The Tombstone story
A woman thinks the hotel she and her husband are staying in is haunted. The tombstone in her room would surely give anyone cause for concern. Directed by: Warrick Attewell. Story by: Ray Bradbury.
10 total · 5 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| fear | major | Leota was spooked by the presence of a black marble tombstone in the middle of her and Walter's hotel room. She reasoned it meant that someone was buried under the floor and would return to haunt them. |
| human mental condition | major | Mr. Whetmore carved a tombstone and accidentally misspelled the name as Whyte as White. Concerned more than anything with not being wasteful, Mr. Whetmore killed a random stranger with the name of Mr. White, and sold the tombstone to his widow. Mr. Whetmore's killing a man ostensibly to avoid letting a good tombstone go to waste is makes for an odd state of mind to say the least. |
| husband and wife | major | The story turns on Walter and Leota Bean spending a night in a hotel room that was being used to store a black marble tombstone. Leota was spooked by the presence of the tombstone. Walter, by contrast, was content to put it out of his mind and get some much needed shuteye. |
| murder | major | Mr. Whetmore carved a tombstone and accidentally misspelled the name Whyte as White. Concerned more than anything with not being wasteful, Mr. Whetmore killed a random stranger with the name of Mr. White, and sold the tombstone to his widow. |
| superstitiousness | major | Leota refused to accept that the tombstone in her and Walter's hotel room was merely being stored there for future use. Instead, she reasoned that it was connected to a spirit, and put flowers on the "grave" to appease the spirit. Walter, by contrast, was content to put the tombstone out of his mind and get some much needed shuteye. |
| creative writing | minor | In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writing. |
| ghost | minor | Leota thought she heard a ghost in the hotel. |
| greed for riches | minor | Mr. Whetmore carved a tombstone and accidentally misspelled the name as Whyte as White. He subsequently killed a random stranger with the name of Mr. White, and sold the tombstone to his widow. Mr. Whetmore's killing a man ostensibly to avoid letting a good tombstone go to waste is makes for an odd state of mind to say the least. |
| practical joking | minor | Leota accused Walter of orchestrating the placement of a tombstone in their hotel room as a weird kind of practical joke. |
| the nature of creativity | minor | In his introduction, Ray Bradbury gave his viewers an intimate window into his writing room, and some of the self-professed sources of creativity that lay about within it. |