I Am the Night
I Am Night--Color Me Black [1964]
Rod Serling (1924-1975)
VOCABULARY
addendum: (n) something that has been added to a book, speech or document
affiliation: (n) an official connection to something
ax to grind: (idiom) to have an agenda; to take issue with something; to go looking for a fight or argument
brother's keeper: (n) responsible for what someone else does or for what happens to them
cross burner: (n) a member of the Klu Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization, mainly in the South, who use violence against African-Americans, Jews, Catholics, and other minority groups
curt: (adj) using few words in a way that shows impatience or anger
facet: (n) one side or aspect of something that has many parts
gallows: (n) a wooden structure used, especially in the past, to hang criminals from as a form of execution
Good Book: (n) the Bible
grope: (v) to feel about blindly or uncertainly in search of something
heed: (v) to pay attention to something, especially advice or a warning
impartiality: (n) not partial or biased: treating or affecting all equally
inconsequential: (adj) of little worth or importance
incredulity: (n) a feeling of not being able to believe something or of not wanting to believe it
inexplicable: (adj) unable to be explained or understood
perjury: (n) deliberately lying while giving testimony in a court of law
rancor: (n) a feeling of hate and continuing anger about something in the past
sardonic: (adj) scornful; mocking
theological: (adj) relating to the study of God and religion
thesis: (n) the most important or foundational idea of an argument
to beat the band (idiom): very briskly; very fast
village idiot: (n) someone who lives in a village and is considered stupid or crazy by the other people that live there
white knight: (n) one that comes to the rescue; a savior.
LITERARY ELEMENTS
allegory: a literary work where the setting, characters, or action make sense on a literal level, but also convey a figurative level of meaning, which is usually religious or political in nature
extended metaphor: a metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work
metaphor: a comparison, of two unlike things, that does not use the word "like" or "as." Example:This guy is a beast.
symbol: an object, person, place, or an event that stands for both itself and--through association--for something beyond itself
zeitgeist: the general set of ideas, beliefs, and feelings which is typical of a particular period in history, especially as it is reflected in literature, art, and philosophy
Pre-reading Questions for Discussion
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." --Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader
A) TRUE
B) FALSE
"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." --Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
A) TRUE
B) FALSE
SHERRIFF CHARLIE KOCH
COLBEY
DEPUTY PIERCE
REVEREND ANDERSON
ELLA
JAGGER
NARRATOR
RADIO ANNOUNCER
MAN 1
MAN 2
WOMAN
CROWD
TWILIGHT ZONE THEME
NARRATOR: You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into . . . The Twilight Zone.
ELLA: Charlie?
KOCH: Go back to sleep, Ella. It's early.
ELLA: What time is it?
KOCH: My watch stopped. It's pitch black out. It must be three or four in the morning.
ELLA: Look how black it is out there. It's the middle of the night. Oh, I think you're crazy. Get up now. What's so special about hanging a
little--
KOCH: Go back to sleep, Ella!
ELLA: Well, why don't you? You'll have all the excitement today. You're the one who needs to sleep.
KOCH: Bring us breakfast over at about 8:30.
ELLA: What time they string him up?
[Koch turns and glares at Ella.]
ELLA: Well, you know what I mean. What time does he get hung?
KOCH: He gets executed at 9:30.
[Ella sighs.]
KOCH: And I hope the whole town doesn't turn out. When I see a bunch of cold-blooded gawkers getting their jollies from seeing a man die, I just--
[Ella turns away and ignores Koch.]
KOCH: Just bring up breakfast over at 8:30.
[Koch opens the door to exit.]
ELLA: Oh, Charlie. How does he like his eggs?
KOCH: Edible. They're the last ones he's going to eat, so make them edible.
[Next scene: The town bell tower strikes 7:30. Pierce, standing in the doorway of the sheriff's office, scrutinizes his watch. He puts it to his ear and then beings to wind it with incredulity.]
PIERCE: I don't get it.
KOCH: What don't you get deputy?
PIERCE: Sheriff, it's 7:30 in the morning and it's pitch black outside. I've never seen it any blacker, but it's 7:30 in the morning. Now, what's going on?
[Koch turns to look at his wall clock. He leaves his desk and walks over to the doorway to study the clock on a bell tower.]
KOCH: I don't know, Deputy. It's 7:30 in the morning and it's pitch black outside. To tell you the truth, I don't know why. I don't know why at all.
SUSPENSE
NARRATOR: Sheriff Charlie Koch...on the morning of an execution. As a matter of fact, it's 7:30 in the morning. Logic and natural laws dictate that at this hour there should be daylight. It is a simple rule of physical science that the sun should rise at a certain moment and supersede the darkness. But at this given moment Sheriff Charlie Koch, a deputy named Pierce, a condemned man named Jagger, and a small, inconsequential village will shortly find out that there are causes and effects that have no precedent. Such is usually the case in the Twilight Zone.
[Next scene: Pierce is sprawled in a chair in the sherrif’s office. Koch and Colbey enter the room.]
PIERCE: How about that? You see it outside? You better run an extra in that paper of yours.
COLBEY: I've been answering the phone since 6:00 this morning. One fellow called, said the electricity had gone off--it was tomorrow night. Another godly woman, who professes to read her Good Book with admirable regularity, tells me it's the end of the world and she can quote the chapter and verse to support her thesis. Now, you're well-versed in all things regarding law and order, Sheriff Koch. What's your thesis?
KOCH: It’s a quarter to eight…a quarter to eight in the morning and it doesn't make any sense. Daylight should have come two hours ago.
COLBEY: Well, in between reassuring people that this was not an interplanetary invasion, nor the end of the world, I placed a call to the state capital.
PIERCE: Is it black there?
COLBEY: It appears that across the face of the entire earth we are the only ones groping in darkness. So, it seems the phenomenon is quite localized and we'll just have to seek elsewhere for company to share our misery. You’ve seen Jagger this morning?
PIERCE: I seen him. I brought him in a cup of coffee. I also reminded him about what day it was.
COLBEY: I'll bet you did. How did you occupy yourself as a lad, Deputy? Torturing small animals or just pulling wings off flies?
PIERCE: What do you mean by that, Mr. Colbey?
COLBEY: Nothing. Nothing at all. (to Koch) Can I talk to Jagger?
KOCH: Go right on in.
COLBEY: As a point of interest, Sheriff, is Jagger innocent?
KOCH: Mr. Colbey, that is a matter for a jury, public opinion and God and that, thank the Lord, has nothing to do with me.
COLBEY: So, let us all praise God for the morning's impartiality.
PIERCE: And for justice being served deluxe style.
KOCH: Deputy, why don't you shut your mouth?
PIERCE: I got a right to an opinion.
COLBEY: Indeed, you have, Deputy…Indeed, you have. But there's just a few disturbing facets about this case. One, the murdered man was not a decent man. He was a cross-burning, psychopathic bully who attacked a man in there. And two, Deputy Pierce here saw it happen and then perjured himself.
PIERCE: (enraged) Now, wait a minute!
COLBEY: Perjured is the word, deputy. Now, you said Jagger shot him from across the room--no such thing. The murdered man had powder burns all over him. This might not have proven self-defense but maybe it would have helped him. And you, Sheriff Koch, you saw the body. But I didn't hear any comments on those powder burns when you gave your testimony. And your courageous editor here in covering the trial didn't see fit to include this insignificant addendum, though he also knew at the time he was being very selective about what truths he was writing about, what truths he wasn't. You're right, Deputy. Justice is being served--on a platter with its tongue cut out just like the carcass of any dead animal.
[Colbey enters the jail, accompanied by Koch. Drawing a key from the wall, Koch unlocks a cell that is occupied by a middle-aged man. The man is lying on a bed, his back is facing the cell door. Colbey enters the cell and Koch locks the door. The prisoner pays no heed.]
CELL DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING
KOCH: Let me know when you're ready.
COLBEY: (to Jagger) It's pitch black outside…almost 8:00 in the morning…not a speck of daylight.
JAGGER: This place doesn't have any windows, so it could be Christmas Eve or the Fourth of July, and I would not know the difference.
COLBEY: You got any religious affiliation, Jagger?
JAGGER: None.
COLBEY: Anyone you want to see?
JAGGER: Nobody.
COLBEY: Anything to say?
JAGGER: Nothing.
COLBEY: No priest, no friends, no comment…just what have you got, Jagger?
JAGGER: I got the blues, Mr. Colbey! I got the blues.
[Jagger rises from the bed and grips the cell bars.]
JAGGER: I'm just about an hour away from a hanging and I have been thinking that I would like to rip these bars apart and get out of here. Or, I'd like to save everybody else the trouble and hang myself right here. But, you see, I don't have the strength for one or the guts for the other, so I'm just lying there, and I am just waiting.
COLBEY: Well, in that case, would you care to make a statement about guilt or innocence?
JAGGER: Guilt or innocence, and you want me to make a statement?
COLBEY: I'd appreciate one. I don't think anybody should leave this earth without making a comment--you, me, anybody.
JAGGER: (sarcastically) Well, that's a reasonable request, Mr. Colbey. Considering the fact that you're not leaving this morning--that's reasonable. (gravely) I'm guilty, Mr. Colbey. That take you off the hook?
COLBEY: And that's supposed to mean what?
JAGGER: That's supposed to mean you're on the popular side, Mr. Colbey. (frantic) You see there are good guys and bad guys--that's the nature of man. Well, I'm worse than a bad guy. I'm a town kook; I'm a neurotic. I'm the one with the causes and the banners. I'm the village idiot who tries to be his brother's keeper.
[Colbey sighs. He produces two cigarettes and offers one to Jagger. Jagger accepts it.]
JAGGER: Do you understand, Mr. Colbey? The man I killed was the white knight. He did what his other pals in this town wanted to but didn’t have the guts. He was the cross burner, the bomb thrower. He handled the whipping of some poor, scared colored guy.
[Colbey offers Jagger a light. Jagger groans and tosses his cigarette.]
COLBERY: Jagger, the man you killed was no saint, but we don't dispense death just because somebody offends us. That's the distinction between men and animals.
JAGGER: (sarcastically) Oh--well, that's very well said--that's very well said, Mr. Colbey. You tell that to the man who's going to fix my rope. You tell it to the sheriff and his deputy to the townspeople who are going to stand around and watch my eyes bulge out and enjoy my agony. You tell them. You tell them about the difference between men and animals. But you better be ready to draw pictures because this language they just don't dig!
[Next scene: The townspeople are gathering around the gallows to witness the execution. The bell tower strikes the hour.]
MAN 1: Nine o’clock in the morning.
MAN 2: Why is it so dark?
WOMAN: Is it an eclipse?
MAN 1: Can't be…I’m listening to the radio…ain't no eclipse.
MAN 2: It's weird. It's just plain weird.
RADIO ANNOUNCER: …But scientists meanwhile can offer no explanation for the strange phenomenon of darkness that has suddenly and inexplicably covered the remote little Midwestern village. It is now 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time but last reports indicate the darkness there is total. There is no remote hint of any kind of daylight…
[A patrol car arrives and Koch and Pierce emerge from it.]
CAR PULLS TO STOP
PIERCE: Looks pretty good. That ought to tend to him.
KOCH: But who's going to tend to us? Who or what is going to tend to us?
SUSPENSE
[Next scene: Koch, Pierce, and additional deputies are waiting for the hour of execution. Colbey approaches them.]
COLBEY: Ten more minutes. You, uh, going to go through with this, Sheriff?
PIERCE: Why not? The law says May 25th, at 9:30 in the morning. Well, it's May 25th and it'll be 9:30 in the morning.
COLBEY: Quite apart of the fact, Pierce, that you're not the most sensitive of men, did it ever occur to you there's something odd going on here and perhaps we better dispense with business as usual until we find out exactly what is going on?
PIERCE: (rancorously)You know something? I take an awful lot of dirt from you. And just who are you, anyway? A little-shot editor of a crummy little paper. That's right, a crummy little paper that crawls along on its hands and knees from one edition to the other. You got more creditors than you got readers.
KOCH: That'll do it, Pierce.
PIERCE: No, that won't do it by a long shot! Now, maybe you feel like turning your cheek to this crumb, but there ain't no rule book that says I got to. He says I perjured myself--says I lied. And boy, he wasn't throwing no bouquets at you, neither.
KOCH: Maybe I don't deserve any. (to Colbey) You were right, you know. I saw the victim. He did have powder burns. But when a committee of townspeople came to me and said there'd be no autopsy, I just bent my head and I nodded. We all got little axes to grind, don't we? I want to be reelected Sheriff. You want to keep selling newspapers. Deputy Pierce here, he likes to feel important; he likes to be popular…likes to stay on the good side of people. Here we are, gentlemen, treading water in a sewer.
[Pierce grabs Koch by the shirt.]
PIERCE: (enraged) I don't take it from him and I don't take it from you!
KOCH: (coldly) You better unravel it, Pierce, or I’ll spread you all over this yard.
[Pierce lets go and turns away.]
KOCH: Let's go get the prisoner.
COLBEY: At last, Mr. Pierce. A labor of love, huh?
[Koch and Pierce enter their patrol car and drive away. Colbey approaches Anderson, who is waiting by the gallows.]
COLBEY: (studying the sky) Do you suppose, Reverend, that there might some theological explanation?
ANDERSON: Theological explanation?
COLBEY: For the death, for the darkness, for both...You know Reverend, maybe if we thought it was some divine act, we could live with it. This is not the first gallows, Reverend, nor the last. Or, we won't be the first unhappy man to die an early age. We wouldn't be the last mourners on earth either.
ANDERSON: Did you see him? Did you get to talk to him?
COLBEY: Briefly.
ANDERSON: Well, he wouldn't see me--wouldn't even let me inside.
COLBEY: It's a pity. He's a very lonely man. (looking up at the gallows) But he won't be lonely very long.
[Koch and Pierce return in their patrol car with Jagger. As Pierce forcefully ushers Jagger from the vehicle, Anderson and Colbey approach.]
ANDERSON: He's got a few minutes, hasn't he?
PIERCE: (curtly) He used them up already. We’re four minutes behind.
KOCH: You can talk to him, Reverend. Take your time.
JAGGER: It's my time. I got nothing to say.
PIERCE: Then let's go. Let's get on with it!
CROWD: Yeah!
ANDERSON: You don't want to waste your last minutes, Jagger. Now, you and I are a different faith, and obviously a different color, but you stood up for me and mine. You spoke for us and god help us, you killed for us. And I feel you deserve some measure of peace. I want to give you some.
JAGGER: That'll give me some peace. I don't need any words, Reverend. No quotations in or out of the Bible.
WOMAN: Come on, let's get it over with!
CROWD: Yeah!
JAGGER: Patience! Patience! (sardonically) I promise you: I will please you all. Believe me, I’ll choke and suffer and dance. Oh, you'll get your money's worth. Believe me.
[The crowd continues to jeer.]
JAGGER: (shouting defiantly) But I tell you what I won't give you, you muckers! I won't give you the satisfaction of saying that I’m sorry.
CROWD: Yeah!
JAGGER: (mockingly) Yeah, yeah!
[The crowd falls silent as Jagger slowly mounts the step of the gallows.]
SUSPENSE
ANDERSON: Don't return their hate. Don't dishonor yourself.
JAGGER: (to Anderson) Why don't you go home and get out of here. I got too much hate in me to keep plugged up anymore.
ANDERSON: When he came at you, Jagger, did it feel good to you then?
JAGGER: What difference?
ANDERSON: When you aimed that gun at his head--that wasn't such a bad moment, was it?
JAGGER: (annoyed) Good…bad…who cares?
ANDERSON: When you killed him, Jagger…when you blew his head off, there were no regrets then, were there?
[Jagger shakes his head.]
ANDERSON: You enjoyed that, didn't you?
JAGGER: You know it!
ANDERSON: (saddened) Yes…yes…I know it now. Now, I know it too well. You're guilty. (to the crowd) This man is guilty.
JAGGER: It's important to get with the majority, isn't it? That's…oh, that’s a big thing nowadays, isn't it, Reverend?
ANDERSON: That's all there is, is the majority. The minority must have died on the cross 2,000 years ago.
[The crowd watches in silent anticipation as a noose is placed around Jagger’s neck. When the trapdoor is released, there is a thud and the sound of rope creaking.]
HANGING SEQUENCE
PIERCE: You seen the light, Reverend. You really seen the light.
ANDERSON: Have you?
[Pierce turns to glance at Jagger’s corpse and walks away.]
ANDERSON: (to the crowd) Have any of you? In all this darkness, is there anybody who can make out the truth? He hated, and he killed, and now he died. And you hated, and you killed…. And now there’s not one of you--not one of you, who isn’t doomed. Do you know why it’s dark? Do you know why there’s night all around us? Do you know what the blackness is? It’s the hate he felt. The hate you felt. The hate all of us feel. And it’s too much of it--it’s just too much! And so we had to vomit it up, and now it’s coming up all around us and choking us. So much hate…so much miserable hate.
[The lights about the town begin to dim.]
WOMAN: Look what's happening. It's getting even darker now. I can't—I can’t hardly see anything now.
[Next scene: Koch and Pierce waiting in the sheriff’s office. Colbey enters.]
PIERCE: (to Colbey) That's crazy, ain't it? I mean, what he said--ain't that crazy? Well, you know what's going to happen? (to Koch) Believe me, what going to happen... This stuff is going to lift. It'll all of a sudden just plain lift (agreeing with himself) ...Well...just plain lift...like the fog. (to Colbey) And it'll lift and there'll be the old sun--high up and bright. You wait and see. They'll be the old sun, shinning to beat the band. (hesitant) Well, it could happen, couldn't it? Couldn't it happen, Koch? Colbey? They'll be sun again. There'll be daylight.
COLBEY: I don't know. I don't know if there will ever be daylight again...only God knows. I'm sure only God knows.
[Colbey switches on the radio.]
RADIO WHINE
RADIO ANNOUNCER: …And still the phenomenon remains unexplained except for the reports that now come in of similar occurrences here in the United States and elsewhere. At 2:00 this afternoon a dark cloud suddenly appeared over a street in Dallas, Texas. The mayor of West Berlin has verified that a rectangular area over the Berlin wall has suddenly gone dark. In Budapest, European newspapermen passed over censorship an article about several square blocks, including a political prison, which was suddenly thrown into darkness early this morning. In Birmingham, Alabama…an area in Shanghai…the entire northern section of Vietnam…a section of Chicago, Illinois…the darkness continues to make itself known….
[Slowly, darkness envelops the interior of the office. The scene fades to black.]
NARRATOR: A sickness known as hate; not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ--but a sickness nonetheless, highly contagious, deadly in its effects. Don't look for it in the Twilight Zone--look for it in a mirror. Look for it before the light goes out altogether.
TWILIGHT ZONE THEME