In Appointment in Samara, I felt that the opening sentence was very intriguing. I was given the vision of the streets of Baghdad, dirty and crowded. As the servant returned, the vivid image of the man filled with fear was heightened in my mind. I imagined the servant being very dark in complexion due to the region, and his being described as, "white," was a fantastic representation of his fright.
Five Stories (short story collection)
"When I was a servant in Rosemary Lane..." Image b...
Short story collectionI also found it interesting that death was described as something as concrete as a person, and not the idea of death that we usually find. Death was also described as a woman in this short story, when before, I have only heard of death described as a man. I felt that the idea of death making a, "threatening gesture," to the servant was vague, until the gesture was described as a reaction of surprise to seeing the man in Baghdad. However, I cannot picture this scene in my mind, as I do not see that any gesture of surprise could be seen as threatening. The part in the story in which the servant mounted the horse and, "dug his spurs into its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went," was very descriptive, and caused me to sense the urgency of the servant to escape death's grip in Samara.
The irony of the entire story was in that death was never due to meet the servant on his way to buy provisions for his master. Death was due to meet him that night in Samara. I felt that this was somewhat comedic, although it dealt with death. It was very clever, and made a very short story seem very complex.