The end of the world is something everyone has thought about one time in their life but in Ray Bradbury’s “The Last Night of the World” he puts the end in a way some have not looked at before. As a reader, I was able to see a light side to the end instead of the usual dark, violent and crazy stories that are always told. I believe this is the way the end should be and would like to take some time to talk about how I would want this situation to go. I will compare how it would go for the author to how it would realistically be in this day and age. I hope you enjoy the read and I encourage everyone to check out Ray’s short story.
In this situation I would follow the same ideas that the main characters followed in this short story. The very first thing I would do is call my family and friends and let them know how much they mean to me. I would then try to get through all the madness that would probably be going on to spend some time with the friends and family I mentioned. One thing I would make sure I accomplish would be something off my bucket list for example I have always wanted to sky dive and would more then likely chose this to be what I do. I would then end the day by lying down and getting to sleep before the end of the world comes.
As I mentioned I would probably go with what the characters in this story ended up doing, so let me tell you more about what they did. One of the first things the characters do in this story is talk about what they believed what was happening that night, which was the end of the world. They then discussed why this was happening and what they should do about this. After talking some they decide to live the day out like any other, they clean, cook and spend sometime with their daughters. We then begin to hear discussions about how they expected people to be running and screaming or maybe even the media taking advantage of what was happening and make it into big deal, but we notice that there is no reason because it would be a waste of everyone’s time. After talking about everyone else it is already a little late in the day and it is bed time for the children, after tucking them in the couple spends some romantic time next to the fireplace and finally decide it is time for bed, the last thing they do it say goodnight and the story ends.
As you can see the characters and even the ones not talked about all spent their last hours with no rioting and no media coverage on this tragic event. In my eyes that is how I would love for the end to be… calm. Sadly though this would never be the case in this day and age, we would have riots happening and media having a field day with this sot of information. Sadly there would be a lot of people who would end their lives before hand so they would not have to face the pain of the end of the world, in an article published by DailyMail in the UK, there were a lot of emails during the 2012 end of the world theory concerning if they should just end their lives along with their families lives. It got sad for the workers who had to reply because even a woman asked if it seemed right to end her two-year-old daughter’s life then her own while she was pregnant. With all this I can still see their would be families trying so hard to stay calm and enjoy the time that they have left, but with all this going on it would be difficult for anyone to stay calm. I feel that there is so much more to the end then being afraid and trying to destroy the world.
In my eyes everyone will need to stay calm and listen to people like me to make sure that they spend there last hours the way that would make them not regret anything. Everyone has to first check out the article “50 things you should do before the end of the world”, the article is making fun of the idea of the end of the world but in a weird way they have a great point on some of the things everyone should do. I know that you are thinking to yourselves… well I could go steal some stuff and there would be no consequences, well guess what you are not helping everyone else who is trying to stay calm during this terrible time, so stop! Also the media, I know that you want to start a new hash tag about the end of the world, but maybe you should take the time to tell everyone what they can do to stay calm and then go home to your families before the end comes. At the end of it all everyone needs to stay calm and spend all your last hours appreciating everything and everyone because this is the last time anyone will ever see you again and I doubt you want to be remembered for doing something stupid. So just listen to me and stay calm and we can make sure as a human race that the end of the world will be an easy time to go through.
References
Shannon, J. (2012, December 20). 50 things to do before the end of the world.
Retrieved February 23, 2015, from http://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/50-things-to-do-before-the-end-of-the-world
Leonard, T. (2012, January 10). Ready for Doomsday: Buying asteroid-proof bunkers,
killing their pets and planning mass suicide, the families convinced this ancient calendar predicts the world will end in 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2015, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084476/Doomsday-2012-Meet-families-convinced-Mayan-calendar-predicts-end-world.html
The Amazing Lippe 