It took critics some time, for instance, to understand the larger significance of the ending of Pincher Martin. Initially the final chapter was read literally; subsequently Campbell was seen to be representative of man but Davidson was still regarded simply as the literal rationalist. It was Babb who in his excellent interpretation of the closing chapter of Pincher Martin pointed out, with the help of detailed textual analysis that Davidson stood for death. He begins his commentary by quoting John Peter's statement that Pincher Martin is a symbolic structure whose "meaning is difficult to exhaust," but he feels that "the mode of the final chapter is essentially allegorical."

Keywords: Campbell and Davidson, Pincher Martin, Allegorical, Exploiting Juxtaposition, Parallelism.