Rain (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: W. Somerset Maugham
- First Published: 1921
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: During or immediately after World War I
- Setting: Pago-Pago, American Samoa
- Principal Characters: Sadie Thompson, The Reverend Mr. Davidson, Mrs. Davidson, Dr. Macphail, Mrs. Macphail
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Culture, Colonies or colonization, Suicide, Guilt, Christianity, Criticism, Imperialism, Paganism, Tropics
The Story
When a measles epidemic temporarily prevents the Davidsons and the Macphails from continuing their journey to Apia, Western Samoa, they find themselves stranded in Pago-Pago. Though the two couples have socialized on shipboard, they are very different: The Davidsons, who have been absent from their medical and religious mission north of Samoa for a year, are religious zealots whose single aim in life is to convert Samoans to Christianity. They are a drab and humorless pair who associate with the Macphails only because the rest of the ship's passengers seem “fast”...
[The entire page is 1750 words long]
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