The narrator is levelheaded, especially compared to his family members. Many had irrational fears and way of dealing with them. He tells the story matter of factly, which creates a dry humor to his writing. A key element in the story is not the plot itself, but the way in which the story was told. The calm nature of the narrator is the characteristic which makes his account of that eventful night so humorous. With all the commotion, his reaction is mild. In addition, he is very observant. He describes his relatives in detail, which creates vivid imagery. At the beginning, he mentions that the story is a better "recitation" than a piece of writing because "...it is almost necessary to throw furniture around, shake doors, and bark like a dog, to lend the proper atmosphere", yet, he writes in such a way that illustrates the story just as acting it out would. Without his descriptive writing and dry humor, the story would have been entirely different. I found myself laughing as I read, which wouldn't have been the case had he written it in a more serious matter. His "voice" as a writer, as well as the tone he used, end up being key elements in the story.
