Three years earlier he had driven Frances’ car into a highway abutment and almost died, then almost died again, in detox, from a grand mal seizure. Now he wanted to preach sermons at her. She was supposed to be grateful. She said she’d give him ten minutes. (637)
“The Night in Question” is about the narrator’s brother, Frank, telling the narrator, Frances, about the sermon he had heard earlier in the day. While Frank was excited about the sermon, Frances was not, which is quite noticeable in how she tries to leave Frank’s apartment multiple times throughout the story. The sermon Frank is retelling to his sister is about a father taking his son to work at the railroad tracks. In the sermon, Mike Bolling stops paying attention to his son for just a few minutes in which the son disappears. When Mike realizes his son’s life is in danger as well as all of the passengers aboard the on-coming train. Mike Bolling has to make a decision: save his son or the passengers. One life or over one hundred lives? Evidently, the railroad man, Mike, choses to save the lives on the train. I believe this story shows how a near death experience combined with religion changes how a person chooses to live. The narrator explains the accident Frank had caused and been involved in three years prior. He had died and come back to life via extreme measure twice. From there, Frank turns to religion and remakes his life, but his sister Frances has a hard time believing this change in his beliefs.