Boo! Fear plays several roles in "That Evening Sun." First, it gives us some good ol' fashioned suspense and fright as we read, making the story more suspenseful than a Hitchcock movie.
Second, fear shows us how Nancy—the black woman who can't find help from the white family she works for—feels totally out of control of her life. She believes she's fated to die, an expression of her sense of powerlessness. This is the early twentieth century in the South, a place and time when black individuals lacked power relative to whites, and this story makes us feel the fear people have when they are greatly barred from leading their lives as they wish.
Questions About Fear
- What do Nancy's and the mother's fears of Jesus have in common? What do their respective fears not have in common?
- What might Nancy's fear of Jesus say about race relations in Jefferson, or, more generally, in the South at the beginning of the 20th century, when this story is set?
- How does Jesus inspire fear? After all, he only appears onstage in the story once. List ways in which the character causes fear in others, including but not necessarily limited to Nancy.
Chew on This
Nancy's fear of Jesus is rational, or mostly rational—she has plenty of good reasons to be afraid.
Nancy's fear of Jesus is irrational, or mostly irrational—she doesn't have much reason to be afraid.