Mr Know All论文设计.doc

论 文（设 计）题目（中文）： 毛姆的百事通先生鉴赏与分析 （英文）：The Analysis of Mr. Know All written by William Somerset Maugham学 院 文学院 年级专业 2009级英语专业 学生姓名 李江涛 学 号 09111219 Mr. Know All Written by William Somerset MaughamThis story is written by English author W Somerset Maugham (18741965)，who was a popular English author of plays, novels and short stories, and is said to have been the highest paid writer in the world during the 1930s. He traveled widely, and was one of the best known writers of travel stories in the period between the first and second world wars. This story, which takes place on a ship, is one of those travel stories.The central theme is stated in very first two paragraphs. From the start, The narrator was prepared to dislike Mr. Kelada even before he saw him. When he first entered the cabin, he saw Mr. Keladas luggage and toilet things that had already been unpacked. The mans name and the sight of his things aroused a strong repulsion in him, since he was prejudiced against all non- Britons, feeling superior to them. When he met Mr. Kelada, his hatred got even stronger. He abhorred the cultural differences between Kelada and himself. He both detested and despised Mr. Keladas gestures. Therefore, the description of Kelada is negative and biased.Actually, the narrators prejudice is based on several cultural differences between him and Mr. Kelada. Mr. Kelada is chatty and argumentative, also dogmatic and aggressive. The narrator thought he shouldnt show off and boast about his superior knowledge he should be modest and keep quiet during meals. While, 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. As the story develops, the narrator changes from referring to Kelada by name to using the term “Levantine”. When Britain took over part of the Levant at the end of the First World War, some in the new government used the term “Levantine” as an insult to local people of mixed Arab and European blood. This suggests that the narrators prejudice against Mr Kelada is an example of racism, which is supported by the fact that he also refers to Keladas “oriental smile” and possible birth in Alexandria or BeirutThe climax of the story develops from an argument over pearls, and Keladas claim that the newly developed cultured pearl industry would not reduce the value of those produced naturally. In this he is correct as nowadays natural pearls are very rare and very valuable. However, the cultured pearl industry has grown to be much larger than the natural pearl industry, and over 99% of the pearls sold around the world today are of the cultured variety. Just as the story goes, as Mrs. Ramsay was wearing a string of pearls, Mr. Kelada announced that it certainly was a genuine one which had probably cost many thousands of dollars. He was ready to bet a hundred dollars on it. Mr. Ramsay, on the other hand, believed that his wife had bought it for 18 dollars in a department store. When Mr. Know - All took out a magnifying glass from his pocket, he noticed a desperate appeal in Mrs. Ramsays eyes. He then realized that Mrs. Ramsay got the pearls from her lover. Since Mr. Kelada didnt want to destroy Mrs. Ramsays marriage, he ruined his reputation instead - he told everybody that he was wrong and that the string was an excellent imitation. He gave Mr. Ramsay a hundred dollars. As the story goes to the last, we know that everybody or even all over the ship had mocked Mr. Kelada. Later, while the narrator and Mr. Know - All were in their cabin, an envelope was pushed under the door. It contained a hundred dollar bill from Mrs. Ramsay. It was then that the narrator learned to value the dark - skinned Levantine. He was amazed at Mr. Keladas generosity. The following parts are mainly arranged to talk about the analyses of the main characters and the techniques used by the author in creating Maughams short story Mr. Know All. Firstly, the analyses of the main characters, mainly about Mr. Kelada.Mr. Kelada was labeled a person of loquacity by the narrator, people may say it was just the narrators prejudice against him and they tried to examine Mr. Kelada with objectiveness. However from his behavior and words, people could found that he really didnt leave people a good impression. He was chatty, arrogance and vanity. But as Jim Carrey once said in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), “Constantly talking isnt necessarily communicating.” For the most times, he was just expressing rather than communicating. It was irony enough that with all his loquacity, had never told anyone what his business was. He can know everyone on board in three days, yet most people disliked him and didnt want to talk with him. Furthermore, he was conceited when talking with people, for instance, “he would not drop a subject, however unimportant, till he had brought you round to his way of thinking. The possibility that he could be mistaken never occurred to him.” When they talked about Mrs. Ramsays pearl necklace, again he boasted, “Theyll never be able to get a culture pearl that an expert like me cant tell with half an eye.” He pointed to a chain that Mrs. Ramsay wore. “You take my word for it, Mrs. Ramsay, that chain youre wearing will never be worth a cent less than it is now.”When it came to his vanity, it has been exposed to the full. Firstly, it was quite ironic that people called him Mr. Know All, even to his face yet he took it as a compliment. Secondly, judging from his choice of words, Mr. Kelada appeared to be very artificial. “I was jolly glad when I heard you were English.” He said when he greeted his roommate. Instead of using “very glad”, he chose an old-fashion English word “jolly”, which was usually used by the noble. Moreover, when he offered some wine to the narrator he said, “Well, there are plenty more where that came from, and if youve got any friends on board, you tell them youve got a pal whos got all the liquor in the world.”No matter through the narrator or judged by the readers themselves, obviously, all that readers knew about him was merely his loquacity and kindness. Actually in his deep soul, he wanted so badly to be accepted by other groups of people, especially by the native British people. His appearance, words and behavior showed that he was not a British people in born but a native of one of the British colonies. The reason why he appeared to be extremely talkative and vehement was that he wanted to be with other people and find a sense of belonging. His country turned to the colony of the Britain, therefore it has lost its sovereignty, and so did its people. They have no dignity. Maybe they simply wanted to find something that could make them equal to these British colonizers. He chatted with almost everyone on every topic to prove how great he was and put some air on him.Secondly, the techniques used by the author in creating the story.In this short story, irony, contrast and foreshadowing were applied in shaping the characters and developing the plot. Basically, instead of presenting his feelings towards the characters directly, the author used objective facts, the incisive, vivid and unique artistic description to give the readers space to have ideas of their own. Take some sentences from the story as illustrations, “I fell pretty sure that a closer inspection of that British passport would have betrayed the fact that Mr. Kelada was born under a bluer sky than is generally seen in England.” These words came from the narrator. He didnt directly point out that Mr. Kelada was not a British people, but used “A bluer sky” to make it humorous and ironic. The author used a large amount of dialogues to interpret Mr. Keladas arrogance and loquacity with a view to form a contrast with his considerate and sympathy to Mrs. Ramsay.It was not difficult to find that foreshadowing existed in this story that indicated what would happen later. For example, the description of Mr. Keladas luggage was actually the indication of his social status and his background. His luggage contained many staffs: excellent Monsieur Coty, and brushes ebonized with his monogram in gold. These indicated that he was an experienced man and with some money. In addition, he ran everything. He was everywhere and always. He liked to deal with all kind of people, when he saw Mrs. Ramsays necklace, he recognized it immediately and pretty sure it was made by real pearls. Needless to say he dared to have a wager with Mr. Ramsay. But when he saw Mrs. Ramsays wide and terrified eyes, he said he was mistaken. It was also an indication that Mrs. Ramsays necklace was really valuable, he was a good person at the end of the story.What is more ,“Mr Kn