Rain by Somerset Maugham
Dr. Alec Macphail sets sail for the west with his wife and on the ship they befriend the Davidsons, who happen to be Christian missionaries. On the way, they get stuck on a monsoon-clad Samoan island called the Pago-Pago, where they have to rent a small room in order to stay. Their fellow renters were the Davidsons and a woman known by Sadie Thompson. The story speaks of the sense of morality, sin and temptation through the various mentioned characters. Here is my version of the analysis of the story:
· The protagonists of the story are the Macphails and the Davidsons.
· It does not have a clear antagonist. But it is not a person. Perhaps, the tension between Mr. Davidson and Ms. Thompson is the main antagonist and also Davidson’s extremist behavior.
· It falls in the genre of Realism as there was no mention of any technology or supernatural entities or any fantastical beasts. It is about a few people coping up with each other in an unfriendly climate.
· The story takes about fifty-one pages to tell us about sin and morality, but the main rising action begins with the introduction of Ms. Thompson, as she is one of the most important central characters. Her lifestyle was against the principle of the Davidsons and that is where things start to fall apart.
· The falling action is when Ms. Thompson is threatened with imprisonment (it is not clearly mentioned but alluded to) in San Francisco. She begins to act hysterical and begs for Davidson’s company to comfort her.
· The story has a very clear climax. Davison suicides near the end of the story. It is literally mentioned why he did it but the Maugham gives strong allusion that he gave into temptation for Ms. Thompson in the end. His strong sense of justice (sinner must be punished) and guilt makes him do that.
· I do not know if it counts as a situational irony but I was not expecting the ending like this. Yes, the things he did to Ms. Thompson and the natives sort of make it obvious that he would die, but I thought he might be killed by the natives or Ms. Thompson or Dr. Macphail (who was losing his patience with the missionary’s rash feats). So, in the end when Davidson cuts his own throat for shame and guilt, I was surprised. So, even if it is not a major irony, it is definitely a plot twist for me.
· The story has a clear denouement – Davison dies, his wife and the Macphails mourn and Ms. Thompson has her ultimate revenge. Thus this grim story is nicely wrapped up.
Remarks: To be honest, this type of stories which are heavily based on complicated topics like religious teachings and sense of justice/morality is not really my cup of tea, but I believe it is refreshing to read these from time to time. So, even though I could not completely enjoy this story due to the differences of our ideologies, I have to admit that Maugham is quite brilliant with his words and the plot. He does make the readers question about what morality actually is and what one should in the circumstances the characters of this story is thrown into.
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