There are four main characters in Somerset Maugham's short story "Red": Neilson, the narrator, also called "The Swede;" Red, a dashing young man who came to this island in the South Pacific twenty-five years ago; Sally, a native woman who loved and was abandoned by Red, and whom Neilson wanted to love after Red's departure; and "the skipper," whose identity is revealed at the end of the story as Red twenty-five years later. Neither Neilson nor Sally recognizes that the older skipper is Red, which sets up many opportunities for ironic twists.

As Neilson tells "the skipper" the story of the romance between Red and Sally, the profound irony of the situation becomes clear. Although Maugham gives several clues to the identity of "the skipper" who docks near Neilson's house and listens to the story, some readers are quite surprised at the end when they learn of the...