The short story is a fable of love with a strongsarcastic tone. The protagonist, Alan Austen, wants to find an easy solution tothe problem of love by purchasing a love potion. However，it’s notthe love potion that the old man intends to sell primarily, but “life cleaner”.
The theme of “The Chaser” is the cynicism of experience, portrayedon a field of Alan’s youthful naivety and the old man’s pessimistic certainty.
The titleof this short story is somehow a pun. “A chaser” can be a person that pursuessomeone like in “a woman chaser”. In addition, it can refer to a weakeralcoholic drink taken after a strong one. A whisky,like the potion, intoxicates. A beer chaser, like the “life cleaner”, mollifiesthe harshness of the spirits. The potion and the poison go together like a strongalcoholic drink and a chaser.
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Thisshort story, which combines elements of horror and love, is built almost entirelythrough dialogue between a young man, Alan Austen, who is deeply in love andwants to possess his lover entirely, and an unnamed old man who believes in alife free of romantic involvement.
In “The Chaser” John Collier uses:
l the dramatic irony of the title to initialize a cynical landscape;
l and the understatement of the ending to enclose the cynical worldof the old man, a world which Alan is entering.
Paragraph1: In this part, the protagonist, Alan Austen, has been introduced.
Paragraphs2-12: The old man is trying to sell his mixture.
Paragraphs13-45: Austen got to know about the love potion and in the end bought it.
Section Three Detailed Reading
The Chaser
John Collier
1 Alan Austen, as nervous as a kitten, wentup certain dark and creaky stairs in theneighborhood of Pell Street,and peered about for a long time on the dimhallway before he found the name he wanted written obscurelyon one of the doors.
2 He pushed open this door, as he had beentold to do, and found himself in a tiny room, which contained no furniture buta plain kitchen table, a rocking-chair, and an ordinary chair. On one of thedirty buff-coloured walls were a couple ofshelves, containing in all perhaps a dozen bottles and jars.
3 An old man sat in the rocking-chair,reading a newspaper. Alan, without a word, handed him the card he had beengiven. “Sit down, Mr. Austen,” said the old man very politely. “I am glad to make your acquaintance.”
4 “Is it true,” asked Alan, “that you have acertain mixture that has … er … quite extraordinary effects?”
5 “My dear sir,” replied the old man, “mystock in trade is not very large — I don’t deal in laxatives and teething mixtures — butsuch as it is, it is varied. I think nothing I sell has effects which couldbe precisely described as ordinary.”
6 “Well, the fact is …” began Alan.
7 “Here, for example,” interrupted the oldman, reaching for a bottle from the shelf. “Here is a liquid as colourless aswater, almost tasteless, quite imperceptible incoffee, wine, or any other beverage. It is also quite imperceptible to anyknown method of autopsy.”
8 “Do you mean it is a poison?” cried Alan,very much horrified.
9 “Call it a glove-cleaner if you like,” saidthe old man indifferently. “Maybe it will clean gloves. I have never tried. Onemight call it a life-cleaner. Lives need cleaning sometimes.”
10 “I want nothing of that sort,” said Alan.
11 “Probably it is just as well,” said the oldman. “Do you know the price of this? For one teaspoonful, which is sufficient,I ask five thousand dollars. Never less. Not a penny less.”
12 “I hope all your mixtures are not asexpensive,” said Alan apprehensively.
13 “Oh dear, no,” said the old man. “It wouldbe no good charging that sort of price for a lovepotion, for example. Young people who need a love potion very seldomhave five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion.”
14 “I am glad to hear that,” said Alan.
15 “I look at it like this,” said the old man. “Pleasea customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs another. Evenif it is more costly. He will save up for it, if necessary.”
16 “So,” said Alan, “you really do sell lovepotions?”
17 “If I did not sell love potions,” said theold man, reaching for another bottle, “I should not have mentioned the othermatter to you. It is only when one is in a position to oblige that one can afford to be so confidential. “
18 “And these potions,” said Alan. “They arenot just … just … er …”
19 “Oh, no,” said the old man. “Theireffects are permanent, and extend far beyond the mere casual impulse. Butthey include it. Oh, yes they include it. Bountifully, insistently.Everlastingly.”
20 “Dear me!” said Alan, attempting a look ofscientific detachment. “How very interesting!”
21 “But consider the spiritual side,” said theold man.
22 “I do, indeed,” said Alan.
23 “For indifference,” said the old man, “theysubstitute devotion. For scorn, adoration.Give one tiny measure of this to the young lady — its flavour isimperceptible in orange juice, soup, or cocktails — and howevergay and giddy she is, she will changealtogether. She will want nothing but solitude and you.”
24 “I can hardly believe it,” said Alan. “Sheis so fond of parties.”
25 “She will not like them any more,” said theold man. “She will be afraid of the pretty girls you may meet.”
26 “She will actually be jealous?” cried Alanin a rapture. “Of me?”
27 “Yes, she will want to be everything to you.”
28 “She is, already. Only she doesn’t careabout it.”
29 “She will, when she has taken this. She willcare intensely. You will be her sole interest in life.”
30 “Wonderful!” cried Alan.
31 “She will want to know all you do,” said theold man. “All that has happened to you during the day. Every word of it. Shewill want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why youare looking sad.”
32 “That is love!” cried Alan.
33 “Yes,” said the old man. “How carefully shewill look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in a draught, to neglect your food. If you are an hourlate, she will be terrified. She will think you are killed, or that some sirenhas caught you.”
34 “I can hardly imagine Diana like that!”cried Alan, overwhelmed with joy.
35 “You will not have to use your imagination,”said the old man. “And, by the way, since there are always sirens, if by anychance you should, later on, slip a little,you need not worry. She will forgive you, in the end. She will be terriblyhurt, of course, but she will forgive you — in the end.”
36 “That will not happen,” said Alan fervently.
37 “Of course not,” said the old man. “But, ifit did, you need not worry. She would never divorce you. Oh, no! And, ofcourse, she will never give you the least, the very least, grounds for —uneasiness.”
38 “And how much,” said Alan, “is thiswonderful mixture?”
39 “It is not as dear,” said the old man, “asthe glove-cleaner, or life-cleaner, as I sometimes call it. No. That is fivethousand dollars, never a penny less. One has to be older than you are, toindulge in that sort of thing. One has to save up for it.”
40 “But the love potion?” said Alan.
41 “Oh, that,” said the old man, opening thedrawer in the kitchen table, and taking out a tiny, rather dirty-looking phial. “That is just a dollar.”
42 “I can’t tell you how grateful I am,” saidAlan, watching him fill it.
43 “I like to oblige,” said the old man. “Thencustomers come back, later in life, when they are better off, and want moreexpensive things. Here you are. You will find it very effective.”
44 “Thank you again,” said Alan. “Good-bye.”
45 “Aurevoir,” said the man.
1. Whatis the image of Alan Austen in the first part? (Paragraph 1)
2. Why doyou think the old man told Austen about the life-cleaner before selling thelove potion? (Paragraph 7)
3. What is theimplied meaning of the old man’s remark, “Young people who need a love potionvery seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a lovepotion” (Paragraph 13)?
4. Whatis Austen’s understanding of love? (Paragraphs 23-32)
5. What does the old man’s remark in Paragraph 39 “… onehas to be older than you are, to indulge in that sort of thing” mean?
Class Activity
Role play
l Work in pairs and role play thedialogue.
l Make sure you’ve tried your bestto learn the lines by heart.
l You can also ask a fellow studentto supply a prompt.
l Then discuss with each other howyou understand the two roles in the story.
