英美短篇小-说Unit-6-MrKnow-All.ppt

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,Unit 6,Mr.Know-All,W.Somerset Maugham,W.Somerset Maugham,Born,January,25,1874,Paris,France,Died,December,16,1965(aged91),Nice,France,Occupation,Playwright,Novelist,Story Writer,Notable,works,Of Human Bondage The Letter Rain The Razors,Edge,The,Moon and Sixpence,Childhood and education,Maughams father was an English lawyer handling the legal affairs of the British embassy in Paris.Since French law declared that all children born on French soil could be conscripted for military service,arranged for William to be born at the embassy,technically on British soil,saving him from conscription into any future French wars.,His grandfather,another Robert,had also been a prominent lawyer and cofounder of the English Law Society,and it was taken for granted that William would follow in their footsteps.,Maughams mother Edith Mary(ne Snell)was consumptive,a condition for which the doctors of the time prescribed childbirth.As a result Maugham had three older brothers,already enrolled in boarding school by the time he was three and Maugham was effectively raised as an only child.Childbirth proved no cure for tuberculosis,and Edith Mary Maugham died at the age of 41,six days after the stillbirth of her final son.,The death of his mother left Maugham traumatized for life,and he kept his mothers photograph by his bedside until his own death at the age of 91 in Nice,France.William was sent back to England to be cared for by his uncle,Henry MacDonald Maugham,the Vicar of Whit stable,in Kent.The move was catastrophic.,Literary achievements,Maughams literary achievements also lie with his short stories.Many of them portray the conflict of Europeans in alien surroundings that provoke strong emotions,and Maughams skill in handling plot,in the manner of Guy de Maupassant,is distinguished by economy and suspense.,Maughams,philosophy of life is usually reflected in these works as a resigned atheism and a certain skepticism about the extent of mans innate goodness and intelligence;it is this that gives his work its astringent cynicism.,THE STORY,Mr.Know-All,is a story with a moral lesson.The subject is simple.A rich British merchant of Oriental origin,called Mr.Kelada,meets a group of Westerners on a ship sailing across the Pacific Ocean.,His cabin-mate,a British citizen who is the nameless narrator of the story,dislikes Mr.Kelada even before he sees him.However,at the end of the story Mr.Kelada,the Levantine jeweler,proves to be a real gentleman when he sacrifices his own pride and reputation to save an American ladys marriage.As a result,he earns the respect of the narrator.,As one of Maughams most famous short stories,Mr.Know-All,tries in a cynical way to criticize the social and racial bias,as well as the hypocrisy of the Western social etiquette.,Starting from a narrator with a Euro-centric mind,the writer sets out to present to the reader the ingenuousness and straightforwardness of the Levantine Mr.Kelada.,One thing worth noticing is that the reader is always unconsciously being manipulated by the writer,who leads us to feel first against the main character,Mr.Kelada,and then discover his true and good characteristics.,Mrs.Ramsays suspected adultery is treated almost permissively,and in line with her prettiness and seemingly modest demeanour,as well as the pomposity and stupidity of her husband indicates Maughams deep disappointment with the human conditions.,THE SETTING,Time-,a short time after World War I.It is mentioned for two reasons.First,itjustifies the accidental meeting in the same cabin of the narrator and Mr.Kelada.Thepassenger traffic on the ocean-liners was heavy,so the narrator had to agree to share a cabin with a person he disliked.Second,it may give us a possible reason for the narrators unjustified antagonism towards Mr.Kelada.Usually,during periods of war,feelings of prejudice and dislike for foreigners grow stronger.,Place,it takes place on a ship in INTERNATIONAL WATERS,a neutral place.The journey for the USA to Japan takes 14 days.,The ship becomes the symbol of the world with people who are prejudiced and even racists.,THE NARRATION-point of view,The story is told in the first person the narrator sees everything and is a part of theplot.,In the first episode,where he meets with Mr.Kelada,the narrator is more active,and involved.He observes,comments and judges Mr.Kelada as he sees him through his own eyes.Since he is influenced by his prejudiced society,his judgments are subjective.,In the second episode,involving the necklace examination,the narrator is less involved.He is like a cameraman who takes photos and writes down what he hears objectively After the chain examination is over,the narrator becomes subjective again.,In the last episode,the narrator discovers Mr.Keladas true character.As a result,he undergoes a change he realizes that people should not be judged by their looks butby their actions and character.It is the narrator who closes the story.,REAL PEARLS and CULTURE PEARLS,At first glance,real pearls and cultured pearls look the same.But only a closerinspection can reveal what is real and what is imitation.,The same goes for people.,People from the same nationality seem the same.But only when we get to know them,we see that each person is different.For example,the narrator in the story dislikes Mr.Kelada because of his name,luggage,appearance and nationality.However,when he sees the true character of Mr.Kelada,he realizes that prejudice is not the right way tojudge people.,Therefore,the saying DONT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER is relevant here.,The characteristics of Mr Kelada,From the narrators perspective in Mr Know-All,Mr Kelada is boisterous,nosy and thinks he knows everything.This is why the other passengers call him Mr Know-All,apparently intending to demean him,but he takes it as a compliment.,The fact that he is everywhere and always is something of an irritation to the narrator who cant even find his own seat at dinner as Mr Kelada has arranged him a seat at his table.,Mr.Kelada was a person that seemed to know everything and was involved in everything,not sensing that he was disliked by everybody.He was very chatty and talked as if he had been superior to everybody else.The passengers mocked him and called him Mr.Know-All even to his face.,He is happy to share his illegal liquor which,during Prohibition was an offence.Interestingly,the narrator,whilst consistently stating his dislike of Mr Kelada,takes the drink willingly-a little hypocritically actually-as,for his own reasons,the narrator expects Mr Kelada to treat him with more respect,using mister before his name.,Mr Kelada has no airs and graces and it is not disrespect,it is just his familiarity-which he has with all the passengers.,Mr Kelada is not shy to share his knowledge but this makes him seem arrogant as he is the chap who knew never expecting to be wrong,nor admitting to it until he is faced with a dilemma when exchanging his expertize with the Ramseys.He is an expert on pearls as he is in the trade and rightly recognizes Mrs Ramseys expensive string of pearls around her neck.Mr Ramsey argues that they are fake and the two men wager a bet.,Mr Kelada,uncharacteristically,backs down and admits his mistake on seeing Mrs Ramseys wide and terrified eyes.Keladas recognition that she may have a secret from her husband,thereby allowing himself to be ridiculed,is a very honorable gesture and Mrs Ramsey is saved the embarrassment of exposure in front of all these people.,For all his hearty,jovial,loquacious(very talkative)and argumentative behavior,being quite a nuisance and source of irritation and liking to always be right,Mr Kelada proves his worth when he does not interfere in the Ramseys business.He would rather place himself at the centre of this fine joke revealing a side to his character that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.,The moral of the story is that we must not judge a book by its cover.Rather than judging a person by his looks,color or origin we should observe his behaviour and reactions in difficult situations,How does the narrator prejudge Mr.Kelada?,He judges him by his name and by his belongings which he sees in their cabin.He dislikes the fact that a foreigner could be wealthy(too many labels on his suitcases meaning that Mr.Kelada travels a lot)and his perfume is the very expensive Coty perfume and he has his monogram(the letters of his name M.K.his initials,in gold on his expensive hairbrushes).,Discussion,1.Which of those could be considered cultural difference,and which were just a part of Mr.Keladas personality that clashed with that of the narrators?,2.What are the authors feelings about Mr.and Mrs.Ramsay?,3.Why does the narrator call Mr.Kelada:The best hated man on the ship?,