That Night (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Alice Mcdermott
- First Published: 1987
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1960’s to the 1980’s
- Setting: Long Island, New York
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1960’s, 1970’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Teenagers, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Gender roles, New York City, 1980’s, Pregnancy, Suburban life
- Locales: Long Island, NY
Characters Discussed
The narrator, never named, who was ten years old at the time of “that night,” when the most important episode of the novel occurs. For the narrator, the central love story of a real teenage romance dominates her Barbie doll dreams. As the narrator comes to maturity, she is able to see that the events of “that night,” when Rick and his friends were attacked by the men of the neighborhood in defense of Mrs. Sayles, were central not only to her childish dreams but also to the aspirations of all the suburbanites who sought happiness with mates and...
[The entire page is 667 words long]
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