who have never experienced it. Asimov’s editor believed that such people would go mad in darkness, even though the stars would become visible. So, Asimov wrote a story based on that supposition.

Deprivation and Need
Being deprived of light is the worst fear of the people of Lagash. After 2,000 years of light, they are genetically in need of...