John Collier’s the Chaser

“The Chaser”

The theme of John Collier’s short story, “The Chaser”, is to be wary of your choices because the outcome may be the opposite of what is wished for. In the beginning of the story, Alan Austen meets with the old man to discuss the purchase of a potion to make his love, Diana, fall in love with him. Alan is completely ‘head over heels’ for Diana that he is unable to see the future repercussions of the love potion. The old man offers Alan two potions, a “life-cleaner” and a love potion. Alan immediately refuses the “life-cleaner”, wanting nothing to do with the poison and directs his attention to the love potion. As the old man lists the effects of the love potion, Alan fails to see how different Diana will be once she takes the potion. The old man says, “…she will change altogether. She will want nothing but solitude and you” (Collier 2). The old man subtly warns Alan multiple times throughout their conversation about the effect this potion will have on her. He also says, “She will want to know all you do…Every word of it. She will want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why you are looking sad”