Night Drive Essay

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Night Drive Rob Grimes The initial conflict within the story is when Madge needs to drive to a nearby town named Colchester to pick up her husband. She was initially going to make the drive alone, but a neighbor named Mr. Tabor asks if Madge can drive his niece there as well. Mr. Tabor’s wife was killed while driving along the same road some time previously. The additional complication is when Madge discovers that her passenger, the niece, is not who she thinks it is. When the niece lights a cigarette for Madge she looks at the niece’s hands and discovers “The knuckles were like a man’s. There were short, black hairs on the back of the hand. Like a man’s. Eunice was a man.” This discovery continues to elevation of the suspense within the story. The niece/man was continually talking about the death of Mrs. Tabor. Initially distressing to Madge, after the discovery of the niece’s gender, Madge immediately suspects that the individual is actually the killer of not only Mrs. Tabor but of another women a few months later. The individual knows much about both incidents. What ratchets the tension to an exponential degree is when the individual begins to comment about werewolves. The individual states “Some people turn into something … They aren’t insane. I think they’re cursed. Once in a year, or once in six months, they feel something stirring inside them. Their eyes change.” This leads to the climax of the story when the identity of the passenger is revealed. Madge discovers Bob, the mechanic from the gas station where she filled the car up earlier in the day, stranded with his motorcycle on the side of the road. The passenger explains to her “Mrs. Haley …. I’m not a woman. I’m John Tabor.” Mr. Tabor had spent the last few months searching for his wife’s killer. He had previously stated that something was wrong with the killer’s eyes and
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