Book review
Book review of The Moon and Sixpence
In this semester, I have read ‘The Moon and Sixpence’ which is a novel written by Willian Somerset Maugham, an outstanding British novelist. Used an impressionist painter as the prototype, Maugham portayed a tiresome broker who left his modeled, delicate home and pursued his unbeknown artistic dream. He is Charles Strickland. The novel began with an unexpectedly incident and had many fantastic plots. It’s a renowned and readable work which is siginificant and profound.
From the beginning, we can get the information that Mrs Strickland lived in a elegant and joyous life. She usually held the luncheon-parties and invited members who were on the same wave length. When the narrator was acquainted with her, he showed interest and admiration to her. From her words, people were informed that her husband was bored but successful and they were really devoted. That’s when everything happened. It is the first dinner that leaves an deep impression in my mind. This scene is when the narrator first met Mr. Strickland. And he left an tiresome and inarticulate impression on people. He was decent and solemn. So there is a big transformation happened to him. All people can’t believe that he left his family and attractive life to pursue his ‘unrealistic’ art in a surge of recklessness and never regret.
Aftering leaving his family and going to Paris, Mr.Strickland lived in a disorderly and messy environment but with high spirits. He didn’t care about others peculiar sights, but concentrated on his painting. ‘It was sixpence all over the floor, but he looked up and saw the moon.’ He really pursued the moon ceaselessly and had no hestitation and treated that sixpence as nothing. There were no obstructions that could slow down his steps. And finally he used the brushes to paint a glorious and brilliant life.
This novel tells the story in the first person. Therefore, we can see Charles Strickland’ s experience in an outsiders sight, but we also see the spirits in his mind. The narrator connect the characters and guide us more closely to the novel. From Mrs.Strickland’ s perspective, she really loves her husband and wanted to retrieve him when people thought he was leaving with another woman. But she decided not to forgive him because he left her for the art. This reflect the intelligence of Mrs. Strickland, she knew that she can let the man around her but his spirits can’t. Their marrige is a model but also lack of purity. ‘I had not yet learnt how contradictory is human nature; I did not know how much pose there is in the sincere, how much baseness in the noble, nor know how much goodness in the reprobate.’ This sentense from the novel reflects the reality no matter past or now. And I got to know that Mr. and Mrs. Strickland were so different. That’s why in such an age which should be peaceful and comfortabla, Mr.Strickland chose to start a rough new life. There was real passion in his voice that it nearly impressed the narrator. The later experience showed that his decision is correct. And he also came across a person who really admire him, Dirk Stroeve, a key member in the novel. Finally, he met the right mate. They were all have passion and purity. Although Mr. Strickland suffered a lot, he also attained a lot. He was born for art and freedom.
For me, how to make a decision between the sixpence and moon? My answer is moon. However, I’m not agree with the idealism. I reckon it that reality is always an important factor which we must pay attention to. Just look at the moon and take no action is futile. In the point of my view, moon is a kind of passion, pure land and freedom in our mind. When we are working and living in the reality, we shouldn’t forget or lose it. Just follow our hearts and act. ’Act so that every one of your actions id capable of being made into a a universal rule.’ Don’t limit ourselves concentrate to the sixpence, let’s look up and take actions to fetch the moon.
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