Frank B. Huggins - Of Human Bondage (Cliffs Notes)
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This book is a chronicle of an Englishman tied to appetites that never sate his spirit. Several professional attempts and failures leave him with little but a desire for a woman low and coarse, who becomes a prostitute.
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Maugham, W. Somerset--(William Somerset),--1874-1965.--Of human bondage.
publication date
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1963
lcc
:
ddc
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820.900912
subject
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Maugham, W. Somerset--(William Somerset),--1874-1965.--Of human bondage.
Page 1
Of Human Bondage
Notes
by Frank B. Huggins
including Introduction to the Novel Recurrent Themes in the Novel Style Character Analyses Critical Commentaries Questions for Review
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68501
Page 2
Editor Gary Carey, M.A. University of Colorado
Consulting Editor James L. Roberts, Ph.D. Department of English University of Nebraska
ISBN 0-8220-0930-7 Copyright 1963 by Cliffs Notes, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in U.S.A.
1998 Printing
The Cliffs Notes logo, the names "Cliffs" and "Cliffs Notes," and the black and yellow diagonal-stripe cover design are all registered trademarks belonging to Cliffs Notes, Inc., and may not be used in whole or in part without written permission.
Cliffs Notes, Inc. Lincoln, Nebraska
Page 3
Contents
Introduction to the Novel
5
A Brief Synopsis
6
Themes in the Novel
7
Maugham's Style
8
List of Characters
9
Summaries and Critical Commentaries
11
Study Questions and Suggested Essay Topics
82
Page 5
Introduction
In summary Of Human Bondage sounds like a story that hardly moves at all. In the sense that a Dumas book or a paperback adventure novel moves, this is true. There is no physical action, and the plot is simply the story of one man's struggle to find himself in a cruel world.
Philip, the protagonist, who we presume is Maugham himself, is an orphan with a club-foot. But he is not badly off financially, and he has a keen mind.
Maugham, so far as is known, has never completely admitted that this book is autobiographical. He says this in the introduction to one of its many editions:
At the time Of Human Bondage was written many novelists, possibly incited by the deep impression made on them by Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh, were impelled to write semi-autobiographical novels. I say semi-autobiographical because of course they were works of fiction and it was the right of the authors to alter the facts they were dealing with as they chose. Such a book was Of Human Bondage. When I made up my mind to write it I was a popular playwright and much in demand; I retired from the theater for a couple of years because I knew that by writing it I could rid myself of a great number of unhappy recollections that had not ceased to harrow me. This it did.
From what is known of Maugham's life, it appears that the early portions of the book are purely autobiographical, with certain changes of scene. Maugham did not have a club-foot, but he was an orphan. He spent his early years in Paris, and his English was stilted, in addition to which he stammered. Sometime during his medical education, Maugham apparently had an unhappy love affair. It must have been with some girl who resembled Mildred. Mildred is almost frighteningly too real to be a product of any writer's imagination; she must have been drawn from real life.
Maugham admits that there may be passages and episodes in Of Human Bondage that are too personal to be of general interest. Depending on how one reacts, this may be true. It is certainly a very long story, and some critics have said that the book could have been half the length. There is a novel within a novel, and when it was adapted for the screen some years ago with Leslie Howard and Bette Davis taking the main parts, the scenario writer discarded the wrapping and kept the core. It was an outstanding motion picture.
This is without doubt the most subjective of Maugham's novels or
Page 6
short stories. The Old Observer is here involved in the story himself, and while occasionally he manages to look at the passing scene from outside, in this book he is generally inside looking out. However, it should be noted that in building Philip step by step into an observer, Maugham seems to be showing us how he became the reporter he is. For in his later writings, we get the impression that he never injects himself into the story, except possibly in philosophical asides.
It has been said that one of the dangers of becoming acquainted with Maugham is that you will find yourself depicted in one of his stories. How true this is, only those involved can say, but certainly in this one book, Maugham himself is the central character, Philip Carey.
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