Darrell Schweitzer's Howling In The Dark

Helen Keller (the first deaf/blind person to ever receive a bachelor's degree in art) once said, “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” Darrell Schweitzer’s “Howling in the Dark” takes place in the state of Pennsylvania during winter. Joseph, a young boy, loves the darkness and the way it surrounds him. He meets the Stoneman who shows Joseph how to become the darkness or nothing. One lesson that the story suggests is that no matter how hard you work for something, you may never achieve it, and may be punished for it. In the beginning of the story, Joseph comes home to find his father holding a heavy caliber pistol amid the trashed ruins of his living room. His mother and sister were laying on the floor, dead, in front of his father, now a murderer, surrounded by the walls that were now splattered with their blood.
“...I discovered him sitting amid the ruins of our trashed living room, staring at the heavy-caliber pistol on the floor and at the brains and blood splattered all over the furniture and walls. My sister was sprawled head-first down in front of the stairs. My mother lay right in front of Dad, …show more content…
Darrell uses irony here as seen to support the theme, it is ironic since an insane asylum is the last place Joseph would want to go because insane asylums are made to rehabilitate their patients which is the exact opposite of what Joseph wants. This is also a major setback since he has just lost a major part of the progress he has made. He later leaves the institution because of his future bride Marguerite taught him how to be human again (human feelings is what I mean by humanity). “...I gained at first, marginal jobs...and learned to impersonate a human being...I managed to marry Marguerite. And father a child we named Anastasia, whose name means “resurrection”, as in the resurrection of hope.”(Schweitzer