The sales method used by the old man reveals his cynical understanding of men like Austen Collier makes clear that the old man knows why Austen has come. Before showing his love potion, the old man describes the untraceable poison, which he calls a ‘glove cleaner’ or ‘life cleaner.’ His aim is actually to sell the old man’s art of manipulation, for even though Austen is at the moment horrified by the poison, the seed has been planted in his mind. He will always know, when his love for Diana changes, that he will have the choice of “cleaning” his life. This unscrupulous sales method effectively corrupts Austen in advance. Such a calculation on the old man’s part is grimly cynical. Supporting the tone of cynicism in the old man’s sales technique is his use of double meaning For example, his concluding words, “Au revoir” (that is, “until I see you again”), carry an ironic double meaning. On the one hand, the words conventionally mean “goodbye,” but on the other, they suggest that the old man expects a future meeting when Austen will return to buy the poison to kill Diana. The old man’s acknowledgement of Austen’s gratitude shows the same ironic double edge. He says, “I like to oblige . . . then customers come back, later in life, when they are better off, and want more expensive things.” Clearly the “expensive” thing is “the chaser,” the undetectable poison. Through such ironic speeches, the old man is politely but cynically telling Austen that his love will not last and that it will eventually bore, irritate, and then torment him to the point where he will want to murder Diana rather than to continue living with her potion-induced possessiveness. Before “The Chaser” is dismissed as cynical, however, we should note that Austen’s ideas about love must inevitably produce just such cynicism. The old man’s descriptions of the total enslavement that Austen has dreamed about would leave no breathing room for either Austen or Diana. This sort of love, because it excludes everything else in life, suffocates rather than pleases. It is normal to wish freedom from such psychological imprisonment, even if the prison is of one’s own making. Under these conditions, the cynical tone of “The Chaser” suggests that the desire to be totally possessing and possessed—to ‘”want nothing but solitude” and the loved one—can lead only to disaster for both man and woman. The old man’s cynicism and the young man’s desire suggest the need for an ideal of love that permits interchange, individuality, and understanding. Even though this better ideal is not described anywhere in the story, it is compatible with Collier’s situational irony. Thus, cynical as the story unquestionably is, it does not exclude an idealism of tolerant and more human love.
and is only two and a half pages long.
It’s a situation based short story
and by potions one might be reminded of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
where a love potion creates confusion later on
but that is not the case in this story.
The effects of this particular potion,
according to the old man are permanent.
The sales method used by the old man reveals his cynical understanding of men like Austen Collier makes clear that the old man knows why Austen has come. Before showing his love potion, the old man describes the untraceable poison, which he calls a ‘glove cleaner’ or ‘life cleaner.’ His aim is actually to sell the old man’s art of manipulation, for even though Austen is at the moment horrified by the poison, the seed has been planted in his mind. He will always know, when his love for Diana changes, that he will have the choice of “cleaning” his life. This unscrupulous sales method effectively corrupts Austen in advance. Such a calculation on the old man’s part is grimly cynical. Supporting the tone of cynicism in the old man’s sales technique is his use of double meaning For example, his concluding words, “Au revoir” (that is, “until I see you again”), carry an ironic double meaning. On the one hand, the words conventionally mean “goodbye,” but on the other, they suggest that the old man expects a future meeting when Austen will return to buy the poison to kill Diana. The old man’s acknowledgement of Austen’s gratitude shows the same ironic double edge. He says, “I like to oblige . . . then customers come back, later in life, when they are better off, and want more expensive things.” Clearly the “expensive” thing is “the chaser,” the undetectable poison. Through such ironic speeches, the old man is politely but cynically telling Austen that his love will not last and that it will eventually bore, irritate, and then torment him to the point where he will want to murder Diana rather than to continue living with her potion-induced possessiveness. Before “The Chaser” is dismissed as cynical, however, we should note that Austen’s ideas about love must inevitably produce just such cynicism. The old man’s descriptions of the total enslavement that Austen has dreamed about would leave no breathing room for either Austen or Diana. This sort of love, because it excludes everything else in life, suffocates rather than pleases. It is normal to wish freedom from such psychological imprisonment, even if the prison is of one’s own making. Under these conditions, the cynical tone of “The Chaser” suggests that the desire to be totally possessing and possessed—to ‘”want nothing but solitude” and the loved one—can lead only to disaster for both man and woman. The old man’s cynicism and the young man’s desire suggest the need for an ideal of love that permits interchange, individuality, and understanding. Even though this better ideal is not described anywhere in the story, it is compatible with Collier’s situational irony. Thus, cynical as the story unquestionably is, it does not exclude an idealism of tolerant and more human love.and is only two and a half pages long. It’s a situation based short story and by potions one might be reminded of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream where a love potion creates confusion later on but that is not the case in this story. The effects of this particular potion, according to the old man are permanent.
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