The Day the World Almost Came to an End Short Story Analysis Essay

In this essay I will be talking about the story ‘The Day the World Almost Came to an End’. While talking about the story I will give a brief summary, the relationship between the girl and her father and I will also try to explain the story as best as I can.

This story is told by a woman looking back at herself as a child remembering when she thought the world was ending. The introduction of the story goes on to talk about how big of a part religion played back then and it’s significance to the people living there. She went on to talk about her days as a child growing up on a plantation in Louisiana in 1936. The actual story starts off with her and her cousin Rena playing in the field when Ms Daya passes by talking about end times connected to the eclipse being the end of the world, hearing this sparked her imagination about what the pastor said and also scared her for a good while. This led her to talk to her father about what Rena told her which scared her even more. Later that night while she was still thinking about it an old airplane happened to be passing by, causing loud noises which to her seemed like the sky was falling. So thinking the world was ending she ran outside screaming “the world is about to end”, while doing that she was caught by her father returning home.  He calmed her down and explained what happened, this experience gave her a new perspective on life

The girl's father played the most important role in this story because of how much she believes what he says. This is first shown when she talked to him about what Reena overheard about the end of the world. This led him to have a conversation with her about the issue troubling her. The conversation covered many points about it but the main thing that she carried away was that it could be true, making her believe it even more.The second part that significantly happened was at the end when she was caught by the father after running out the hut in her nightgown screaming. The part that was significant was when he simply explained it and she believed every word. This shows the trust between the father and daughter and the type of relationship they share. Their relationship shows trust and respect.

The story was told in first person and heavily focuses on the themes religion,family and fear. Religion and fear play hand and hand into how the story plays out. The story shows how big of a part religion played in their lives and how much fear and respect they have for christianity. The way they are connected is simply how the people's fear of what christianity dreams as the end times makes them obey it and hold it in high reverence. This effect would intensify for children since their imagination would get the better of them as shown in the story by the little girl.