One way Barthelme creates an attitude of darkness regarding the inevitability of death is through the narrator and the dark humor he creates. Throughout the story, as the levels of death escalate, the narrator remains calm, if not uninterested. He often uses understatements such as, “it was just a run of bad luck” (par 8) or “it’s been a strange year” (par 9). These examples demonstrate the tone the narrator uses regarding many of the deaths. His ‘matter-of-fact’ attitude forces a sense of dark humor on the reader. Barthelme also supplies this tone to give the reader the idea that death in inevitable and common. By creating dark humor through the tone of his narrator, Barthelme portrays the dark attitude of an inescapable death. In addition
