The Fear That Walks by Noonday

"The Fear That Walks By Noonday" is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in Sombrero in 1894.^[1]

Plot summary

A team of football players have a talk before a game against the 'Injuns'. In the previous matchup between the two teams, one of the opposing team players was fatally injured. Once the teams take the field, an unusual coldness comes over the playing field and a number of unexplained events take place. One player, Fred, passes out. Later, at the post-game dinner, a very morose atmosphere hangs over the proceedings. The story ends on a very different note when Reggie yells out McKinley's political victory.

Characters

Frederick Hurton
Regiland Harton
Morrison
Chum-Chum, a girl.
The coach
Policemen

Allusions to actual history

William McKinley's re-election as Governor of Ohio in 1893 is mentioned.

Literary significance and criticism

The theme of a football game was suggested to Cather by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.^[2]
It has been described as 'a highly conventional ghost story'.^[3]

References

↑ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, page 540
↑ James Leslie Woodress, Willa Cather - A Literary Life, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989, page 83
↑ Susan J. Rosowski, Voyage Perilous: Willa Cather's Romanticism, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986

External links

Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive

Works by Willa Cather

Novels	Alexander's Bridge O Pioneers! The Song of the Lark My Ántonia One of Ours A Lost Lady The Professor's House My Mortal Enemy Death Comes for the Archbishop Shadows on the Rock Lucy Gayheart Sapphira and the Slave Girl

Short stories	"Peter" "Lou, the Prophet" "The Elopement of Allen Poole" "A Tale of the White Pyramid" "A Son of the Celestial" "The Clemency of the Court" "The Fear That Walks by Noonday" "On the Divide" "A Night at Greenway Court" "Tommy, the Unsentimental" "The Princess Baladina – Her Adventure" "The Count of Crow's Nest" "The Burglar's Christmas" "The Strategy of the Were-Wolf Dog" "A Resurrection" "The Prodigies" "Nanette: An Aside" "The Way of the World" "The Westbound Train" "Eric Hermannson's Soul" "The Dance at Chevalier's" "The Sentimentality of William Tavener" "The Affair at Grover Station" "A Singer's Romance" "The Conversion of Sum Loo" "Jack-a-Boy" "El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional" "The Professor's Commencement" "The Treasure of Far Island" "A Death in the Desert" "A Wagner Matinee" "The Sculptor's Funeral" "Flavia and Her Artists" "The Garden Lodge" "The Marriage of Phaedra" "Paul's Case" "The Namesake" "The Profile" "The Willing Muse" "Eleanor's House" "On the Gulls' Road" "The Enchanted Bluff" "The Joy of Nelly Deane" "Behind the Singer Tower" "The Bohemian Girl" "Consequences" "The Bookkeeper's Wife" "The Diamond Mine" "A Gold Slipper" "Ardessa" "Scandal" "Her Boss" "Coming, Eden Bower!" "Uncle Valentine" "Double Birthday" "Neighbour Rosicky" "Two Friends" "The Old Beauty" "Before Breakfast" "The Best Years"

Short story collections	The Troll Garden Youth and the Bright Medusa Obscure Destinies The Old Beauty and Others Five Stories

Collection of poems	April Twilights

Non-fiction	On Writing Not Under Forty

Collaborations	The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science

Adaptations	A Lost Lady (1934 film) O Pioneers! (1992 film) My Antonia (1995 film) The Song of the Lark (2001 film) O Pioneers! (2009 opera)

Willa Cather Birthplace Willa Cather House Willa Cather Foundation WILLA Literary Award

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