"The Chaser" Analysis

There are always strengths and weaknesses to a story, whether it is displayed in text format or as a visual presentation. John Collier’s “The Chaser” was a short story which was also adapted as an on screen for an episode of “The Twilight Zone”. Each version has numerous strengths and weaknesses.

“The Chaser” by John Collier is a fictitious story of a young man, Alan Austen, who is head-over-heels in love with a woman named Diana who wants nothing to do with him. His character is well defined as a nervous, timid man. Both the characters of Alan and the old man are both well defined; the old man is determined and informative and Alan is unconfident and desperate. Collier uses language that is easy to understand and an interesting dialogue between the two characters. The old man refers to a potion he has made as “spot remover” he describes the concoction as “colourless as water, almost tasteless, quite imperceptible in coffee, milk, wine, or any other beverage. It is also quite imperceptible to any known method of autopsy.” This is a strong, well-used metaphor for poison. Collier fully conveys the meaning of the metaphor in this quote which makes understanding what the “spot remover” is substantially easier for the audience. He also foreshadows future events in the story when the old man tells Alan that after buying the love potion “customers come back later in life, when they are rather better off, and want more expensive things”; the expensive potion that the old man described to Alan was the “spot remover.” The ending of “The Chaser” can be described as a cliff-hanger; it ends abruptly as Alan exits the shop and does not go into greater detail of the proceeding events, therefore drawing the audience’s attention in and making them want more of a story. However, there are quite a few weaknesses to this story. The plot is too brief and ends much too quickly, leaving the reader unsatisfied. The language can be confusing to one who is not fully acquainted to metaphors. Collier did not leave room for character development in this story; the characters stay static and do not change for either the better or the worse. Therefore, the story is slightly under-developed, leaving out some interesting details.

Likewise, The Twilight Zone adaption of “The Chaser” connotes the same story and plot. However, through visual presentation there are more details added. The audience can see how the main character, in this case Roger, interacts with the other characters around him. The plot is clearer and has a well defined direction. The director of the show developed the characters further, showing changes in Roger and Lila’s attitudes towards each other, and added in some comedy relief when Lila becomes fully enamoured with Roger and starts acting foolishly. The details of the plot were fully presented and developed; the plot had a strong introduction, body and ending. The ending of the show was slightly anti-climactic but showed a full resolution to the storyline when Roger decided not to poison Lila and to live with her as he initially intended her to be when he gave her the love potion. On the contrary, the show displayed a few weaknesses. The story moved quite quickly and the language was slightly bland and uninteresting. The characters and details of the plot were not as similar to the original text and the end was anti-climactic, ending without an interesting resolution.

In conclusion, both “The Chaser” and The Twilight Zone’s adaption had many strengths and weaknesses when it came to the various areas of the storyline. Both were superb examples of the difference between text and visual formats of a story.