Dec 20, 2009

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...