Analyse af Ira V. Morris' novelle 'The Sampler'

Good deeds may not be as good as they seem at times. Everyone has throughout his or her life at least performed one good deed and know the warming feeling of that they have made someone’s day better. However, many people end up doing a good deed that can at times seem very nice and kind but end up hurting other people’s feelings. This situation is illustrated in the short story “The Sampler”, written by Ira V. Morris.

The narrator in this story is portrayed as a rather curious man. This is seen in the following quote: “I have often wondered whether this privilege was not occasionally imposed on by people who had no intention of making a purchase, and one day when my curiosity drove me to ask this question of the shop girl, I learned that it was indeed the case.” (p. 95, ll. 5-8).

Secondly, he is shown to be very a generous and compassionate man who has no intention of bad. This is seen as he generously offers to buy pudding for the old man who was sampling the puddings: “Pardon me, sir,…” , “Let me purchase you one of these puddings.” (p.2, ll.13-14). This tells that the narrator feels the need to buy the old man some pudding as he believes the old man can’t afford it.