Mr Know-All

-          W. Sommerset Maugham, England (1874-1965)

I. Literal Comprehension

                Context: This story is written by W. Somerset Maugham, England (1874-1965).

                The narrator was going to Japan immediately after the War had ended. Luckily, he had got a cabin with only two berths on the ship. But he was not happy because his companion was Max Kelada, a British with Middle-eastern origin, though he didn’t know who he was.

                Mr Kelada was a short sturdy man. He was dark skinned and clean-shaven. He had a fleshy, hooked nose, very large lustrous and liquid eyes, and long black sleek and curly hair. He was a high-spirited man with friendliness and talkative nature. He knew everybody on board and everything in the world. Therefore, others called him Mr Know-all. He didn’t mind others’ humiliating manners to him.

                There was also Mr Ramsay, a great heavy fellow from the Middle West, who worked in the American Consular Service at Kobe. He was as obstinate as Mr Kelada. He hated Mr Kelada for his cocksureness. He was returning to his office along with his wife Mrs Ramsay, who had been left alone in New York for a year. She was a very pretty little woman with pleasant manners and a sense of humor. She dressed in a simple but impressive way.

                One evening, at dinner, a doctor raised an issue of cultured pearls made by the Japanese. They were almost perfect as the original ones, he said, and soon would replace them. Mr Kelada, as usual, said he knew everything about pearls. Mr Ramsay came forward to insult Mr Kelada. Soon they were in a heated debate. Mr Kelada said that he knew all the best pearls in the world, and what he didn’t know about pearls wasn’t worth knowing. He pointed to the chain that Mrs Ramsay was wearing, and said it was original and would cost thirty thousand dollars in New York. Mr Ramsay laughed at him, and said that his wife had bought the chain at eighteen dollars at a departmental store. Mr Kelada bet him a hundred dollars if it was imitation, and wanted to see the chain closely. But Mrs Ramsay was hesitant and didn’t want to give it to Mr. Kelada. Finally, Mr Ramsay gave the chain to Mr Kelada who inspected the chain closely with his magnifying glass. He smiled and was about to say something, but he saw Mrs Ramsay’s terrified and sad face. She was about to faint. Mr Kelada nervously admitted that he was wrong, and gave Mr Ramsay a hundred dollars. Mrs Ramsay retired to her room with a headache.

                Next morning, somebody pushed a letter under the door. When the narrator opened the door, there was nobody. Max Kelada’s name was written in block letters in the envelope. There was a hundred-dollar note in the envelope. Then, Mr Kelada said that if he had had a pretty little wife he wouldn’t have left her alone in New York for a year. Finally, the narrator did not entirely dislike Mr Kelada.

II. Interpretation

                The story might be trying to expose the racial prejudices of the Whites against the Black. Mr Kelada is friendly, sociable, and helpful, but the narrator doesn’t like him just because of his origin. He is not happy to share the berth with him. Other people on board also humiliate him by calling as ‘Mr Know-All’. Even though, at last, he is proved to be a considerate person because he lets himself down to save the conjugal happiness of Mr and Mrs Ramsay despite knowing that the pearl chain is original and she might have earned it dishonestly, the narrator doesn’t like Mr kelada wholeheartedly.  The story might also be trying to show us what conjugal infidelity is. Mr Ramsay had left Mrs Ramsay, a very pretty little woman, with pleasant manners and a sense of humour, alone for a year in New York while he was in Japan. Mr Ramsay doesn’t know that the pearl chain worn by Mrs Ramsay is original. Therefore, he easily believes her saying that she bought it, a cultured pearl chain, at eighteen dollars at a local supermarket.

III. Critical Thinking

                The writer is very clever at using his writing skills to mix up ethnocentricity with fun. While describing about the people and the events in the story, he imposes his notion of White supremacy to the readers. Perhaps it is because of the writer’s biased treatment with the characters that Mr Kelada is ready to save the Ramsays’ conjugal life even after being so much humiliated by them. I wonder why he would do so if the same event occurred in a real life situation. The writer’s shoddy mathematics is also worth noticing. Mr Ramsay bets one hundred rupees with Mr Kelada for the pearl chain. Despite knowing that the chain is a real one, he suffers a terrible humiliation for Mrs Ramsay’s sake by accepting that it is an artificial one. But Mrs Ramsay returns only one hundred dollars at the end of the story. Actually, she should have returned him two hundred dollars.

IV. Assimilation

                After reading the story I have developed an attitude of forgiveness in myself. Nowadays, I don’t mind so much even if anybody tries to humiliate me thinking that they will realize it one day. I think one should always be as considerate as Mr Kelada.