Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street It has been said about V.S. Naipaul's novel Miguel Street that "One of the recurrent themes... is the ideal of manliness" (Kelly 19). To help put into focus what manliness is, it is important to establish a definition for masculinity as well as its opposite, femininity. Masculinity is defined as "Having qualities regarded as characteristic of men and boys, as strength, vigor, boldness, etc" while femininity is defined as "Having qualities
Franny And Zooey & The Razor’s Edge Many novels use religion as the central object of their plot. Franny and Zooey, by J.D Salinger and The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham both display religion as having they key role in their novels. Religion is the main guide in Franny and Zooey and The Razor’s Edge for the search of meaning. During the search for meaning the two main characters Franny Glass and Larry Darrel, use religion as an escape from everyday life and from bad memories
Origins of Expressionism Exhibited in The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham, Expressionism differed greatly from its predecessor, Impressionism. Unlike Impressionism, Expressionism’s “goals were not to reproduce the impression suggested by the surrounding world, but to strongly impose the artist's own sensibility to the world's representation” (Web museum 1). In Expressionism, “the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects
Some time ago Somerset Maugham said that "to eat well in England, you should have breakfast three times a day.' To be perfectly honest, most British food was considered by many people as terrible. It included overcooked vegetables, boring sandwiches and greasy sausages. It was definitely not an enjoyable experience. However, these are now only stereotypes. Things have changed a lot and food has become very important in British culture. Not only TV cooks are more famous than writers, but also their
still new many recruits had to first learn how to drive. Because of the number of better educated volunteers, there were a significant number of famous authors that were ambulance drivers during World War I. They included Ernest Hemingway, W. Somerset Maugham, and E.E. Cummings (Literary). Three predominant volunteer ambulance groups were active in World War I: the American Field Service (AFS), Norton-Harjes, and the American Red Cross. When the United States entered the war, the AFS and Norton-Harjes
William Somerset Maugham By looking at Of Human Bondage, one can see that William Somerset Maugham included themes of relationships and life patterns because they played a major role in his life. He took his life experiences and put them into his books. This made him very successful, but he still seemed to have trouble finding his place in society. Both Maugham and his characters had personal struggles with family and themselves and that is what makes his books so good for all ages of readers to
The History of Hysteria W. Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence is essentially a novel about a man’s struggle to free himself from the restrictions of society and to act out his most passionate desire--to paint. However, Maugham’s novel is also a story of its time and therefore reflects popular theories and ideas that were prevalent at the time of its writing. Included in these ideas is Hysteria, mentioned clearly when the narrators describes the doctor’s view of Blanche’s attempt to kill
Somerset Maugham Somerset Maugham was born on January 25, 1874 in Paris where his father was the solicitor to the British Embassy. However, he was orphaned at the age of ten and lived with his uncle, the vicar of Whitstable, in England. Maugham was educated in England studying literature and philosophy at Heidelberg University. In 1897 he qualified as a surgeon from St. Thomas’ medical school and practiced for a year in the slums of London. However, he abandoned medicine after the success of
self indulged lives we don’t take a moment to step back and look deeply at the true characters of the people around us. Instead we are happier with making our unsupported judgments on people and continuing to go about our own concerns. Mr. W. Somerset Maugham wrote a story called, Mr. Know-All, that shows us how we too often tend to act judgmental towards others, but later when we pause and take a closer look, we may find that they are truly greater in character than we are. The story starts with
Great Britain as a worldwide system of colonies dominated the world for some three centuries. The first uncertain British attempts to establish overseas settlements were made as early as the sixteenth century. Huge economic and trade success, plus maritime expansion, resulted in the seventeenth century in the establishment of settlements in North America and the West Indies. The East India Company established its first trading posts in India at the beginning of the seventeenth century and the same
Literature and Life in Of Human Bondage In the novel Of Human Bondage, the reader comes across a truly magnificent quote on page 627. This quote is: "He had lived always in the future, and the present always, always had slipped through his fingers." In and of itself, this is a very powerful quote. However, it can be given even more power and significance if a person can relate this quote to their own life and experiences. I myself, after reading this quote, was instantly able to identify with
an abusive spouse or of a deceased loved one, for example, can now walk out of the cold, dark dungeon into the light, ready to start the first day of the rest of his life. One literary character achieves this freedom. In Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham portrays, through the main character of Philip Carey, spiritual and sexual bonds that are ultimately broken. Carey’s only spiritual bondage comes from perhaps the biggest and most widely known religion of all time: Christianity. After his mother’s
"The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety." - W. Somerset Maugham It's not a secret that our world is far from being perfect. But both now and always there are people who want to make it better. Some of them expresses this through the arts, someone tries to take actions. Bit by bit people have changed their mind about world's arrangement, but the main problems still remain. Our community should be ashamed of social differentiation, poverty, and illiteracy, because this is what divides us
In William Somerset Maugham’s philosophical work The Razor’s Edge, the main character Larry uses personal experiences to draw conclusions on several questions about God, life, and evil. By the end of the novel, Larry refutes the existence of the traditional Christian God, explains evil as the product of heredity and a poor environment, and suggests the existence of an afterlife through his views on reincarnation. These conclusions are based on his experiences in World War I, the tragic deaths of
The text I'm going to analyse represents a short-story, entitled "THE LUNCHEON", written by a prominent, English novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist Somerset Maugham. First of all I'd like to say some words about the title of the text "The Luncheon". The title of the text is rather ironical. If we consult a dictionary, we can find out that the word "luncheon" means a "light snack", but as we can see hereinafter a light snack turns to be an abundant and expensive meal. The text
Carol Ann Duffy Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow on 23rd. December 1965 .she is widely commended as Britain's leading female poet. She has studied philosophy at Liverpool University. Her mother was Mary Black, an Irish. And her father was called Frank Duffy. She has four younger brothers. She attended St Austin Roman Catholic Primary School, Stafford from 1962 to 1967, after which she attended St Joseph's convent school, Stafford. She was encouraged in poetry by her teacher June
Literature reflects life‟ - this was true in the sense that a poet or writer, in composing a literary work, was very often inspired and influenced by some of his/ her own experiences and social surroundings. Literature was a term used to describe written or spoken material. The term was most commonly used to refer to words of the creative imagination including works of Poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction. Literature was one of the fine arts like music and painting. It was, fundamentals, an
1973, with his novel The Rachel Papers, up to this point, Martin Amis firmly holds the title of one of the most innovative and influential writers of the 20th and 21st century. His first novel was awarded the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award, and though he did not gain many awards in his life, his novels represent the constant inspiration for many critics worldwide. Along with writers such as Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, and many others of the middle generation, he holds a position of a well read and
cyclone of words. His characters -- much like the author himself, who suffers from epilepsy and diabetes -- have been pummeled by the world, but they refuse to be knocked out. His three short story collection -- The Pugilist at Rest, a National Book Awards finalist; Cold Snap and now SONNY LISTON WAS A FRIEND OF MINE (Little, Brown, $23) -- showcases a supreme writer in the throes of a thinking man's agony. We spoke with Jones recently about his life, his stories and his passion for words. He
Bristol. MG: What lead you to write the Bloody Chamber? AC: A lot of things lead me to write those stories. But if I were to say what got the ball rolling, I would pin that down to shortly after I moved to Tokyo by using the winnings from the Somerset Maugham Award. While I lived for two years there I was shocked by the strictly defined gender roles of Japan which helped me form my “radical feminist views” as they’re called. So certainly that experience was part of the inspiration to write my leads as