At its root, “The Night the Ghost Got In” is centered around the unknown and how the characters respond when dealing with something they are incapable of explaining. Because the characters never see the source of the noise, their minds fill in the blanks, rendering them unable to determine what is really going on. For the members of the Thurber family, this causes the characters to feed off each other’s anxieties and escalate the situation. The fictionalized young Thurber is the first to discover the sound, listening at the stairs but not fully investigating before deciding to awaken his easily frightened brother Herman, which only causes more anxiety for Thurber’s brother. When their mother is woken up by the noise, neither Thurber nor his brother answer her when she asks what’s going on, causing her to assume that the source of the noise must be burglars. Thurber notes that he “hadn’t dared to tell her that it was burglars and not ghosts,” (35) knowing that her already heightened reaction would only get worse.

In direct contrast with the Thurbers’ tendency to escalate situations and jump to conclusions in the face of the unknown, the police represent a

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now