Sanderson holds a master of fine arts degree in fiction writing and is an independent writer. In this essay, Sanderson argues that Alexei in Tatyana Tolstaya's "Night" is more than what he seems on the surface.

One of the most startling events in Tatyana Tolstaya's "Night," a tale filled with amazing and surprising images, is Alexei's apparently sudden interest in becoming a writer. Alexei is a middle-aged retarded man whose occupation as a builder of cardboard boxes keeps him and his mother, Mamochka, housed and fed—not a typical candidate to pursue the life of a writer.

Tempting as it may be to dismiss Alexei's unexpected declaration that "I'm going to be a writer" as the ramblings of a half-wit, Tolstaya does not disregard his comment. Tolstaya closes her story with Alexei responding to his frightening experience on the streets of Moscow by frantically demanding paper...