Mia Ma
November 19, 2019
College Preparation
Book Report
The Moon and Sixpence
The Moon and Sixpence was written by a British novelist William Somerset Maugham published in 1919. Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, a French impressionist painter, the work describes a London ordinary stockbroker Strickland who suddenly fell into the magic of art, abandoned his wife and son, and gave up what others thought to be an affluent and happy life. He went to Tahiti in the South Pacific Ocean to compose his brilliant life with a round pen and inject all the value of life on the canvas. Gauguin also worked as a broker before he was determined to engage in painting. Gauguin was very rough and poor in his life. Finally, Gauguin buried his bones in the desolate island. But in addition to the general outline of life, Maugham created a completely different character. This novel was written by Maugham after traveling through Tahiti and returning to Europe.
As mentioned before, the story of The Moon and Sixpence was about a man. Strickland didn't have any basis for painting at that time when he arrived at Tahiti. He just liked painting. In the eyes of outsiders, he was crazy. His life began to become embarrassed. He almost died of hunger and disease several times. His paintings are totally different, always destroying the original things. No one will buy his paintings except for a poor painter, Bronx stropf, who regarded him as God. In fact, he never sold them easily. He wandered on and on until he came to Tahiti and married an Aboriginal girl, ETA. At this time, he seemed to be content. He had an Aboriginal wife who lived in an isolated place where he painted every day. Unfortunately, he soon became infected with leprosy, and a year before his death, he became blind. Etta took care of him until he finished his own giant mural and died of his body festering. According to his last words, his wife burned down the room with murals, without even leaving a piece of wood.
By describing such a person, Maugham explores the contradiction and interaction between life and art in his novels. The theme of escapism revealed in the novel coincides with the pursuit of many people in the West and becomes a popular novel in the 20th century. "Maugham's novel the moon and sixpence, inspired by Gauguin, is undoubtedly more than true." "In the next ten years, Gauguin believes that he can finally enjoy the fruits of success and reunite his family." Comparing the novel with the reality, it can be found that Gauguin's pursuit of painting has its causality and process development, while Strickland's departure is very abrupt and too fierce. In addition, the author uses the fictional plot and narrative techniques to create a so-called pure sense artist who is not worldly and does not eat fireworks. Compared with Gauguin's departure, Strickland's departure does not conform to the logic of reality and is even more incomprehensible to the readers. In fact, there are deeper reasons for Maugham's writing. That is, the virtual satisfaction of Maugham's self desire. Sixpence was the smallest unit of British currency at that time. A friend joked with Maugham that people often forget sixpence at their feet when looking up at the moon. Maugham thought this statement was very interesting, so he started the title of the book, which was very joking. The moon represents the lofty ideal, and Sixpence represents the reality.
To tell the truth, I admire Strickland's courage to give up everything for his inner world and his ideal, as the movie "Return to the Old Boy" says: it's never too late to do what you want to do, you can change it, you can change it, there are no rigid rules, we can do it well or badly, I hope you can fully use your time, hope you can see what surprises you, hope you feel what you have never felt before, hope you meet people with different views, hope you live a life that makes you proud, if you find that life is not satisfactory, I hope you have the courage to start again. Strickland's success is not only his love of painting, but also his inner firmness. He was never questioned by anyone or anything and gave up painting. Even if he sleeps in the street and doesn't eat for several days, someone dies because of him. Although he was taunted, cursed, persecuted and sickened, he was still firm as before. That's about life. There are never things that can be obtained without effort. If there are things that can be obtained without effort, they must be very cheap, or they must be abandoned by many people.