Rain

Rain Literary Elements

Genre

Short story

Setting and Context

The story is set just after the First World War in American Samoa, an Island in the South Pacific Ocean.

Narrator and Point of View

The story is narrated by a third-person limited omniscient narrator; the point of view stays with Dr. Macphail.

Tone and Mood

The tone is descriptive; the mood is ominous.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is Dr. Macphail; antagonists include the Davidsons, the governor, and Miss Thompson.

Major Conflict

The major conflict in the story is that Dr. Macphail, although he prefers to mind his own business, feels compelled to help Miss Thompson when Davidson treats her cruelly.

Climax

The story reaches its climax when Dr. Macphail is brought to Davidson's dead body.

Foreshadowing

Maugham introduces foreshadowing when Davidson's wife speaks of her concern that his passion for bringing lost souls to God will destroy him.

Understatement

Allusions

Imagery

Paradox

Parallelism

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Personification

Maugham personifies Pago Pago's persistent rain, describing it as having "a fury of its own."