There are a variety of themes to Tobias Wolff's "The Night in Question" that need to be considered in order to understand what the story is truly about. One of the main themes that we need to look at is unselfishness. Throughout the story, Wolff shows a great deal of family bonding and connections. We look at whether it is a good connection between Frank and Frances or a bad bond between Frank and his father. The story also displays a great deal of religious devotion along with testing your faith.
We learn in Frank's story that the main character, Mike, is faced with a decision that he has to make that will affect his life as long as he lives. Mike is faced with the decision of saving his son's life or sparing the lives of the people on the train that he doesn't even know and probably will never meet. How can he give up his own son's life when he knows that his son isn't guilty of anything, and maybe the people of the train are guilty? This shows how unselfish one can be by Mike's being willing to save others over his own son. Mike knows that he has very little time to think about this and that he isn't alone on this decision: "He can't. Of course he can't, on his own. But Mike isn't on his own. He knows what we all know, even when we try to forget it: we are never alone, ever".
This is where the religion aspect plays a part. Mike know that he is not alone and that no one is ever alone: "He will not leave us alone. He is with all of you, as He is with me". Frank is talking about God being the He here. He, being God, is always around and is always telling him, but we can't always go with what his heart is telling him, but we can't always go with what is in our hearts. Sometimes our feelings have to be pushed aside, and what we know is right has to be done. We have to do what our minds are telling us because it knows what is right. He knows that his decision is obvious because it has been done before: "It has been done before, even Him who speaks, the Father of All, who gave His own son, His beloved, that others might be saved".
