Darkness At Noon

The Saving Grace of Rubashov Despite its brevity Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler packs an enormous amount of thought provoking dialog and insight into what may go through the mind of someone who is going through an extreme ordeal. One theme which ran throughout the book was Rubashov’s actions that were taken as matters of self-preservation and what he must do to atone for them. The first instance of this was on page 45 …

…he had no longer the desire to continue this charade is the one thing that keeps him from becoming not just a monster for what he had done, but also for his intent. Seeing that his actions no longer held merit in his own eyes, Rubashov ceased his resistance against the imminent execution and was able to leave with an amount of dignity and grace that were lacking in so many of his earlier choices.