Our Share of Night Literary Elements

Horror Fiction

Set in Argentina from 1981 to 1997

It is told from a third-person, limited point of view.

The tone is dark, haunting, and intense. The mood is foreboding and dreadful.

Protagonist: Juan Peterson. Antagonist: Mercedes (the matriarch of the cult)

The main conflict is the struggle of Juan Peterson to protect his son, Gaspar, from the dangerous cult he has become involved with. Juan is desperate to keep Gaspar safe from the cult, which has become increasingly violent and ruthless. He also wants to protect him from the sinister deity that the cult worships. Juan must battle against his inner demons as well as the cult all while trying to keep Gaspar safe.

The climax of the novel occurs when Gaspar finally confronts his father and learns the truth about his mother, her involvement with the Order, and the ultimate purpose of their trip.

When Juan and Gaspar are traveling on their trip, the reader gets a sense of dread as they drive through an eerily deserted landscape. This foreshadows the dangers they will have to face later on in their journey.

When Juan tells Gaspar, "Again. As if you were talking from here, as if you had a mouth inside," the understatement serves to convey the magnitude of the task while making it sound almost mundane.

The narrative alludes to Argentine history by examining the implications of the country’s political turmoil and the ways it has affected the younger generation. The novel is set after the military dictatorship in the 1960s hence the consequences of the regime through the eyes of the characters, especially Gaspar and his father.

The imagery in the narrative is both ethereal and chilling. The narrator is disturbed by the instability of the woman they are interviewing and the “irrational dread of the jungle and all that beautiful and hostile landscape” they find themselves in. This hostile beauty is further emphasized by the mention of the “voracious monster” related to the daughter’s disappearance.

The paradox in this story is the juxtaposition between Juan's desire to protect his son and the cruelty he has to resort to doing so. Juan's actions, while driven by a desire to protect Gaspar, ultimately push him away and cause him great harm.

The novel is structured in a way that allows the reader to explore both the past and present of the characters. The story moves back and forth in time alternating between Gaspar's childhood in the 80s and Juan's memories from his adolescence. Through this structure, the novel creates a sense of parallelism between Gaspar and Juan's experiences while also underlining the consequences of their decisions.

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“The city was screaming, its air full of pleading and prayers and peals of laughter and howls and sirens and vibrating electricity and splashing." In this example, the city is being personified as if it is screaming and has air full of emotions such as pleading, prayers, laughter, howls, and sirens. This creates an image of a city alive with emotion and energy.