The Night Face USort Story Summary

"The Night Face Up" is a short story embedded with complexities, written by Julio Cortazar. This story portrays a mysterious journey which takes place in both the present reality of the protagonist and also in his unconscious thoughts. The unexpected trip starts when the protagonist goes through a minor motorcycle accident and is immediately taken to a hospital for medical attention. He starts dreaming of a situation that is completely different from his reality in which he sees himself being slaughtered by savages. In this short story, Cortazar uses different settings as a means or revealing the central theme of the story. The central conflict of the text exists between the concept of differentiating between illusion and reality. The two different

settings in the story tell us a lot about the importance of being able to discern between reality and illusions brought forward by the mind.
Cortazar uses the technique of contrasting imagery to create a unique sense in his story, which ultimately helps to communicate the central conflict taking place in the story.

"The Night Face Up" has two different settings. The first setting is a modern and civilized world. Cortazar illustrates the image of this environment when he writes about streets made for vehicles, traffic lights, buildings, stores, and other modern inventions. By providing such details it is understood that the setting of the story is a very recent world and that this environment is the reality of the protagonist. Everything seems in place and in order. Cortazar further describes the wellness of the civilization when the protagonist of the story goes through the accident. He writes, "The guard shook his hand and wished him luck...meanwhile, they were pushing him on a wheeled stretcher towards a pavilion further back, rolling along under trees full of birds". It portrays the idea, that the people, including the guard, are very courteous are caring. They are there to help people in need, as they helped the protagonist get to the hospital for medical attention. Through this technique of contrasting images of the setting of the story, Cortazar successfully creates a generic idea among the minds of the readers, of a pleasant and much more desirable modern

world.
The main idea of the story relies evenly on the other setting of the story, which depicts a savage, violent and uncivilized world. During the dream sequence, the protagonist goes through a very dreadful situation where he finds himself as a member of the Motecas tribe which is being hunted and slaughtered by the Aztec tribe. Cortazar writes, "He realized that he was running in total darkness...his feet sank into a mattress of leaves and mud...instinctively fingering the stone dagger that was stuck in his belt… he felt at the same time that his knees were slowly sinking in the mud”. The protagonist attempts to run from the 'hunters', to save himself from being slaughtered. He is in a rough location, where he is tripping and falling, and making his way through the marshes to save himself from being caught. By showing this contrast between the two settings of the story, Cortazar illustrates the idea that the modern world is very civilized and a safe place to live in, where as the 'dream' world of savages is very unsafe and violent towards humanity and has no qualities of being a civilized nation.
In analyzing the central argument between both a modern and savage world in Cortazar's "The Night Face Up", it is concluded that the modern world depicts the protagonist’s desire to relieve himself from the struggles of his reality. While in medical care he constantly attempts to maintain consciousness, yet despite his efforts, he inevitably falls back into his nightmarish reality. The time the protagonist spends indulging in the more pleasant illusions of the modern world could have been spent escaping the Aztecs. The protagonist’s ability to focus on his reality leads to his capture and eventual death.