Write a brief descriptive analysis of the short story immortals by Martin Amis. Mention the major themes explored in the text, the main character's experience as the story progresses, and the conclusi

The author showcases the aftermath of the collapse of human civilization through a narrator with a warped sense of reality believing himself to be immortal (Amis, 1987). Themes such as life’s purpose, isolation, and geopolitics are explored. The narrator’s explanation of his experiences throughout cannot be trusted due to their inconsistencies and his admission that what he believes might be a fallacy.                                                                                                                   

 Although the narrator gives details of his history, he distances from it never really letting the reader truly in on his past. He views the world ending as it began but him surviving it all as he sees himself as immortal. The narrator’s interactions with people serve to prove that he is indeed mortal. He complains about how his future will be when everyone else dies showing his fear of being isolated and the loneliness that would come with it.                                                               

The art of involving multiplicity in storytelling is shown as the central character acknowledges that he has delusions of being a school headmaster who has never achieved much and is dying along with everyone else. This confession introduces two realities into the picture hence multiplicity (Lanham, 2013). It also shows that for a moment he gets a glimpse of an alternate and maybe true reality but reverts back to envisioning himself as an eternal being.

The author also highlights a dystopian society where all the survivors are delusional and are stuck on the idea of immortality and don’t have the level of well-being and health that would help them in surviving the aftermath of a nuclear attack (Thapa, 2019). The question about the purpose of life is brought up by the fact we observe the narrator as an immortal in a world that is falling apart and the survivors are dying away. This makes the reader question if an eternity of isolation and loneliness as the lone survivor is worth it if achieving immortality is truly a blessing or a curse.

            Even though the central character tries desperately to have us believe he is “the Immortal”, the façade is removed at the end and the reader sees lonesome survivors of a nuclear bombing that have turned to delusional imaginings to prevent themselves from facing the fact that civilization has been destroyed.