SOURCE: "The Power of The Watch that Ends the Night," in Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes, Vol. 14, No. 4, Winter, 1979–80, pp. 76-89.

In the following essay, Bonnycastle provides a structural analysis of MacLennan's novel, focusing on the protagonist's consciousness and MacLennan's recurring passages of lyrical description.

The Watch that Ends the Night has had a notable success in Canada and abroad. There seems to be agreement that it is MacLennan's best novel, and a fairly general consensus that it is one of the most important novels in the body of Canadian literature. Many critics have written about it, either in short reviews published soon after the novel appeared in 1959, or in longer articles which have often formed parts of books on MacLennan. The topics most often discussed are the nature and credibility of the three major characters, and the quality of the ending, which is reflective...