Rain

W. Somerset Maugham’s short story “Rain” is a look into mans dark side. It is about arrogance, contempt, and self-righteousness, but mostly about one man’s fanatical obsession with power and how that power finally destroys him.
Maugham starts his story by giving us a brief insight into the attitudes of some of the major characters, Dr. and Mrs. Macphail and Rev. and Mrs. Davidson, missionaries on a voyage to their respective outposts. In the opening paragraphs we find that both the Macphails and Davidsons look down their noses at the “rough lot” they are forced to ship with. Both are of the opinion that they are “above” the others. Mrs. Macphail tells her husband how flattered she is that the Davidson’s think that she and her husband are the only people on board whom they are willing to associate; however, Dr. Macphail is quick to point out about the Davidson’s, “The founder of their religion wasn’t so exclusive.”
In the morning, looking out over Samoa...