Language

Choice of words

The language used in “Graveyard Shift” by James M. Reasoner is informal and straightforward. The story presents an event that happens during Frank’s night shift at a convenience store. Consequently, the language used by the author tends to imitate everyday speech.

When it comes to the tenses used, most of the events are written in the past tense. However, there is a brief instance when the narrator switches to present tense, to convey the fact that similar events take place regularly:

You see the same type of customers, no matter where the store is. Before midnight, you get teenagers buying cokes and college kids buying beer and potato chips. A lot of young couples come in to buy milk and diapers. Sometimes you get a drunk who wants to buy beer after hours. Sometimes they get nasty when you refuse. (p. 81, ll. 14-19)

Sentences are mostly short and easy to follow: “Graveyard shifts are all alike. I know too well the emotions that fill the long nights: boredom and fear. Boredom because nothing different ever h...