Structure

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Beginning

In the exposition of James M. Reasoner's short story “Graveyard Shift”, Frank introduces readers to the atmosphere of the story. The story begins with a foreshadowing element, suggested by Frank's description of his night shifts: “Graveyard shifts are all alike. I know too well the emotions that fill the long nights: boredom and fear. Boredom because nothing different ever happens, fear that sometime it might.” (p. 81, ll. 1-3). Here, the word “fear” creates t…

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Middle

The rising action begins with Frank presenting the types of customers he usually encounters during his night shifts:

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.…

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Ending

Soon after the robber asks Frank to come out from behind the counter, the plot twist is introduced: “I stepped out, bringing the little pistol up and aiming it at the bridge of his nose. Surprise and fear leaped into his eyes” (p. 83, ll. 22-23). The reasons why Frank carries a gun are soon revealed:

The same emotions that must have been on my wife Becky's face when she walked into a little store far away and surprised a man just like this one, a man who had gotten away clean, leaving my world bleeding to d…