The appointment in Samarra
I have to write 2 peer responses this is the article that we had to review and ill post their reviews at the bottom.The Appointment in Samarra”(as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])The speaker is DeathThere was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.Two required peer responses1.Death not being omniscient is what sets the fable into action. If she had known that the servant would have been at the market then she would not have been startled, therefore the servant would not have left Bagdad to flee from death.Death is sometimes portrayed as a shadow or menacing figure. However, here we see death personified as a woman, I think this characterization of death could be in part of where the story takes place. A lady in a marketplace is not as scary as a figure of darkness. Furthermore, in society women are seen as nurturers, life givers, I think death being a female could be a twist on that, women can give life but they can also take itI think the moral of this story is that sometimes we run from something only to end up in a situation far worse. I also think it could mean that most things is set in stone, you cannot change destiny. The servant thought that he was running away from death only to run into it. I think it’s somewhat useful, I don’t blame the servant for running, I think we should carefully pick our battles, and I think one against death is a losing one. However, sometimes we give up too easily, the servant did not even try to put up a fight he just ran.2.In this story, if Death was all knowing she would’ve been prepared to see the servant in the market. Her not knowing he would be there was just as startling to her as it was to him. It would’ve taken away the element of surprise to the story.Death being portrayed as a women rather than a man creates an entire new aspect to the story. Death is often seen as a man in an aggressive state or a dark, black figure. Women are normally portrayed to be fragile and seductive. Therefore death being in the state of a women creates a new essence to the character.The lesson in this text is to not try and outrun or change your fate. You need to accept things as they are or as they come and allow the universe to align itself around you.
