Mr.

Know-All /Somerset Maugham

Historical and Social Background

 Stereotypes- Definition
A popular belief about specific social
groups
or types of individuals.

Here are a few examples of stereotypes.

1. Jews have big noses.
2. All Asians are good at math.
3. All Irish people are drunks.
 THE BRITISH GENTLEMAN STEREOTYPE
What to do to imagine the perfect British gentleman:
* British Accents

* Appearance : a crazy mustache, a cane or umbrella,

top hat

* You have yourself the “ Britishest” British man who is/was:

subtle in speech, dressed in quiet colors and they did not
talk very much and did not use gestures ‫))תנועות ידיים‬

Extremely polite
 Ocean –liners
‫אוניות חוצות אוקיאנוס‬

In the early part of the 20 th century, before flying was

common , people travelled from country to country by
ship. The ocean –going liners were huge ships with
several decks ((‫סיפונים‬. People slept in small rooms
called cabins with one or more beds called berths.
These cabins often had round windows called
portholes.
 Prohibition
Prohibit means forbid.
In history Prohibition refers to a period in the United
States, between 1920 and 1933, when there was a
national ban [‫ ]איסור; חרם‬on the sale, manufacture,
and transportation of alcohol.

Since in this story the ship was sailing from

San Francisco , it was “bone-dry”. Namely, no alcohol
was sold on the ship. Although the sale of alcohol was
Illegal, it was possible to buy it on the “black market”, as
Mr. Kelada obviously had.
 The British Empire

At the time of King George , Britain was an

empire, ruling many countries.

The citizens of these colonies were given British

passports, but were considered second-class
citizens.
In that time, the British did not really like
foreigners and felt superior to them.
 Levant - Levantine
The Levant - Hebrew: ‫ ְּכָנַע ן‬, also known as the
Eastern Mediterranean, is a geographic and
cultural region.The Levant consists today of
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the
Palestinian territories, Cyprus and parts of
southern Turkey .
 Pearls

• Natural pearls : only the wealthiest and

most powerful individuals were AND are able
to possess and wear them.
• Cultured pearls: were made by the
Japanese around 1916. They were less
valuable , but only real experts in the field
could tell the difference just by looking at
them.
The Bet- whether Mrs. Ramsay’s chain was made of natural
pearls or cultured pearls (imitation)
 HOT: Inferring
Read the following dialogue:
Mona: Hi, Miriam, I hear that Susie won the
History Prize again this year. You must be very
proud of her!
Miriam: Yes, I am.

What can we understand about the connection

between Miriam and Susie ?
 HOT: Inferring

My room was in a mess this morning , and when

I came home this afternoon it was all neat and
clean. My mother was the only one at home
today.

What can you infer from this?

 HOT: Inferring
Understanding things that are not actually
mentioned is called “reading between the lines”
or “inferring”. We can also use “inferring” when
relating to someone’s actions, even if we don’t
know for sure that they did them.

Vocabulary: infer, conclude, assume

read between the lines
 HOT: Inferring- Practice
1) What can we understand about the narrator by the
way he judges Mr. Kelada at the beginning of the story?

2) Mrs. Ramsay did not want Mr. Kelada to examine

the pearls. She said, “I can’t undo it”. What can we infer
about her from her behavior?

3) What can we infer about the narrator when he says

“At that moment, I did not entirely dislike Mr. Kelada”
at the end of the story?
HOT: Uncovering Motives- Review
1) Why did Mr. Ramsay have a bet with Mr. Kelada about his wife’s pearls?
What did he hope to achieve?

2) Why did Mrs. Ramsay try to prevent Mr. Kelada from inspecting her
pearls? What was she afraid he would discover?

3) Mr. Kelada was about to say that the pearls were real. What made him
change his mind? Do you think it was easy for him to do this?
Why or why not ?

4) What motivated Mrs. Ramsay to leave the envelope with a 100 $ bill under
Mr. Kelada’s cabin door?
 HOT: Explaining Patterns
Identify and explain different patterns in
the text and explain their significance.
Examples:
* Explain why certain lines/phrases/words are
repeated.
* What behavior does the character
repeat?
Vocabulary: repeat, repetition, significance,
similar.
 Practice
1) Why do you think the narrator’s opinion of
Mr. Kelada changed at the end of the story ? What is
the author’s message to his readers ?

2) Why the passengers on the ship call Mr. Kelada

“Mr. Know All” ? What has he done to deserve this
name?

3)What does Mr. Kelda do that annoys the narrator?

Don’t forget ! Opening sentence

 Practice
1) What do we understand from the end of the story about the
narrator’s opinion of Mr. Kelada? Why is the end of the story
such a surprise ? ( Choose the suitable HOT)

2) How does the pearls represent the main message of the

story?/ The labels on Mr. Kekada’s suitcases/ The narrator has no
name/ The ship/

3) In the story no one appears to be what they really are.

Explain.
 The importance of the setting
The story takes place in “international waters.”
This is significant for two reasons:
• By taking place in international waters, and
not in a given country, the writer is saying that
prejudice is an international problem, and not
a problem of any given place.
• The writer is saying that prejudice and racism
are human traits and not the traits of any
given culture.