# A Game of Billiards explained — On a Chinese Screen

> Chapter companion for On a Chinese Screen by W. Somerset Maugham.

## What happens

The narrator, staying in a small hotel, is invited to play billiards by a mysterious, thin, red-faced stranger. After a silent game, the stranger abruptly asks if the narrator believes in fate, then departs, leaving the narrator to wonder about the man's strange impulse.

## Themes in this chapter

### Colonial Ennui and Isolation

The narrator's solitary stay in a nearly empty hotel, with only a few disconnected guests, evokes a sense of ennui and isolation typical of colonial outposts.

### Search for Meaning and Identity

The stranger's abrupt question about fate hints at a deeper search for meaning or purpose, contrasting with the mundane setting of a billiard game.

## Character check-ins

### The Stranger

A long, thin, red-faced man over fifty who invites the narrator to play billiards, remains silent during the game, and then asks a sudden question about fate.

## Key lines

> Do you believe in fate?

Do you think that events in life are predetermined?

_The stranger's sudden, philosophical question breaks his long silence and suggests a personal preoccupation with destiny._

> I believe if things are coming to you, you can’t escape them.

I think that if something is meant to happen to you, you cannot avoid it.

_The stranger's fatalistic statement reinforces the theme of predestination and leaves a lingering mystery._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_a_chinese_screen_se/chapters/xl-a-game-of-billiards
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_a_chinese_screen_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_a_chinese_screen_se/chapters