Everyone at some point during their life ponders what they would do if they were going to die tomorrow. Most people would agree that the majority answer has something to do with something risky; something that they would not normally do under ordinary circumstances. The Last Night of the World, by Ray Bradbury, is a short story about a couple who finds out that the world will be ending tomorrow. However, the couple goes through the day exactly like they go through every day, in every manner. Bradbury never explains how the world is coming to an end, but that is insignificant. The important, and thought provoking, part is that the couple could do anything they wanted for the rest of the day, but they choose to do the same thing that they do every other day. Through Bradbury’s use of bland, ordinary dialect, he shows that despite it being the last day of the world, people would still carry on their ordinary daily routine. This is significant because Bradbury is suggesting that people live in their own confined, comfortable bubble, and even a catastrophic event like the end of the world would not bring them to branch out and try new things. 

After telling his wife that the world will be ending tomorrow, the man says, “Well, what shall it be? Wash the dishes?” (Bradbury 3). Here, the man and wife have just come to the realization of what is happening tomorrow and now they are deciding what to do with the rest of their time. They could have robbed a bank, or done drugs, or many things that would come to people’s mind when they think of the end of the world. However, they don’t do anything exhilarating. They just go back to their ordinary life and clean the dishes. Bradbury goes on to say that “they washed the dishes and stacked them away with special neatness” (3). The phrase “special neatness” really has a lot of power in this passage because, not only did they decide to spend their last day washing dishes, they did it extra carefully. It’s like the couple is so scared of branching out, that they go to something safe and familiar, and get even more lost in it.  The way that Bradbury writes this passage has a creepy theme to it. It makes the reader uncomfortable to think that if they were in the same situation, they would do everything so differently. Almost no one would say that if the world were ending, they would stay home and wash the dishes. However, Bradbury is arguing that maybe real people aren’t so different from the couple he is writing about in the short story. 

The use of common dialect in this short story also gives some courage to the characters and how they act. At the very end of the story when they are about to go to sleep, Bradbury writes, “they stopped laughing at last and lay in their cool night bed, their hands clasped, their heads together” (Bradbury 4). This passage is so calm which is unusual given the circumstances. It’s hard to imagine that if the world were actually ending, and this was the last night that the couple would be seeing each other, that they would be so nonchalant about it. It is significant that Bradbury makes the characters laugh because it implies that the couple is ok with the world ending and they are ok with how they are spending their last day. This gives courage to the characters, and therefore to everyone, that people live the lives they enjoy and are proud to live the way they do. This is exemplified when the couple is saying goodnight to each other. They don’t make a huge deal about it and have long speeches to each other. All they do is say “goodnight.” This ordinary dialect may seem odd for it being the last thing they would every say to each other. However, Bradbury is trying to say that this ordinary lifestyle is exactly what the people enjoy; that given the choice of what to do and how to spend their last night on earth, they wouldn’t change a thing. This shows bravery from the characters because they have lived lives that they are content with. 

Bradbury is using this story as a metaphor for people’s lives. Maybe not in a literal sense, that if the world were ending, people would continue to wash their dishes and talk completely normally. However, everyone is going to die someday, and that is no secret. People spend their whole lives going through their routine, and rarely stop to branch out. They feel so comfortable doing what they always do that they feel no need to change anything. However, this may not always be a bad thing. Sure, there are times when never taking a risk and doing things out of one’s comfort zone can make life not as exciting, but that’s not always the case. Bradbury’s story The Last Night of the World is trying to explain that people live their lives in a way that makes them happy and even if the world were ending, they would still be content with what they have. 