The Night the Bed Fell Summary
James Thurber

The Night the Bed Fell Summary

Over the years Thurber's fiction paralleled to some degree the events in his life. Most of his contributions to the New Yorker were published in the 1930s, and most of the earlier pieces were more light-hearted and innocent than those that were written during his marital difficulties with Althea (whom he divorced in June 1935 to marry Helen Wismer a month later), during social upheavals such as World War II and the McCarthy Era (which he spoke out against on many occasions), and particularly during the bleak periods of physical illness and, in spite of numerous operations, advancing blindness which led to an emotional breakdown as well. The fiction that was produced during Thurber's black periods is terrifying, bitter, cold, and harsh. Closely aligned with the side of Thurber that delighted in cruel practical jokes and the misery of others, many pieces like "The Cane...

(read more from the Short Guide)