Mr. Know-All

Mr. Know-All

Mr. Know-All has been written by William Somerset Maugham in 1925.

During his life he has written many plays, short stories and novels.

He has travelled a lot and we can see it in his stories, in particular in Mr. Know-All.

He's very famous between the First and the Second World War for his work and many of his texts have been made into films, or plays for theater.

Plan :

Well, first of all, I'm going to summarize the story and give the main elements.

Then, I will present you my analysis of the characters and the setting.

And finally, I will give the main themes and my conclusion about the story.

Summary :

We are in San Francisco, getting into a boat to Yokohama, in Japan.

As the First World War had just ended, it was difficult to get accomodations.

Therefore, the narrator had to share a cabin with a total stranger on the ship, but he hoped him to be an Englishman.

Instead, he was deeply shocked to realize it was a Levantine of oriental origin.

His name was Max Kelada, a name who doesn't appear to be British, but he was a native of one of the British colonies (he did have a British passport).

Mr. Kelada was dark-skinned and he looked to come from Mediterranean country, like Spain, Portugal, Egypt or Syria.

When the narrator met Mr. Kelada, he disliked him immediately.

Max Kelada is sociable, chatty loquacious,but unbearable.

He always wants to have reason and show his knowledges.

There was another dogmatic person on the ship, Mr. Ramsay who was going to Japan with his wife for his work.

One evening, the conversation drifted to the subject of pearls.

As Mrs. Ramsay was wearing a chain of pearls, Mr. Kelada announced that it certainly was a real one which had probably cost many thousands of dollars and he was ready to bet a undred dollar on it.

Mr. Ramsay, very confident, claimed that his wife had bought it for 18 dollars.

When Mr. Know-All was examinig the pearls, he noticed a desperate appeal in Mrs. Ramsay's eyes. Mrs. Ramsay's face was begging Mr. Kelada to not reveal the truth about the pearls.

Then, he realized that Mrs. Ramsay got the pearls from her lover from New York.

Mr. Kelada didn't want to destroy the couple, so he ruined his reputation instead : he told everybody that he was wrong and that the pearls was an excellent imitation.

He gave Mr. Ramsay a hundred dollars.

After that, everybody mocked Mr. Kelada. Later, while the narrator and Mr. Know - All were in their cabin, an envelope was pushed under the door.

There was inside a hundred dollar bill from Mrs. Ramsay.

It was then that the narrator learned to value the Levantine. He was amazed at Mr. Kelada's generosity.

Characters :

The Narrator :

• British

• Doesn't like strangers => A bit racist

There are a lot of elements that show us that he has negative prejudices about strangers :

On page 67, in the middle of the page : ''I should have looked upon with less dismay if my fellow passenger's name had been Smith or Brown''.

=> He prefers to share is cabin with an Englishman rather than a Levantine. It's a rejection to strangers.

On page 68, at the top of the page : ''King Georges has many strange subjects.''

=> United Kingdom gives the british nationality to anyone, in our case to Mr. Kelada, who is dark-skinned.

Always on page 68, at the bottom : ''The Union Jack is an impressive piece of drapery, but when it is flourished by a gentleman from Alexandria or Beirut, I cannot but feel that it loses somewhat in dignity.''

=> The mediterranean people aren't worthy of the beauty of the places.

• The narrator can't tolerate Mr. Kelada's attitude :

On page 68, at the middle of the page : ''He spoke with a fluency in which there was nothing English and his gestures were exuberant.'' ..

On page 69, in the middle of the page : ''There is nothing more exasperating when you are playing patience than to be told where to put the card you have turned up before you have a chance to look for yourself.''

=> We can make a link with the story we read last month : ''Sharp Practise''. This is the same scene when the Judge Comyn gives some advices to the man before him when he's playing patience. Mr. Kelada feels superior like Judge Comyn.

On page 69, at the top of the page : ''Mr. Kelada was familiar. I do not wish to put on airs, but I cannot help feeling that it is seemly in a total stranger to put mister before my name when he addresses me. Mr. Kelada, doubtless

...