Good Morning, Midnight

by

Jean Rhys

The Man in the Nightgown Character Analysis

The man in the nightgown lives in the room next to Sasha’s at the hotel in Paris. He’s overly interested in her life and always tries to talk to her in the hall. He even knocks on her door late one night and just stands there smiling at her, but she pushes him away. He’s no longer friendly to her after this encounter, keeping track of her comings and goings and calling her a “dirty cow” in French when René visits her room. But after René tries to rape Sasha and then leaves, the man in the nightgown enters her room—despite her distaste for him, she pulls him to the bed.
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The Man in the Nightgown Character Timeline in Good Morning, Midnight

The timeline below shows where the character The Man in the Nightgown appears in Good Morning, Midnight. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part One
Sadness and Vulnerability Theme Icon
When Sasha wakes in the morning, she can hear the man in the next room fumbling around. She often encounters him in the hall, and he’s... (full context)
Sadness and Vulnerability Theme Icon
Identity and Belonging Theme Icon
Money and Manipulation Theme Icon
...When she gets back to the hotel, she sees shoes outside the door of the man in the nightgown—they look like the shoes of a traveling salesman, leading Sasha to wonder... (full context)
Identity and Belonging Theme Icon
Back at the hotel, Sasha looks out the window and watches a woman in the building across the street doing her makeup. They make eye contact for a... (full context)
Sadness and Vulnerability Theme Icon
Making her way up the stairs, Sasha passes the man in the nightgown. He says nothing to her, clearly angry about how she treated him... (full context)
Part Four
Identity and Belonging Theme Icon
...and will be leaving Paris in the next couple days. When Sasha gets upstairs, the man in the nightgown calls her a dirty cow, but she has no idea why he’s... (full context)
Sadness and Vulnerability Theme Icon
Identity and Belonging Theme Icon
Money and Manipulation Theme Icon
...player—is looking back at her with a “mocking” expression. She also thinks about how the man in the nightgown probably heard her entire exchange with René. He’s probably still listening and... (full context)
Sadness and Vulnerability Theme Icon
...lies completely still. As he gets closer, though, she knows it’s not René, but the man in the nightgown. Her only question is whether he’s in the blue or the white... (full context)