Analyse af 'A Good Night’s Sleep'

This short story was adapted from British writer Brian McCabe’s "A Good Night’s Sleep" (1993). The story deals with the distorted sight of the modern life in the big city. Often, the big city is known as the city of dreams. However, underneath the surface of the flashing lights and big moneymakers are the unemployed, the addicts and the homeless. Although the short story was written in 1993, it is still alarmingly exact and relevant for our society today.

The main character is George Lockhart. He is an insomniac and has a hard time sleeping at night. In the middle of the night, Lockhart becomes acquainted with a young homeless girl sleeping on the staircase outside his door. “The young girl sitting on his doormat looked up sharply as she spat out this affronted "Yes?" as if he'd just barged into her bedroom.” (ll. 51-53) The girl is annoyed by the fact that Lockhart opens the door and interrupts her sleep. This shows that the girl has no home and considers the staircase she sleeps in for the night to be her home – therefore she reacts the same way as others would when someone enters your ’home’ without permission. Lockhart is astonished that such a young girl like her can be homeless. "They don't let me in anymore, so I sleep in stairs. Tragic, isn't it? If you know what tragedy is." (ll. 86-87) Lockhart wants to be kind towards her and she responds with an arrogant comment when he asks her if she shouldn’t go to a hostel for the homeless. “If you know what tragedy is,” implies that she considers herself to be completely different than Lockhart and that he should not talk about the homeless because he is not able to put himself in their situation. When he offers her a place to stay for the night, he is frustrated when she rejects his offer – he simply cares too much. At some point, he decides to give up on her and go inside. “.. wondered if he'd maybe been too impatient with her. Yet he felt angry too .. how dare she not care about herself! Why should he care about her, if she didn't? Why should anyone?” (ll. 162-165) Lockhart is discussing with himself whether he should be satisfied with his choice of leaving – he can justify his actions because she does not care about herself, so why should any others do so? The name ’Lockhart’ is also essential in this text – it refers to his locked heart because he does not stand up for his true feelings and expresses them. As he decides to go back and look for the girl, he does not find the girl but instead runs into his neighbors that say ”oh, it was just some junkie sleeping in the stair” (l. 177) and ”yeah, I told her where to go” (l. 180). The neighbors are in no way caring of ‘some junkie’ sleeping in the stair. Although Lockhart is opposed to their thoughts he is not able to stand up for himself and is then not much better than the neighbors. ‘A Good Night’s Sleep’ is very fitting as the title. It could have been a question Lockhart asked himself. What is more important – getting a good night’s sleep or helping the poor homeless girl? The question remains if it is possible for him to ‘let go of her’ mentally because she has made such a big impact on him. “then he heard it again, against the door of his flat, soft but insistent.” (ll. 203-204). Perhaps, the reason why the girl returns to the staircase is because she realizes that Lockhart cares for her and does not judge her by appearances. Lockhart’s attitude towards her appears as a paradox. “He was anxious to be unconscious …” (ll. 26-27). The girl represents the unknown; therefore he should distance himself from her. However, he is intrigued by her and the fact that her circumstances are unknown to him.