What are some themes of the short story "How It Happened," by Arthur Conan Doyle?

In Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “How It Happened,” a
spiritual medium, able to communicate with the dead, narrates a first-hand report from a wealthy
dead man. The man had owned a brand new luxury car, which was usually driven by his chauffeur.
One night, however, the owner decided that he would like to drive the car home from the train
station in the dark. Coming down a steep and dangerous hill, the car lost its breaks. Despite the
best efforts of the owner and chauffeur to regain control of the vehicle, it crashed. The
chauffeur was injured, but the owner was instantly killed, although he didn’t recognize
immediately that he was dead. At the very end of the story, he remembers having been greeted by a
good old friend of his, whom he knew to be long dead. The owner was shocked to discover that he,
too, had died.

Doyle’s story can be interpreted as implying a number
of themes, including the following:

• how instantly and
  unexpectedly anyone – even a wealthy person – can make the transition from life to
  death.


• how impossible it often is to reverse the consequences of
  our choices once those choices have been made.


• the idea that
  wealth and status cannot prevent or assuage death.


• the idea that
  wealthy and socially prominent people often take risks that negatively affect people poorer than
  themselves – risks that poorer people, who live harder lives, are often too sensible to
  take.


• the idea that however horrible death may seem from the
  perspective of those still living, it may not be as bad as we imagine. Thus, the dead man’s
  friend gently asked him, as he lay near the crashed vehicle, “No pain?” To which the dead man
  replied,

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“None,” I said.

“There never
is,” said he.

• the idea that
  English gentlemen remain English gentlemen even after they die.
  :-)


• the idea that our personalities do not change even after
  death.