Mr. Norman Knight Character Analysis

Mr. Norman Knight is one of Bertha Young’s guests at her dinner party and is the husband of Mrs. Knight. Mr. Knight comes across as a man who lives a conventional life but who is ironic and self-aware about the clichés that he embodies. Mr. Knight makes several ironic references to the middle-class conventions he follows—such as having nothing to do with his daughter until she has a suitor that he can object to—and seems to satirize himself and the society to which all the characters belong in a good-natured and undisruptive way. Like the other guests, who are described as “modern and thrilling” but who give little actual evidence of being so, Mr. Knight makes no reference to “social questions” throughout the evening. The only physical detail offered about Mr. Knight is the fact that he wears a monocle that keeps one of his eyes behind glass. This suggests that Mr. Knight is a detached personality who does not become emotionally involved in causes and who, in contrast to Bertha, does not have a strong emotional response to other people.