This classic short story is about a young man who has death as his godfather. The short story is laced with symbolism as well as a number of ironic instances and in that regard, it makes quite an interesting read.The story’s main idea in this case is the invincibility of death. By invincibility, I mean that death can neither be deceived nor escaped.
In the short story, death is given an everlasting presence in that though you may avoid it in the short term, it still catches up with you in the long term or in the final analysis. Therefore readers in this case are largely drawn in through the death character. As a physician, he manages to cheat death twice to its chagrin but it soon catches up with him, deceiving him as he had done to it before.The main reason why the physician thinks he can cheat death is by dint of his being Death’s godchild.
This is in fact the reason why death does not punish him in the first instance though the failure to do so seems to motivate the child to deceive death in another round expecting the same treatment. Indeed, when the physician is led into the cave by death, he trusts him (as his godfather) believing that he has his (the physicians)best interest at heart(McKerchar 2001).In regard to what the narrator learns about himself, I would say that the story is an eye-opener in regard to the nature of death. The personification of death in this case brings out a picture of an “individual’ who can never really be cheated.
References
McKerchar, D. R. (2001). Godfather Death: A Grimm’s Fairytale Re-Told in Rhyme. Sabre Graphics Art, Design and Publishing
