The excerpt to analyse retraces what may be considered as a part of the main body of the plot of the apprenticeship novel Of Human Bondage by the English writer Somerset Maugham. The passage I'm about to try to analyse is extracted from the 58th chapter which means that the reader is already half through reading the novel. However, even at this stage we can eventually say that we are at the very beginning of the real action. In fact, the story really begins once the main character, Philip Carey gets acquainted and falls for a young and vulgar waitress called Mildred Rogers who will literally change his life. That passage happens a few days after he actually met that young lady and has already been on a date with her. Philip had wished to see her again and she had accepted.
[...] As Philip is quite shy he wants to make sure the circumstances of his attempt will be perfectly appropriate. He thinks of everything, even of the vehicle he's going to use so that it would be easier to kiss Mildred (l.11 to l.13) vehicle gave every facility for a man to put his arm round a girl's waist (an advantage which the hansom had over the taxi of the present ( This quotation reminds us that the narrator is a full part of the enunciation and doesn't hesitate to appear using brackets to make sure the reader will have no trouble to understand everything. [...]
[...] (As he says l I quote: the delight of that was worth the cost of the evening entertainment.” This quotation makes me think of a famous proverb end justifies the means”. To Philip the end would of course be Mildred and the means would be that he throws money down the drain and doesn't even think of the consequences. But he really doesn't mind. Mildred is a new target in his life; whatever he has to do to get her he will do it. [...]
[...] She's trapped; she has to find another way to get rid of Philip. The best way she found to do so is to make him feel guilty by being angry. That's quite smart on her part but that is quite petty as well. She tries to make Philip feel guilty so that he can be the one to be blamed. When she discovers that Philip has been spying on her, she yells at him. Her cover has been blown. She's not the type to admit her faults and even less to assume responsibility. [...]
[...] Why is it that whenever he's thinking of Mildred he's so joyful and when he's with her he's soon miserable and angry? When he says that he wants to hurt Mildred the way she makes him suffer, what exactly is this conception of love here? Why is he acting as if Mildred was already is official girlfriend? Why is he being so possessive? Philip indeed acts in a very strange way. Who does he think he is spying on a girl he isn't even in an official relationship with? [...]
[...] The analysis of the revealing fight they have about the end of the passage confirms that idea. III/ A revealing fight Mildred: an impressive manipulator Philip's suspicions about Mildred's intentions of cancelling their date are quickly confirmed: (l.30) “I'm awfully sorry”. The novelist's irruption (l.30-31) “with an expression of real distress on her face” It doesn't take much time for the reader to understand that this interruption is purely ironic. The words “expression”, and “distress” are a grotesque exaggeration and it's obvious that the narrator wants to draw the reader's attention on the fact that Mildred's fake and that she is putting on an act. [...]
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