Rain by W. Somerset Maugham - Short Story Summary, Analysis, Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- Welcome to the CodeX Cantina where our mission is to get more people talking about books! I did the Audiobook for once this time while Krypto did the reading! Let's talk about religion and whether it's easier to pull someone up into faith or easier to pull someone down into sin. Also, what did you guys think the ending meant?
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We wanted to talk more about the oppressive role of religion in this story but got a bit sidetracked with the ending. We hope you guys enjoyed the story and let us know what you thought happened at the end!
Thanks for watching!
A big thanks to both of you for this very lively and enlightening discussion on one of Maugham's best short stories. I agree with Una's view that Mr. Davidson was not murdered by anyone but in fact committed suicide and it was his strong sense of self righteousness that led him to do it. He did succumb to "evil" temptations in spite of his strong character and faith for a short period of time, but I think that he was wise and sincere enough to have realized the grave sin that he had committed. The way Maugham develops Mr. Davidson's character from the very beginning of the story, his killing himself with a razor does not come as a surprise. What surprised me was the very uncharacteristic running away of Mrs. Davidson from the scene when Miss. Thompson confronts her and spits at her. Was Mrs. Davidson aware of her husband's "sinister" doings? Did she find something out in the mortuary? Did she suspect something when she insisted upon going inside the mortuary alone? There is a drastic change in her behavior before and after her visit to the mortuary. My guess is that she did suspect her husband of being involved in something like that and her visit to the mortuary somehow proved her worst fears to be correct, and that justifies the change in her behavior and her fleeing away from the scene in a way that is very uncharacteristic of her. Would be eagerly looking forward to your thoughts on this. Thank you!
Thanks for the thoughts. It’s been a while since I read this so I’ll have to reconsider this on a reread
If he commited suicide or if he killed him, either way the woman is talked negatively here. If he committed suicide, that depicts his goodwill bcz he tried kind of redemption. If she killed him, basically the sinner doing a sin.
She didn’t murder him He was so ashamed of his adultery and was so awful the worst advertisement for religion- thinking he could tame the natives.
... she killed him? I really do not for one second believe that. EDIT for typo
My opinion, much easier to pull someone down. You know the whole metaphor about crabs keeping each other from escaping a bucket? Same thing kinda.
lost in a booKCase I haven’t heard the crab one. You’ll have to explain that one in a pinch sometime
Nice job identifying all the symbolism, as usual! I've never hear about rain symbolizing baptism. Love it! Sounds like Maughan was quite familiar with the Bible, but somehow I've never read him before 🤔
Christy Luis - Dostoevsky in Space Seems the West is a bit bible obsessed to me. We really need to get into more eastern writing soon.
@@TheCodeXCantina 😃 I'm down!
Mrs. Davidson is also a suspect in the crime. After all, she lives in Bible verse's describing how the evil must be cut away. She is exacting and without compassion. Her voice, described as "metallic" foreshadows the metallic knife used in the murder.
I wrote an updated story based on Rain called Men: ya'll the same. It's seen from the wife's pov and supported by Nina, a detective based in Oakland, California. The story is set on Treasure Island in San Francisco bay. I'd be interested in your analysis. Let me know how to contact you. Oh, yeah, all the main, Oh, yeah, all the main characters are African American.
It is interesting to see stories like this where people can come out with such complete interpretations of the events. I think it highlights the differences in our worldivews/desires and, in the case of fiction, tastes when it comes to parsing out what went down. Una sees the poetic justice in the suicide and how that would relate to the biblical ideologies and Krypto likes the modern day version of "justice" more as it feels satisfactory to him.
Other potentially unrelated observations. You mention that him coming from the Solomon Islands might tie him to Solomon, there is another connection as well. (I'm new to this so maybe this doesn't make sense?) : Solomon is David's son - Davidson. Additionally, Solomon is not to have been considered to commit "traditional" adultery, but rather spiritual adultery by marrying pagan women. HOWEVER! Solomon was the child of David and Bathsheba who David committed adultery with before murdering her husband and marrying her.
Yeah, I tried to mention David-Davidson but think we got so sidetracked in this video that we maybe didn't do the best job or relaying some other elements that we maybe had wanted to. Nice job on the view difference descriptions. I think you extrapolated that well.
I'm with Krypto on this. She killed him. How else did she so quickly change back to her original self? She brought justice to an evil man. Also, wasn't Maugham agnostic? So this could be a critique of religion and missionary work. I think he wrote pretty much all the main characters in a negative light. Most of the characters were racist and sexist. And I didn't think it was so much as banging her as it was most likely rape since there was such a change in demeanor from Thompson. His eyes shone with ecstasy while she had been crying and everything was in disorder and she glanced anxiously at the door.
Maugham would flip between "resigned atheist" and agnostic. I'm not sure who would argue with you that it's not about oppressive religion. I think that's the one thing we would all agree on.
I don't understand how murdering someone is considered justice. You and Krypto will have to explain to me the scenarios that it's acceptable for that.
We didn't go into the assault side though I know that is a popular interpretation as well. I had notes prepared to talk about the gramophone being off at that time and talking about how we'd fit that into that scenario.
@@TheCodeXCantina It's not that it's acceptable so much as it could be her form of justice or punishing a crime given the circumstances.
@@TheCodeXCantina I think in storytelling, revenge killing on an oppressor is almost always considered justice or justified. (At least in the mind of the killer)
I read this story a few weeks ago when you mentioned it in the comments section of another video. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but now...wow, just wow! Perfect timing. I think that the two of you may have insider information on our current state of affairs. I'll post my comments about the story in a bit, but man is this story ever relevant as far as government quarantines go. 😂🤣😂
😥
Lol
I never even picked up on the fact that Davidson was sleeping with Ms. Thompson. Wow! This adds so much more depth to the story.
This novel shows Maugham's thoughts on organized religion in a nutshell here. He doesn't hate Christianity, but the way people have twisted Christianity to fit their own set of values. Davidson appears much more as a villain today than he would have in 1921. But it would have been an eye-opener even then for sure. Definitely not a likable character in any generation.
The rain in this story was powerful too. Normally, authors use rain as a baptismal, gentle cleansing, but the rain in this story cleanses by beating down harshly upon everyone. Almost like a fire and brimstone preacher. Completely unforgiving.
I felt conflicted reading this story because I grew up in a conservative Christian environment. I felt sorry for Ms. Thompson through most of the story and disliked the two missionaries for their harsh treatment of both her and the natives. But at the same time, she is an @$$hole in how she treats others unless they can benefit her in some form or another. But the two missionaries were equally, if not greater @$$holes than Ms. Thompson was. Hypocrites too.
Christianity is supposed to be a religion of forgiveness and love, not punishment and hatred. Yes, the Old Testament is filled with punishment, hatred, and retribution, but the New Testament changes all of this (for the most part). Davidson says he has come to help, love, and forgive, but almost everything he does is disrespectful to the natives' culture, and to Ms. Thompson. Christianity and Western Culture in general represent the complete destruction of the natives' culture and values in this story. You could tell who the antagonists were in The Fall of Edward Barnard too by the characters' attitudes toward the natives.
Forgive me once again for such a long post, but the two of you make me exercise my mental capacities, unlike 99% of the other TH-cam channels I subscribe to. In hardly ever post long winded comments on TH-cam except on your channel, Stripped Cover Lit, and David Murphy's channel. Thanks for all the hard work you put into these videos. This channel is a hidden gem in the Booktube community.
Starscreamlive it’s probably easy to not consider the sleeping with her part because it’s hard to imagine anyone liking Miss Thompson 😂
I commented on Stripped Cover Lit’s first Absalom video but didn’t get a reply. Haven’t watched the recent ones since. Just saw David Murphy covered a Tolstoy video. Was excited and reached out to him. Seems like a nice guy
I think the rain represents nature (included human nature), with all it's strenght and violence, falling over any atempt of domestication.
Thanks
Hi, I am not a native English speaker, maybe that is why I could not understand two Dialogues from the story. One from Mrs. Davidson's "I don't know, but I wouldn't stand in that creature's shoes for anything in the world." who is she referring to by the creature? and the second one is from Miss Thompson's "Say, doc, you can that stuff with me. What the hell are you doin' in my room?" Please, anyone who can guide me about these sentences.
Most likely creature refers to Miss Thompson as it’s a demeaning term and “a somber fire flowed in Mrs. Davidson’s eyes when she spoke of Miss Thompson.”
@@TheCodeXCantina Thank you so much.
Very good. Keep up the good work
Thanks for the kind words!
Nice review,btw any update on Bakemonogatari? Will u guys continue it?
Dixiee Normis I’ll try to get to second book soon. Have a bit of a backlog but it would be just me
@@TheCodeXCantina Well Oof but its better than nothing.Im thankful that ur.continuing the series cuz ur way of reviewing this series is great
Dixiee Normis I’ll try to crack open book two this week. It takes me a while to get my thoughts together.
@@TheCodeXCantina I truly love the way this show does its fanservice and sexuality. Sex is often depicted in media as one of two extremes: Ignored and omitted entirely, or needlessly tacked on to a story that otherwise doesn't need it at all.
Typical fanservice anime puts the tits and ass on full display for the viewers, but the characters rarely acknowledge it or even act like it's a thing. They're completely oblivious to it, outside of maybe an occasional joke. They wear skimpy clothes and we see their butts in low angle camera views, but it's not incorporated into the story or writing at all, it's solely for the viewer's enjoyment. The story would be exactly the same even if the characters were all totally average looking and in normal clothes. Nothing would change.
Western animation, on the other hand, tends to omit sexuality entirely, unless it's for a crude joke as in Family Guy. In shows focused at teens it simply doesn't exist, or has to be heavily disguised to get past the censors. Steven Universe not so subtly uses Gem fusion as an allegory for sex, but there's no way the showrunners would be able to openly acknowledge that. They have to be sneaky about it.
This is where Monogatari sets itself apart. In Monogatari, it is not only fanservice for the viewers, but it's the characters themselves acknowledging their own sexuality. It exists, and they don't pretend that it doesn't. Sexuality is part of their characterization, not just something tacked on for the viewer. It's not completely hidden away like in Western media, but nor is the fanservice completely divorced from the writing and direction like in typical anime. If you took the fanservice out of Monogatari, the story and characterization would be directly impacted. Some scenes and character developments simply couldn't exist without it.
It's presented as it should be in reality: Sexuality is always there, part of our lives, and you can't get rid of it or ignore it completely. It's a part of who we all are and often affects our actions and outlooks. Basically what I'm trying to say is, sexuality is normal, it's natural, and we would be better off treating it that way.
It's a little bit difficult to explain my thought process here, but I tried.
Dixiee Normis I’m half way through Suruga Monkey. I won’t have it done in time to record this Wednesday but should be able to record the following Wednesday. I agree that it’s a subject that many don’t feel comfortable talking about. I try to keep my talking points different than how others have covered it. We’ll see where this story takes me :)
Sir I have few questions can you please answer
1. Through which character does the author highlight colonialist misplaced idealism?
2. In what way does Maugham present racial issues in the story?
3. Where had Mr Davidson worked before?
4. Where were they travelling ?
Chitralucha Pegu looks like a book report to me. What do you think the answers are?
Sir can you please help answer these questions