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1 Introduction 2
2 Literature Review 4
3 Description of Strickland’s Mentality as an Artist in The Moon and Sixpence 6
3.1 Strickland’s Sacrifice for Pursuing His Dream 6
3.2 Strickland’s Passion for Painting 7
3.3 Strickland’s Persistence in Seeking for Inspirations for Painting 8
4 Analysis of the Devices of Exemplifying Strickland’s Mentality as an Artist in The Moon and Sixpence 10
4.1 Symbolism in The Moon and Sixpence 10
4.2 Figure Description and Dialogue Description 11
4.3 Comparison Between Artists 12
5 Interpretation of the Factors Influencing Strickland’s Mentality as an Artist in The Moon and Sixpence 14
5.1 Influence of Strickland’s Pursuit of His Dream on His Life 14
5.2 Influence of People’s Behaviors on Strickland’ Personality 15
6 Conclusion 17
Bibliography18
1 Introduction
William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was an instinctive and outstanding storyteller. During his long life, he wrote 78 books and a vast panorama of the world, from the late Victoria era to the 21st centuries, extended before the readers’ eyes. The two world wars shaped the broad background of his novels. The spiritual crisis, raised from the two world wars became Maugham’s focus and he devoted his long life to investigating the soul of human kind. William Somerset Maugham was born in a British lawyer family. After losing both of his parents at the age of ten, Maugham was raised by his uncle. Having no interest in being a lawyer, after an education at King’s School, Canterbury and Heidelberg University in Germany, Maugham became a medical student at St. Thomas Hospital, London. In 1897, he wrote his first novel and fast selling made him gave up medicine to write full-time. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, he served in France as a member of the British Red Cross. In 1919, he wrote The Moon and Sixpence. Throughout his life, he worked as a British playwright, novelist and short story writer.
In 1919, The Moon and Sixpence was created, which was one of W. Somerset Maugham’s long novels. It was expressed by a first-person narrator, focusing on the central character Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker, who abandons his wife and children in order to pursue his desire to be an artist. After sacrifice of marriage, social status and career, he leaves his home and goes to Pairs without caring physical discomfort and his surroundings. A friend of the narrator's, Dirk Stroeve, living by drawing, seems having a wonderful life. Strickland finds inspiration so that he doesn’t refuse the love of Blanche, Strove’s wife. Strickland spends his last time in Tahiti, where he finds a native woman. Strickland leaves behind numerous paintings after his death. The novel’s name The Moon and Sixpence was taken from a review of of Human Bondage where the novel's protagonist, Philip Carey, is described as "so busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet." According to a 1956 letter from Maugham, "you look on the ground in search of a sixpence; you don't look up, and so miss the moon." Sixpence means reality while the moon means mentality. The character of the book (Charles Strickland) was model as Paul Gauguin, a French well-known painter. Apart from the same life structure of Paul’s, Maugham created the other new character that was more crazy and weird. Readers may not like the character but have to appreciate his perseverance and his talent. The Moon and Sixpence is a good example of Maugham’s novels in which he uses the way of narrating story.