Theme. Like “The Strange-Looking Man,” this story is pre-eminently one of idea. Written before the United States declared war against Germany, it none the less is of the Allied spirit. At the same time, it hints that Germany has an ideal. (See page 151: “a vision which it alone had understood.”) Would the same author probably hold in 1919 his original concept? Does his dénouement negate the ideal?
How is the “fear or desire” (page 145) bound up with the dénouement?
Setting. What is the place of the dream? The time of the dream? What outer occurrences emphasize it? (See, notably, page 152, where the place of emphasis is given to the “bold boom of the batteries.”) Give an external and an internal proof of the fact that “Christmas Eve, 1916” is the time in the dream.
How much of the prophecy (pages 147, 148) has been fulfilled?
The Narrator. In what branch of the service is the narrator? Value of his point of view? Why does he use the dream device? By what difficulties is the dream method usually attended? How successful has Mr. Jordan been in avoiding them?
The Action. What is the chief incident of the inner action? How does it emphasize the theme? What relation has the outer action to that of the dreamed action? Compare the technical device with that of “Mr. Eberdeen’s House.” Wherein lies the power of the dénouement? Why does the narrator say, “I thanked God for the Germans”?
THE CALLER IN THE NIGHT
The Starting Point. Mr. Kline is not sure of his beginnings; perhaps it came to him out of the ether “or whatever it is that niggardly generates ideas.” “If it had any starting point, perhaps it was in a talk I remember once having with Braithwaite. I kicked because the embattled farmers and others of New England never seemed to fire a shot but some ready recorder was instantly on hand to jot it down in a paean of praise; while Pennsylvania, with pretty good history of its own, too, and full of legend and lore, had gone totally unreported by comparison. Maybe I started out to hunt up its legends.”
After this pleasant admission, Mr. Kline confesses that “The Caller in the Night” is no rendering of an actual legend. “So far as I know there never was a Screamer Moll, and no skeletons. The thunderstorm probably happened. The rest is all made up.”
The statements are invaluable to one who sets out to judge a piece of work with due regard to the author’s purpose. His motive, in brief, is comparable to that of Washington Irving. Father Knickerbocker is the “created legendary” figure in which New York will take pride forever.