The Outstation - W. Somerset Maugham

Author: W. Somerset Maugham Date: 1924 Setting: Borneo, in the 1920's Availability: Read The Outstation on line, free (note: there are numerous typos), or order a Maugham anthology below

Story: A British gentleman, Mr. Warburton, is in charge of an Outstation in the colony of Borneo. We learn that he is there because he tried to live a life rubbing elbows with the peerage in Britain, which was a little above his station. In so doing, he gambled a lot, and lost all his money. The standard solution to that problem, at that time, was to go to a distant colony.

In Borneo, Mr. Warburton has managed to create a nice little slice of the world, very much to his liking. He gets along well with the natives, and although he is revealed to be a snob in many ways, he does not feel that way toward the Malays at all.

The story opens as his new assistant, a young Australian, Alan Cooper, arrives by boat. Mr. Warburton has misgivings before Cooper even arrives. He has been the only white man in the area for years, and he’s quite content with that situation. But he greets Cooper politely, recognizing that travel is a dirty business, shows him to his bungalow, and invites him to come to the main house for dinner.

Mr. Warburton dresses for dinner, as is his custom, in full British formal style. Cooper shows up in his dirty, casual clothes. The clash between these two men’s attitudes toward civilized life begins, and goes downhill from that point. Cooper does not respect the natives at all and does not want to listen to Warburton’s recommendations of how to get good work from them. Cooper reads Warburton's newspapers, enraging the Brit, and finally calls Warburton “a snob” to his face, which is just the final straw.

Commentary: This is a realistic tale where there is no clear hero and villain. Each of the men has good qualities and serious failings. Warburton represents everything that is both bad and good about the British Empire of the 19th Century. Although he tends to think that he is better than most other white men, Warburton does not think of other races as inferior. Cooper represents the brash, new attitude toward life where no class of persons is better than another. But he is clearly racist, and treats the Malays as little more than slaves.

The inability of these two men to come to any sort of compromise leads to a self-imposed isolation from each other, at this outstation, where they should be looking for ways to find things they have in common. Once each has thoroughly offended the other, there is no way to extricate themselves from a descending spiral of attitudes and actions that leads to the tragic conclusion.

Author info: W. Somerset Maugham, 1875-1965, was born to an English family who served in the British Embassy of Paris. But his mother died when he was eight, and his father also died just two years later. Maugham was unhappy at school and developed a stutter, which he retained for his entire life. Although his guardians had many ideas of an appropriate career for him, Maugham desperately wanted to be a writer. He did complete medical school, but soon thereafter, concentrated on writing. By 1914 he was already famous as an author.

Unusual Words:
prahu- a double-hulled sailing boat
topee- a pith helmet
Dyak- natives from the interior of Borneo, sometimes headhunters
songkok- a hat similar to a fez

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10

 

Liberty Hall - Ring Lardner

Author: Ring Lardner Date: 1924 Setting: New York and environs in the 1920s Availability: in various collections, see link below

Story: Ben Drake is a well-known writer of scores for musical comedies. He is a man who knows what he likes in terms of comfort, but he has trouble standing up to people who have differing ideas. When at home he can have “a decent light for reading in bed,... coffee, any time... “, etc. However, as celebrities, he and his wife are always being invited to people’s homes. Ben can tolerate dinner and bridge, but hates to stay overnight.

In fact, he is often so annoyed at the small impositions of staying at someone else’s home that he has devised a series of fake telegrams to be sent to him. His secretary wires one, 24 hours after he leaves for any visit, which contains some emergency message having to do with the current show. Ben can choose whether to ignore the telegram, or use it as an excuse to leave post-haste. After several stays at less-than-satisfactory homes, he decides to go on no more extended visits.

Then Ben and his wife make the acquaintance of the Thayers. Much to their surprise, they like this couple quite a lot, and accept an invitation to spend a week at their home, just after the opening of a play. The promise is that the Drakes can use their guest room, named “Liberty Hall,” and won’t be bothered by anyone at all. They decide to go.

Immediately, Mrs. Thayer begins insisting on having things done in a certain way to please Drake. While sounding like the perfect hostess, she is actually a tyrant. He likes his coffee black. She insists that he will love their fresh cream, and forces it on him. She takes away his favorite brand of cigarette, and insists that he will enjoy their more expensive brand better. This basic scene continues through a long litany of kindnesses. Mr. Thayer takes Drake on a tour of the shrubbery, believing that he will enjoy his walks more if he understands the botany. Finally, when Ben wants to use the piano to reinforce a tune he just thought up, Mrs. Thayer refuses to let him, because she says he’s trying to be polite and play for them. The examples go on and on. Drake just wants to be left alone, but seems powerless to exert his will beyond a vague mention of discomfort at the beginning of each incident.

Even his emergency extraction ploy fails him when the indomitable Mrs. Thayer intercepts the telegram. How can he escape from Liberty Hall?

Commentary:The story is told by Drake's wife in a conversational tone, with run-on sentences, and little asides. We are drawn in, as if we are being let in on a great, personal bit of humorous family gossip.

The story is funny on many levels. We’ve all suffered from too much “kindness” by those who think they know what we want, better than we do. Irony is at play in both the title “Liberty Hall” (yet they find no liberty there), and when we learn that Ben is a member of the “Lamb’s Club.” The sheer repetition of the various ways in which Mrs. Thayer manages to torment Ben will almost bring on the giggles.

On a deeper level, "Liberty Hall" explores class structure, and tyranny. Although the Drakes are famous and the Thayers are just admirers, the Thayers hold the upper hand because Ben seems unable to assert himself enough to insist on simple things which give him great pleasure. He’d rather run away and hide than act in a way which might be construed as impolite.

Written in the 1920s, the story is probably also poking fun at the concept of it being a man’s world, and yet women control men in so many ways.

Memorable quotes: "I really believe he would prefer to spend a week in the death house in Sing Sing than in somebody else’s house."

Author info: Ring Lardner 1885 – 1933, was an American sportswriter and author of satirical short stories. His favorite themes were sports, marriage and the theatre. Lardner grew up in Michigan, the youngest of nine children. His unusual name was a shortened form of Ringgold, bestowed on him by a father who admired the distinguished Rear Admiral Cadwalader Ringgold. He was a master of using vernacular language to create the ambiance for a story, and is credited with influencing such writers as Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tragically, he died at age 48 of tuberculosis.

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10

 

Barn Burning - William Faulkner

Author: William Faulkner Date: 1939 Setting: The south, just after the Civil War Availability: Read Barn Burning on line, free

by Carl Van Vechten, public domain LoC

Story: The 10-year-old Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) is called to testify before a local Justice as to whether his father had actually burned down their employer's barn. He is saved from testifying by the accuser's realization that a boy should not be asked to testify against his father. There is not enough evidence to convict his father, but once again, they are forced to move.

The boy is both an observer of, and integral part of this poor family. His father and mother, an aunt, stolid older brother, and lazy, bovine twin sisters are loaded into the wagon with all of their belongings. In four days time they have settled into another dilapidated house, working the ground for a rich landlord. The boy's father, perhaps on purpose, tracks horse manure across the owner's French carpet, and the carpet is brought to their poor home to be cleaned. In their ignorance, the carpet is ruined, and the father's resentment of those who have more once again boils to the surface.

Sarty knows he must choose his path for life. He is bound inexplicably by blood to be loyal to this family, yet there is a spark within him that knows right from wrong. He feels powerless to follow that urging.

Faulkner has a way of putting you both inside the head of the main character and maintaining narrative distance at the same time. In this story the perspective is the boy's, but the distance is created by occasionally telling the reader what the boy would think about this situation later, as an adult. And yet, he does not telegraph which decision the boy is going to make until the end of the story.

Author info: William Faulkner was born and raised in Mississippi, and wrote provocative and emotional stories of life there. Many of his works were set in mythical Yoknapatawpha County (largely based on Lafayette County), and Colonel John Sartoris (for whom Sarty is named) was one of its founding fathers. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1949, and two Pulitzers.

Unusual Words:
quiring- like a choir, a chorus of voices
hame and logger-head- parts of a collar and harness for draft animals

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10