This is a very meaningful short story because it explains an important fact in our lives. It talks about Death by appointment through the servants personality who fled from death to Samarra, but really he had gone to the death by himself. The story gives a message of the reality of death. In this tale Death is personified as a woman who is very matter of fact about her work, which more specifically, involves keeping an appointment with a certain servant. In the first sentence we read the servant was terrified as a result of being jostled by death.
Maughham shows that fear of death, that is a natural part of our life, by saying that the servant was, white and trembling because of this encounter. In an attempt to take destiny into his own hands, the servant borrows a horse from his master in order to get away, as fast as the horse could gallop to a place called Samarra there is where the servant believes that Death will not find me. To the servant it was evident that death is there for him because he believed she had, made a threatening gesture towards him. Instead of fleeing from his grim meeting with death he runs straight to it. This story presents the statement of truth that deaths appointments are inevitable.Maugham shows that everyone has an involvement with death, however many times you try to avoid it. This is shown in the story where the servant tried to avoid his appointment with death by fleeing to Samarra the city where he is put to meet with death. The fear of death Plays a major role throughout the story.
Death is personified as a woman in the story, the author uses a person to portray death to show that there is a connection between the nature of death and mankind. For example, the statement, Master, just now when I was in the market place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me, shows how death can blend in amongst everyone else without being noticed. The story also suggests that death is approachable, and willing to carry a conversation, this is shown in the statement, Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me In life, death is seen as a part of a life that shouldnt be talked about. Society also sees death as a threat, it is portrayed as a cold-hearted monster like the Grim Reaper. However, in the story death is the opposite of what we want to see death as. She is looking as something to not be feared, but avoided. The author shows this by having the servant flee Bagdad when he ran into her in the marketplace. In the statement, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him in the marketplace this morning the merchant shows no fear of confronting death, just walking up to her as if she was a regular person.
This story has a definite meaning and its only a paragraph long. The theme is death which ties in nicely with the moral, death is unavoidable, or death will follow you. The story chooses to show death in a female form. This can be debated over, but I believe that death is a woman for the fact that women are not portrayed in a positive light for this time period and particular setting of Baghdad, just the same as death is not looked at as something positive.The servant saw death and in great attempt, tried to run from her, when ironically he was running right to her. On the other hand, the master went in search of death and confronted death.
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This I believe proves how each individual handles death differently there is no wrong or right way because regardless, death will find you. I thought that this story had a good message because you think you cannot run away from death, life is already planned out. I think this because things are probably planned out for me too and when I die that will be my time. I feel our whole lives are planned out and that™s why we have destiny, to me destiny is what was going to happen in the first place, so was the death of the servant, because he was supposed to die and that was his destiny. I enjoyed how this story was blunt and up front.
