In Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “How It Happened,” the narrator experiences a seamless transition into death. Not only is there no pain, but the narrator emerges much the same as before. Though other humans can no longer see or hear him, he can still see and hear them, and he still inhabits the same body and world as before he died. Nor is the narrator alone in the afterlife—his friend Stanley warmly welcomes him, suggesting that there can be human community and connection even in death. Through this portrayal of the afterlife, Doyle plays with the idea that death might be neither a foreign nor frightening experience, but rather a continuation of life.
Doyle’s use of the writing medium to tell the narrator’s story from beyond the grave further strengthens this idea. It implies that the worlds of the living and the dead are not only similar, but also accessible to one another. All that is needed to bridge the gap is a medium—or, in this case, an author to transcribe the tale. Depending on the reader’s belief in the supernatural, then, “How It Happened” can be interpreted either as a true supernatural artifact, faithfully transcribed by Doyle, or a story that demonstrates the power of narrative to seemingly resurrect the dead. In either case, Doyle suggests that the dead are never very far from the living.
Death and the Supernatural ThemeTracker
Death and the Supernatural Quotes in How It Happened
She was a writing medium. This is what she wrote: –
I can remember some things upon that evening most distinctly, and others are like some vague broken dreams. This is what makes it so difficult to tell a connected story.
At the present moment I was surprised to see him, but I was like a man in a dream, giddy and shaken and quite prepared to take things as I found them without questioning them.
“Here I am,” I answered, but they did not seem to hear me. They were all bending over something which lay in front of the car.
“Stanley! I cried, and the words seemed to choke my throat – “Stanley you are dead.”
He looked at me with the same old gentle, wistful smile.
“So are you,” he answered.