Nightfall (Themes)

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 genetically in need of light. Darkness is an unthinkably terrifying concept. Thus, the conflict in the story is the problem of how to respond to a crisis when one of the most basic needs of existence disappears. Cleverly, Asimov provides a psychologist as one of the main characters in the story in order to discuss and analyze the situation.

Vulnerability

Knowing that they are dependent on light, the scientists understand that the impending darkness makes them vulnerable to insanity. Each person in the story is trying to come to grips with this vulnerability because survival depends on being able to overcome it. Asimov provides some telling lines in the story about falling victim to this vulnerability; for example:

Gamma, the brightest of the planet's six suns, was setting. It had already faded and yellowed into the horizon mists, and Aton knew he would never see it again as a sane man; He [Theremon] was going mad and knew it, and somewhere deep inside a bit of sanity was screaming, struggling to fight off the hopeless flood of black terror. It was very horrible to go mad — to know that in a little minute you would be here physically and yet all the real essence would be dead and drowned in the black madness.

Initiative

Aton and his team of astronomers take the initiative to save those in the future rather than just succumb or concentrate on personal survival. Aton also takes the initiative to ask the Cultists for their data that might help his research. The scientists also show initiative by inventing the torches to provide light once the darkness came, thus possibly helping to prevent the terrible consequences of total darkness. Initiative is an important theme to Asimov who believed strongly that humans create their own problems and are therefore the only ones who can solve them.

Madness and Sanity

Obviously, the preservation of sanity and the avoidance of the products of madness is the main concern of the characters in "Nightfall." The presence of a psychologist in the story allows Asimov to discuss how the mind works and why the darkness could cause insanity. Sheerin says: "Your brain is going to be presented with the phenomenon outside its limits of comprehension. You will go mad, completely and permanently! There is no question of it!"