Text analysis to “The Moon and Sixpence”

By Benea Dan
William Somerset Maugham was a distinguished English playwright, novelist, and short story
writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author
during the 1930s. By 1914, Maugham was famous, with 10 plays produced and 10 novels
published. Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature was gaining
increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In 1916, Maugham travelled to the Pacific to
research his novel “The Moon and Sixpence”, based on the life of Paul Gauguin.
The text tells the story of Charles Strickland. He was not valued by his company. He
abandoned his family and left for Paris. There he met the narrator. The narrator criticized him
for leaving his family like this. Moreover, it seemed like he ran away with another woman.
Actually, he just wanted to paint.
The theme of sacrificing everything to be an artist runs through the entire story. Strickland
abandoned his family and left for Paris in order to paint. He sacrificed all he had because he
never felt happy and appreciated for what he genuinely was (“One would admire his excellent
qualities, but… his company. He was null.”). This passage depicts the idea that great art doesn’t
depend on age as long as you have a real passion. At the age of forty, Charles decided to start
painting. Even though at this age there aren’t so many chances, he still wanted to become a
painter.
The plot is an essential component of the story. The exposition starts at the beginning of the
text and ends at the half of the second paragraph. In this passage, Mr. Strickland is introduced
and there is also a description of his life as a husband. The complication starts right after the
exposition and ends after the second paragraph. Here we can read that although he was a good
husband and father, he decided to leave. The rising action represents the dialogue between
Charles and the narrator till the narrator asked him to give reasons for his action. The narrator
started to speculate that he ran away with another woman and the protagonist explained him
why he wouldn’t do like this. The climax is the moment when the narrator finds out that
Strickland just wanted to paint. Everything he thought about Charles didn’t make any sense.
The falling action is the rest of their conversation. There you can feel Strickland’s strong desire
to become a painter why he didn’t start earlier. The denouement is represented by the last four
sentences. Here we see that he didn’t care about his past life and that he is not going to leave
painting again even though what his dad said was true.
Mr. Strickland is described using both direct and indirect characterization. Charles Strickland is
the main character of this text. The plot is centered around him. He was characterized by his
monotonous life (“He was just a good, dull, honest, plain man.”). He did something bad and
selfish in order to achieve his own happiness. He was seen as an extraordinary husband by
others and his actions were a shock to them (“So it was quite a shock to everybody to
everybody when at the age of forty, having lived with his wife for seventeen years, Mr.
Strickland suddenly left his family.”). The narrator describes him as an inhuman person who has
left his children (“It’s just inhuman. Everybody will think you are a perfect swine.”). After a
while the narrator says that he is cunning and makes him smile. Beside everything said before,
Strickland is an artistic person and painting is a pleasure for him. Painting is an island on which
he retreated, escaping from his previous life. He is dedicated to what he wants to do and does
everything for this. For me, Mr. Strickland is not an example of how I want to be because he
was a bit selfish leaving the children behind. However, he teaches me to never give up my
passions.
This story reminds me of “The Horse’s Mouth” by Joyce Cary. This remarkable book is the
most celebrated volume of Joyce Cary’s First Trilogy and perhaps the finest novel ever written
about an artist. Both texts tell us about painters who sacrificed everything they had in order to
do what they truly wanted. For both characters, painting was something they couldn’t give up.
Both Charles and Gulley, the main character of “The horse’s Mouth”, are very selfish and think
only about their pleasures.
To compress much meaning into a text line, the text reveals the message that our dreams
and goals will always come to the surface. Our souls always tend towards the things that make
us happy. Trying to hide our desires can lead to sadness. To my mind, we shouldn’t give up our
desires just because someone does not believe in us. Their doubts should strengthen our wish
to succeed. If Charles became a painter when he was young, he wouldn’t leave his home and
family. The extract is of interest not only because it is illustrative of the main points in the
writer’s art but also because it shows that in order to achieve your goals you have to make
sacrifices. If I were Charles, I would have built a career in painting from the very beginning. This
way I wouldn’t hurt anyone as Strickland did to his family.