When someone feels alone in the world, they turn inwards on the world and don’t put themselves out there. They feel as if it’s better to be alone than to be with others who don’t show any interest in them. The professor in Susan Glaspell’s short story, At Twilight, is a man who spent his entire life teaching at the same school. He never married nor had any children. When he began to reflect on his life after a long day, he felt he had done nothing but wasted it. But the professor learned from his favorite student, Gretta, that he had impacted her life greatly, and that she considered him a friend. This realization allowed the professor to see how his relationship with Gretta was just as important as a wife or a child. Glaspell created a story
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Glaspell is able to create a more optimistic and reflective tone in the short story when the professor is confronted by Gretta about his impact on her and she tells him, “It’s that all those who from the very first have given anything to the world are living in the world today.”(10 Glaspell). This was lesson he was able to teach Gretta, who had felt that his impact on her was enough to let him still be alive in the world even after his physical death. The professor’s impact on her should be enough for him to feel satisfied, and he was. This particular line creates an optimistic tone for the short story showing how the professor's life was enough because of the impact he had on Gretta’s life. Also tying back into the theme and how the relationship between the two showed how important it is to have someone in one's life who believes they’re important no matter how big or small or impact they have on the world. The realization the professor had when he no longer saw his life as a waste was an important moment in the short story when suddenly, “ he felt that his life had not been spent on vain, that the lives of the those men of his day who fought the good fight... had not been spent in vain.”(9 Glaspell). This realization from the professor is important for his character who had never done anything outside of teaching. He admitted
Glaspell is able to create a more optimistic and reflective tone in the short story when the professor is confronted by Gretta about his impact on her and she tells him, “It’s that all those who from the very first have given anything to the world are living in the world today.”(10 Glaspell). This was lesson he was able to teach Gretta, who had felt that his impact on her was enough to let him still be alive in the world even after his physical death. The professor’s impact on her should be enough for him to feel satisfied, and he was. This particular line creates an optimistic tone for the short story showing how the professor's life was enough because of the impact he had on Gretta’s life. Also tying back into the theme and how the relationship between the two showed how important it is to have someone in one's life who believes they’re important no matter how big or small or impact they have on the world. The realization the professor had when he no longer saw his life as a waste was an important moment in the short story when suddenly, “ he felt that his life had not been spent on vain, that the lives of the those men of his day who fought the good fight... had not been spent in vain.”(9 Glaspell). This realization from the professor is important for his character who had never done anything outside of teaching. He admitted