I have very mixed feelings about Night Watch. I think I was focused more on “Why did this win the 2024 Pulitzer Prize?” than the actual story, which was disturbing yet contrived. The storyline takes place in 1874 and 1864 and is not chronological. So, it is sometimes confusing to understand the order of the various plot elements. The story opens in 1874 with “Papa” dropping off ConaLee, a thirteen-year-old girl, and her mother, Eliza, at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. All three go by different names, and some of their connectedness remains unknown until the story unravels. Their confusing identity sets the stage for many characters with multiple names. It is Reconstruction in the Appalachians of West Virginia, and folks haven’t recovered from the Civil War. Each character and erasable personhood mimics the undefined characteristics of states like West Virginia and Americans in the backdrop of the war.
As the story progresses and shifts between 1864 and 1874, we learn the backstories of ConaLee, the only first-person voice in the novel, and Eliza. We meet other characters who have experienced war and other traumas. Sometimes, the personal traumas are related to the war and sometimes to social class, gender, or mental health status. The insane asylum’s philosophy is one of “moral treatment,” which is revolutionary. The asylum was real, and Quaker physician Thomas Story Kirkbride, quoted in the book, was also a real person. Dr. Story, kin of Kirkbride, is fictional yet based on historical information about how to treat the mentally ill if they could seek refuge in such a place.
The Night Watch, who is on duty at the asylum when ConaLee and Elize arrive, has severe war injuries and multiple identities throughout the story. His backstory before, during, and after the war provides significant plot developments. Another character, Dearbhla, depicted as an Irish witch and sometimes mistaken for a man, has a history with the Night Watch, Eliza, and ConaLee. Dearbhla, although lower class and probably on par with those enslaved in the social order, takes good care of the main characters and seems to have ESP in protecting them. The only other child in the book is Weed, an orphan treated as a pet at the asylum. Weed, like Dearbhla, has a seemingly magical ability to be aware of more than what the senses can perceive.
There are graphic descriptions of sexual and physical abuse in this book, as well as war violence and other human interactions that are in contrast to the “moral treatment” “professed at the asylum. The story illustrates the effects of war and enslavement in myriad ways. To appreciate the messages of this book, one must consider not only the actual fighting and official slavery but also the virtual enslavements between characters. Also essential in the convoluted human relationships included in the novel is the absence and importance of family figures and the continual search for familial nurturing. I have concluded that this book won the Pulitzer because the United States’ current divisive issues resonate today with those around the Civil War. As in those days, we must figure out how to adapt to new and changed conditions.
