Mr-Know-all教学内容

1、精品文档精品文档Reading Mr. Know-all”：A Post-colonial PerspectiveMr. Know-all is a short story written by the English author W. SomersetMaugham(1874-1965), who is most famed for his novel Of Huma n Bon dage.Besides, he also ear ns his reputati on for his plays, and short stories. It issaid that he has bee n

2、 the highest paid writer around the world in the 1930s.He is rich in traveli ng experie nee, which in deed does great favor to hisworld-renowned travel stories. This story,Mr. Know-all, is one of thesemasterpieces.This story takes place on a ship from San Fran cisco to Yokohama inthe in terwar years

3、, that is to say, this story is set in special time -i n theyears betwee n World War I and World War II. The major character is MrKelada and the tide characters are Mr & Mrs Ramsay and the narratorhimself. On the ship from San Fran cisco to Yokohama, the n arrator has toshare a cab in with Mr Ke

4、lada. The n arrator does not like him because he isnot a native English. Besides, Mr Kelada always keeps talking, intending toshow that he knows much more tha n any other people on the ship,whichleaves the n arrator the impressi on of loquacity and vani ty. He is a goodmixer and has known every one

5、on the ship with in only three days. Due tohis loquacity, he is named Mr Know-all”，which is taken by him as acompleme nt. Mr Ramsay is the on ly pers on who debates with精品文档精品文档Mr Kelada. They bet with Mrs Ramsaypearl chain. Mr Kelada deals withpearl bus in ess and he is expert in pearl, so Mr Kelad

6、a in sists MrsRamsayys pearl chain is precious and bets with Mr Ramsay a hundreddollars while Mr Ramsay declares it a cultured one costing only 18 dollars. MrKelada closely examines the pearl chain. But when he is about to announcehis victory he catches a sight of Mrs Ramsays paly face. At last Mr K

7、eladacha nges his mi nd and admits he is wrong, with the risk of damaging hisreputation and losing one hundred dollars. However the n ext day, hereceives a letter en closed a hun dred-dollar no te. The narratorunderstandsthat Mr Kelada makes a white lie and at that mome nt he dosenot en tirely disli

8、ke Mr Kelada.Mr Know-all is typical post-colonial literature. Post-colonial literature is abody of literary writing that responds to the intellectual discourse of European coloni zati on in the Asia, Africa, Middle East, the Pacific, and other post-colonial areas throughout the globe. Post-co lonial

9、 literature addresses theproblems and con seque nces of the de-co loni zati on of a country and of anation, especially the political and cultural independenceof formerlysubjugated colonial peoples; and it also is a literary critique of and aboutpost-colonial literature, the undertones of which carry

10、, com muni cate, andjustify racialism and colo ni alism.1The con temporary forms of post-colonial literature prese nt literary and in tellectual critiques of the post-co lonial精品文档精品文档discourse, by en deavourri ng to assimilate post-colo nialism and its literaryexpressi ons.As a result, race has bee

11、 n an importa nt theme in the post-co lonialliterature. Racism, un der which race-related issues are mostly discussed,invo Ives the belief in racial differe nces, which acts as a justificati on fornon-equal treatme nt, or discrim in ati on, of members of that race. The termracism is com mon ly used

12、n egatively and usually is associated withrace-basedprejudice, dislike, discrim in ati on, or oppressi on. SociologistDavid Wellman defines racism as a“culturally sanctioned belief ” 2;sociologists No?l A. Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racismas“.a highly organized system of race-basedg

13、roup privilege that operatesat every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology ofcolor/race supremacy. 3Such ideology of supremacy can be typicallyreflected in post-co lonial theory and literature, whose overlapp ing themes include the in itial encoun ter with the coloni zer,

14、 the disruption of indigenousculture, the concept of“othering”, colonial oppressi on, white supremacy,and so on.Mr Know-all is a good representationof post-colonial themes and can bebetter interpreted by understanding the mentality behind the colo nistideology. This ideology divides people of the on

15、 etime com mon wealth countries and their desce ndants into coloni zersthe“self”and the精品文档精品文档colonizeethe“other”, and develops such mentality into whitesupremacy, discrim in at ing aga inst all other eth ni cities.The men tality of prejudice and discrim in ati on can eve n be clearly seen at the v

16、ery begi nning paragraphs. The first sentence of the n arrator is that“was prepared to dislike Max Kelada before I knew him. ” Why the n arratorhas such a strong emoti on to Mr Kelada eve n before knowing him? On theone hand, the n arrator does not want to share a cab in with a stra nger during the

17、14-day tour from San Fra ncisco to Yokohama; on the other hand, asa more intense and imma nent reas on, the n arrator has a superiority feeling.It can be proved through the following words: It was bad eno ugh to share acab in for fourtee n days with anyone (I was going from San Fran cisco toYokohama

18、), but I should have looked upon it with less dismay if my fellowpassengername had been Smith or Brown. ” However, to the narratorsdisappo in tme nt, his fellow passe ngen ame is not a typical En glishn ame, but somethi ng likeKelada”.Further more,basing on Mr Keladabaggages,his labels on the suitca

19、ses, his big wardrobetrunk, his un packed toilet thin gs, and some other dece nt private staff, thenarrator makes a guess that Mr Kelada is a patron of the excelle nt Mon sieurCoty. The n arrator emphasized that he did not at all like Mr Kelada. Even thenarrator knows that Mr Kelada may be of dece n

20、t social status, he prefers todo some recreati onal activity himself. He is apparently not willing to make精品文档精品文档friends with this Kelada” guy.Then Mr Kelada comes to the stage. He introduces himself so warmlyand shows his amity while the n arrator resp on ses him with on ly few words.Whe n Mr Kela

21、da says“was jolly glad whe n I heard you were En glish. Imall for us En glish stick ing together whe n were abroad, if understand what Imean”，intending to find a sense of belonging, the narrator just blinks andreplies Are you English?”. From the intuitive resp on se, it can be deducedthat the n arra

22、tor dose not believe Mr Kelada an En glish at all. In his mind, anreal En glish should be typical En glish with typical En glish n ame and typicalEn glish appeara nee. Obviously, Mr Kelada is not a typical En glish. Toprove it, Mr Kelada took out of his pocket a passport and airily waved inunder my

23、nose”However, the n arrator dose not regard Mr Kelada as a realEn glish eve n Mr Kelada is with a passport, in stead, in the n arrator s mind,he feels pretty sure that a closer in specti on of that British passport will havebetrayed the fact that Mr Kelada is born un der a bluer sky tha n is gen era

24、llysee n in En gla nd. That is to say, the n arrator obviously feels superior to MrKelada and Mr Kelada is just some uni mporta nt guy from some no t-heardcolony. The colonies attach themselves to England and to some extent, MrKelada dose not deserve the British passport. In the narrators mind, he i

25、srelucta nt to admit that Mr Kelada is En glish as he politically.Since the n arrator has no cha nee to cha nge Mr Keladas n ati on ality,精品文档精品文档he has to stay away from Mr Kelada to keep his sense of superiority. But thehospitable Mr Kelada will n ever give him cha nee to escape. He eve n invites

26、the n arrator a drink although prohibiti on of alcoholic dri nk is in force.The n arrator dose not care the drink at all but Mr Keladaorie ntal smile. Thesmile is so special and different from the native English.It can be seen herethat in the narratorsmind, Mr Keladasoriental smile aga in shows his

27、racialstatus. A smile is just a smile, why a smile can be judged as orie ntal? Clearlywe can find that the n arrator must have some sense of superiority to the natives of the coloni es.Any way, the n arrator is an En glish gen tlema n and he n ever showshis discrimi natio n in public. Whe n Mr. Kela

28、da keeps talk ing from here tothere, the narrator can not help thinking: The Union Jack is an impressivepiece of drapery, but when it is flourished by a gentleman from Alexandria orBeirut, I cannot but feel that it loses somewhat in dig nity”.From this sentence, it can easily con cluded that the n a

29、rrator has always holding prejudiceagainst Mr Kelada, and those Mr Keladas”from colonies such as Alexandriaor Beirut. This is an inveterate prejudice, which is inborn in the Britishbackbone, in all aspectsfrom politic to daily things. The narrator says again:“I did not like Mr Kelada” with no hesita

30、ti on.Thi ngs come more horrible whe n Mr Kelada in terrupts the n arratorcards play ing. To the n arrator, there is no thi ng more exasperati ng whe n精品文档精品文档he play ing patie nee tha n be told where to put the card he has tur ned upbefore he has had a cha nee to look for himself. As a result, the

31、n arratoremphasizes:“did not like Mr Kelada”.lt is no wonder that Mr Keladabehaviour is annoying, but the prejudice and discrim in atio n aga inst MrKelada must straighte n the n arratoavers ion to Mr Kelada.Whe n the n arrator hears the n ews that Mr Kelada has take n a seat forhim, he is n ot happ

32、y at all. Through gett ing along with Mr Kelada for 3 days,the n arrator prese nts a clearer image of Mr Kelada to the readers. MrKelada is a good mixer and he knows every one on board. He runs everything. He is everywhere and always. The people on board give him a nickn ame- Mr Kno w-all, which Mr

33、Kelada takes it as a compleme nt. Whatmore, MrKelada is a loquacious and argume ntative man that he will not drop a subject,however uni mporta nt, till has brought others to his way of thinking.No one on board tries to persuade Mr Kelada except Mr Ramasy. MrRamsay is in the America n Con sular Servi

34、ce, and Mrs Ramsay, who hasbee n spe nding a year at home alon e, is an elega nt lady.One evening at dinner the conversation by chanee drifts to the subjectof pearl. Mr Kelada, as usual, shows aris of erudition. He tells others he dealswith pearl bus in ess. He is expert in pearl. Mr Ramsay do not k

35、now much in精品文档精品文档the pearl field, but he can not resist the opport unity tohave a fling at the Levantine - Mr Kelada, resulting in a every heartedargume ntatio n.To get an absolute victory and show all the prese nters his professi on,Mr Kelada decides to bet Mr Ramsay on his wifepearl chain. Mr Ke

36、ladathink the pearl chain is precious and of great value while Mr Ramsay in sistthat the pearl cha in is bought by 18 dollars and with no value. To prove itsvalue, Mr Kelada takes a magnifying glass and closely exam ined it. Afterthat, Mr Kelada is sure of the pearl chains value and a smile of trium

37、phspreads on his face. However he sudde nly catches sight of Mrs Ramsayspaly face. He at once un dersta nds that somethi ng secret happens to MrsRamsay because Mr Ramsay can not afford such a precious pearl cha in. Atlast Mr Kelada makes great efforts and say:“was mistakerf.Mr Ramsay winsand he get the one hun dred dollars.The next day Mr Kelada gets a letter witch is enclosed with a hundred-dollar n ote. The n arrator is sure that the pearl cha in is real andprecious. At that moment, the narrator dose not entirely dislike Mr Kelada.From the climax of this short story,