Winter Night by Kay Boyle
"Winter Night" by Kay Boyle is a poignant short story that explores themes of absence, emotional neglect, and the haunting impact of trauma through the eyes of a young girl named Felicia. Set against the backdrop of a cold winter evening, Felicia is left alone in her apartment, waiting for her mother, who consistently prioritizes her social life over her parental responsibilities. With her father away at war, Felicia's emotional landscape is further complicated by the frequent turnover of caretakers in her life, who provide little more than basic care without fostering any meaningful connections.
On this particular night, a new babysitter arrives—an attentive woman who breaks from the usual routine. Her engagement with Felicia not only offers a rare moment of kindness but also reveals a deeper, shared pain. As the sitter recounts her memories, the narrative subtly evokes her past experiences in a concentration camp, highlighting the stark contrast between her trauma and Felicia's innocent perceptions of loss and longing. The story culminates in a powerful moment of intimacy, as Felicia falls asleep in the sitter's arms, only for her mother to return and confront the emotional distance that has characterized her relationship with her daughter. Through its exploration of these complex dynamics, "Winter Night" invites readers to reflect on the nuances of human connection and the lasting scars of historical trauma.
On this Page
Winter Night by Kay Boyle
First published: 1946
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1940's
Locale: New York City
Principal Characters:
Felicia , a seven-year-old girlA woman , the baby-sitter for the eveningA maid Felicia's mother
The Story
As the evening darkens one winter night, the maid tells Felicia that once again her mother will not be coming home to their apartment until after Felicia is asleep. Felicia's father is away in the war. As usual, a baby-sitter will come when it is time for the maid to leave. The maid defends the mother's absence on the grounds that, after working hard all day, she deserves her freedom at night. The maids and the baby-sitters change frequently, allowing no time for Felicia to become attached to any of them. They do their jobs, providing no emotional nourishment for the little girl.
This night, the baby-sitter is early. She is a dark-haired, sad-eyed woman who immediately shows an interest in Felicia. Unlike the other sitters, this one offers to clean up after the girl's dinner so she can be alone with her sooner. Whereas other sitters perfunctorily take care of Felicia, moving through a routine that gets her to bed as soon as possible, as if she were merely something that has to be disposed of, this sitter breaks the routine. She tells Felicia that she reminds her of another little girl whose birthday this happens to be. Always attentive to Felicia, the sitter talks to her about the other little girl. Felicia, in her innocence, is never aware, but the reader quickly realizes that the woman is talking about her experiences in a German concentration camp. Felicia interprets everything she hears according to her own experience, reflecting her own anxieties, brought on by the extended absence of the father, whom she hardly remembers, and the nightly absences of her mother.
The little girl in the concentration camp could not understand what was happening to her, why her mother was taken away, why she could not go to her ballet lessons. The baby-sitter took care of her after she was separated from her mother, until they, too, were separated; the baby-sitter assumes that the little girl died in the camp. Felicia falls asleep in the woman's arms, and that is how Felicia's mother finds them when she returns after midnight. The sight of the two of them in each other's arms shocks her.
Bibliography
Austenfeld, Thomas Carl. American Women Writers and the Nazis: Ethics and Politics in Boyle, Porter, Stafford, and Hellman. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001.
Bell, Elizabeth S. Kay Boyle: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1992.
Carpenter, Richard C. "Kay Boyle." English Journal 42 (November, 1953): 425-430.
Carpenter, Richard C. "Kay Boyle: The Figure in the Carpet." Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction 7 (Winter, 1964/1965): 65-78.
Chambers, M. Clark. Kay Boyle: A Bibliography. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2002.
Elkins, Marilyn, ed. Critical Essays on Kay Boyle. New York: G. K. Hall, 1997.
Ford, Hugh. Four Lives in Paris. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1987.
Lesinska, Zofia P. Perspectives of Four Women Writers on the Second World War: Gertrude Stein, Janet Flanner, Kay Boyle, and Rebecca West. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.
Mellen, Joan. Kay Boyle: Author of Herself. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994.
Moore, Harry T. "Kay Boyle's Fiction." In The Age of the Modern and Other Literary Essays. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1971.
Porter, Katherine Anne. "Kay Boyle: Example to the Young." In The Critic as Artist: Essays on Books, 1920-1970, edited by Gilbert A. Harrison. New York: Liveright, 1972.
Spanier, Sandra Whipple. Kay Boyle: Artist and Activist. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986.
Yalom, Marilyn. Women Writers of the West Coast: Speaking of Their Lives and Careers. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, 1983.