Genre
Short story.
Setting and Context
Talua, one of larger of Samoan islands during an indeterminate year most likely in the first or second decade of the 20th century.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person point-of-view primarily through the perspective of Mackintosh, but also capable of entering into the mind of Walker.
Tone and Mood
The threat and fear of sharks institutes in the opening lines creates a foreboding tone of tragedy that grows increasingly darker in conjunction with the darkening mood of Mackintosh.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Mackintosh. Antagonist: Walker.
Major Conflict
The conflict of the story is situated in the antagonistic relationship between two men who are total opposite in every way and grows out of Mackintosh’s intensifying frustration with subjugation to a man he considers his inferior.
Climax
The recognition by Mackintosh of how much he underestimated Walker in the aftermath of the man’s murder.
Foreshadowing
"He pressed his hands to his aching head. He would like to kill him. But he pulled himself together.”
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Mackintosh: “With his thin legs and thin arms he made a grotesque figure, a sinister Don Quixote, and Walker began to make coarse jokes about him.” Walker: “his small features were all dissolved in fat; and, but for a crescent of white hair at the back of his head, he was completely bald. He reminded you of Mr Pickwick.”
Imagery
The story opens with image of Mackintosh avoiding going into the deeper water to swim because of a fear of sharks and ends with the image of sharks in feeding frenzy on his corpse. Taken together these literal portraits of shark combine with the predatory character of Walker to create imagery that unifies the theme of Mackintosh arriving at his tragic end because he got himself in too deep.
Paradox
The paradox that drives the plot which Mackintosh is incapable of understanding is that Walker’s incessant ridicule and emasculating “chaffing” is actually his perverse way of demonstrating that he actually likes and respects Mackintosh.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“His roads were the joy of his heart”
Personification
“Mackintosh listened with absorption. He wanted now to feed his hatred”
