On the surface, John Collier’s The Chaser is a light-hearted story about a young man looking to buy a love potion to enchant the woman of his dreams. However, in the old man’s final words Au revoir (goodbye until we meet again), we realize that the story may be the rising action in a longer plot. A major theme is manipulation. Alan is being as cruelly manipulated as he hopes to manipulate Diana. Other themes: true love vs. obsessive desire, equality vs. servility in relationships, morality (lack of respect for and destruction of Diana’s identity, murder as a solution).
Original Text / PDF / Audio (1,057 words)
Video Version
This is an episode from Series One of the famous American TV series, The Twilight Zone. There is an added section at the end that continues the story after the girl drinks the potion. However, like most TV shows of the time (1960), this softens the ending the author may have originally had in mind. I must admit that I found the acting of two main characters so annoying that I hoped both would drink some of the glove cleaner! Watch and enjoy.
What is the ganra of that short story ?
The story is a Fantasy (fiction in a unreal setting that often includes magic, magical creatures, or the supernatural).