Night Call Ms. Keen Character Analysis

During the Cold War, Americans were faced with fear of the unknown. Americans were unsure of what the Soviet Union may do and whether or not it would result in nuclear war. Oftentimes life imitates art. This can be done in a painstakingly obvious manner or in a subtle manner. For example, the Twilight Zone episode “Night Call” mirrors the feelings of uncertainty and fear in Americans at the time of the Cold War.
The main character in the episode, Ms. Keen is wheelchair ridden. She lives alone and besides her caretaker, spends most of her days alone as well. When she begins to receive multiple phone calls throughout the middle of the night, she becomes extremely fearful. A Cold War viewer may relate to these feelings of fear if they had a loved …show more content…
This is the emotion the viewers could relate to the most. The fear leaves Ms. Keen continuously upset and anxiety ridden. She has become fearful of the phone calls, so much so that she covers the phone in the middle of the night. She also leaves the receiver off the hook, in an attempt to ignore what is happening. During the Cold War, many Americans were left upset and anxiety ridden much like Ms. Keen. They wanted the fear to stop and tried to ignore what was happening by going about their daily lives. However, they were still plagued by fear no matter what they did to mask it. Ms. Keen leaving the receiver off the hook is also her way of not giving into the demands of the caller, much like America would not give in to the Soviet Union. Ms. Keen tries to no avail to prove her case to the operator, that she is being harassed by calls from a man in the middle of the night. However, the operator does not take her seriously. Her fear, however, did not cause her to give up her …show more content…
Keen does find out the location where the calls were coming from. However, she is still not taken seriously because according to the operator these calls were impossible. Upon discovering that the calls were coming from a cemetery Ms. Keen makes the trip to see for herself. This part of the episode could evoke real life fear of outcomes in viewers. For example, she has not been taken seriously since the beginning of the calls. Much like America may not be taken seriously during the war. The cemetery may then reflect the outcome if the war went from “cold” to hot”. Many lives would be lost, and people could only talk to their loved ones through cemetery