Appointment in Samarra by Somerset Maugham Summary and Analysis

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) 

• W Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist. and short story writer. 
• He qualified as a surgeon though he did not practice. 
• During the first world war, he served as an ambulance driver along with well-known writer Ernest Hemmingway. 
• He traveled through Europe, North America, India, and other parts of Asia.  
• His traveled experiences can be seen in many of his stories and novels.

His major works.

Liza of Lambeth (1897)

        His first novel, based on his experience as a medical student at the slum of  Lambeth.

Of Human Bondage (1915)

The Moon and Sixpence (1916)

The Painted Veil(1925)

The Razor"s Edge(1944)

An introduction to Appointment in Samarra.

This is an Arabian story retold by somerset Maugham. The same story has already appeared in Archer's collection of short stories and a novel by John O' Hara.

The major part of the story is set in a marketplace at Bagdad. This is a brilliant example of flash fiction. Flash fictions are stories no longer than 1500 words, usually shorter than 1000 words. That can be read within four or five minutes. 

Through the story, Maugham tells us that death is an inevitable one and no one can escape or run away from your destiny. in this world there is an appointed time and place for everyone. Death is personified as a woman in the story.

SUMMARY.

Appointment in Samarra is a story about a servant and death. The merchant sent his servant to buy essential things like food, drinks, and equipment in the Baghdad market. In the market, the servant had an encounter with death. Death appeared in the figure of a woman and made a threatening gesture towards him. Hurriedly the servant came back home with a trembling body and pale face. After that, the servant lends a horse from the merchant and flees to Samarra in order to hide from death. When the merchant heard about the death, decided to meet with death and went down to the marketplace. Death informed the merchant about the real intention of threatening gesture towards the servant. The servant thought that he will escape from death by fleeing to a faraway place, Samarra. but he did not know death had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

FATALISM IN APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA.

Fatalism is the belief that all events are predestined and inevitable and the outcome of a situation can never be changed. Somerset Maugham brings out the idea of fatalism in this tale. Here in the story, the servant wants to escape from death, therefore, he lends a horse from the merchant and escapes to a far place Samarra. But in reality, Samarra was the place where death had an appointment with the servant. Through the story, Somerset Maugham tries to say that death is an inevitable one no one escape from fate. In this world, there is an appointed time and place for everyone to die.

CHARACTERS. 

There are three characters in the story, death, merchant, and servent.

Death.

Death is the speaker and one of the major characters in the story. Somerset Maugham presented death as a female figure throughout the story. In many places, the writer uses the pronoun 'she' to represent death. At the beginning of the story, there is an unexpected meeting between death and servent. When the death saw the servant in the marketplace at Baghdad surprised as she has an appointment with him in Samarra tonight, a place far away from Baghdad. Thereafter death had another meeting with the merchant. Through the conversation between the two, the readers got the intention behind the arrival of the death.

Servent.

Servent is another character in the story. At the beginning of the story, he was sent by the merchant to buy essential things like food, drinks, and equipment. He had an encounter with death at the market and hurriedly came back home with a trembling body and paled face. During their meet, the servent felt that she is making a threatening gesture towards him. Actually, that was not a threatening gesture, but a surprise as she has an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

Merchant.

The merchant is another character in the tale. He belongs to Baghdad. He is the one who sent the servant to the market to buy provisions. When he heard the incident, that happened in the market, from the servent, the merchant was very anxious to see to death, therefore, he went down and had a meeting with death. In the meeting, death discloses the intention of her arrival to the Baghdad market. 

LITERARY DEVICES IN APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA.

Situational Irony. 

Situational irony occurs when the actual result of a situation is different from what is expected. In the story, the servant meets death at Baghdad and he lends a horse from the merchant and flees to Samarra, a faraway place from the Bagdad. He thought that he will escape from death. But the thing that happened is quite opposite to what is he expected. He doesn't know the death had an appointment with him in Samarra.

Personification.

The attribution of human nature or qualities to non-human objects is known as personification. In the story, the writer represents death as a human and woman. Moreover, at the end of the story, there is a conversation between merchant and death. Naturally, death is a lifeless one but in the story, the writer attributes human qualities to lifeless death.

CONCLUSION

This is a shortened version of the Arabian story. What the writer wants to convey is that death is an inevitable force of nature and nobody can escape from their destiny.