The Night the Bed Fell

"The Night the Bed Fell" is a short story written by American author James Thurber. The story is a brief account of an event that took place at his house in Columbus, Ohio. It appears as chapter one of [My Life and Hard Times].

Structure

The story is a memoir written in the first person. It has a subjective angle, and is ordered chronologicaly. There are seven main characters, including James (the narrator) and several other family members such as his mother, father, two brothers, cousin, uncle, three aunts, and his grandfather.

The plot for "The Night The Bed Fell" starts with James Thurber's explaining his eclectic family, including a crazy cousin "Beall",that thinks he will die of suffocation in his sleep, an aunt who throws shoes down the house's hallway each night in a vain attempt to scare away burglars, and a grandfather that leaves the house for several days at a time, returning later and stating the Civil War as ongoing, and that the "Army of the Potomac" doesn't have a chance in hell.

The narrate relates an incident of his youth when a bed fell on his father.  The father occasionally slept in the attic where he would think and eventually sleep on an old wooden bed.  The house is filled with an electric range of family members including a nervous cousin who is afraid of falling asleep and stopping breathing.  He shares a room with the narrator who promises the cousin that he will keep an ear open for breathing.  One of his aunts fears the day when someone will chloroform her bedroom to get her belongs.  By midnight of the particular night, everyone was in bed.  At two in the morning, the narrator's own bed (an army cot) tipped over, unhurt, he sleeps on. The noise awoke his mother who thought that the wobbly headboard on the bed in the attic had fallen on the father. His cousin awoke during the shouting from the mother believing that he was not breathing and he poured a glass of camphor of spirits over his head and begins to choke.  It's at this point, the narrator awoke believing people were trying to awake him to get him out of perilous situation.  The mother rushed to open the attic door but it was stuck.  The battering on the attic door awoke the father who thought the house was on fire.  He yells that he's coming but they believe he is dying, and giving up his spirit to God.  The narrator and the brother finally emerge from the room and the dog alarmed by all the noise leaps at the cousin believing him an intruder.  Finally, the father opens the attic door to demands to know, "What's happening". At which point they piece together the events of the night. When the incident finally gets sorted out, the next morning; the mother, quite optimistic by nature, states thankful, "I'm glad your grandfather was not at home".

Sequel

This story had a sequel, More Alarms at Night.