Guilt and Innocence in The Last Night of the World

In Ray Bradburys The Last Night of the World, a husband and wife realize that they and all the adults they know have been having identical dreams: that tonight will be the last night of the world. They find themselves surprisingly calm as they discuss why the world is ending, how they feel about it, and what they should do with their remaining time. The story was originally published in Esquire magazine in 1951 and is available for free on Esquires website. Acceptance The story takes place in the early years of the Cold War and in the first months of the Korean War, in a climate of fear over ominous new threats like the hydrogen or atom bomb and germ warfare. So our characters are surprised to find that their end wont be as dramatic or violent as they have always expected. Rather, it will be more like the closing of a book, and things [will] stop here on Earth. Once the characters stop thinking about how the Earth will end, a sense of calm acceptance overtakes them. Though the husband concedes that the end sometimes frightens him, he also notes that sometimes he is more peaceful than frightened. His wife, too, notes that [y]ou dont get too excited when things are logical. Other people seem to be reacting the same way. For instance, the husband reports that when he informed his co-worker, Stan, that they had had the same dream, Stan didnt seem surprised. He relaxed, in fact. The calmness seems to come, in part, from a conviction that the outcome is inevitable. There is no use struggling against something that cant be changed. But it also comes from an awareness that no one will be exempted. Theyve all had the dream, they all know its true, and theyre all in this together. Like Always The story touches briefly on some of humanitys bellicose propensities, like the bombs and germ warfare mentioned above and the bombers on their course both ways across the ocean tonight thatll never see land again. The characters consider these weapons in an effort to answer the question, Do we deserve this? The husband reasons, We havent been too bad, have we? But the wife responds: No, nor enormously good. I suppose thats the trouble. We havent been very much of anything except us, while a big part of the world was busy being lots of quite awful things. Her comments seem particularly trenchant given that the story was written less than six years after the end of World War II. At a time when people were still reeling from the war and wondering if there was more they could have done, her words could be construed, in part, as a comment on concentration camps and other atrocities of the war. But the story makes clear that the end of the world isnt about guilt or innocence, deserving or not deserving. As the husband explains, things just didnt work out. Even when the wife says, Nothing else but this could have happened from the way weve lived, theres no feeling of regret or guilt. Theres no sense that people could have behaved any way other than the way they have. And in fact, the wifes turning off the faucet at the end of the story shows exactly how hard it is to change behavior. If youre someone looking for absolution -- which it seems reasonable to imagine our characters are -- the idea that things just didnt work out might be comforting. But if youre someone who believes in free will and personal responsibility, you might be troubled by the message here. The husband and wife take comfort in the fact that they and everyone else will spend their last evening more or less like any other evening. In other words, like always. The wife even says thats something to be proud of, and the husband concludes that behaving like always shows [w]ere not all bad. The things the husband will miss are his family and everyday pleasures like a glass of cool water. That is, his immediate world is whats important to him, and in his immediate world, he hasnt been too bad. To behave like always is to continue to take pleasure in that immediate world, and like everyone else, thats how they choose to spend their final night. There is some beauty in that, but ironically, behaving like always is also exactly what has kept humanity from being enormously good.