Makintosh by William Somerset Maugham, who is one of my favorite writers, author of Honolulu https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/06/honolulu-by-somerset-maugham-one-of-my.html and other magnum opera - 10 out of 10

 

Makintosh by William Somerset Maugham, who is one of my favorite writers, author of Honolulu https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/06/honolulu-by-somerset-maugham-one-of-my.html and other magnum opera

 

10 out of 10

 

For some time, it seems strange that Somerset Maugham has decided to name this narrative Makintosh, for although he is clearly one of the main personages of the tale, Walker is the more prominent one, and furthermore, he is the boss, the ‘father of the natives’ of this Polynesian island, from the state of Samoa, in the South Pacific

 

Walker is larger than life, he commands his ‘subjects’, has an unquestioned authority in his small realm, the officials in the capital of Samoa have given him what amounts to a free hand, he does not want the locals in prison, hence he refused the idea of building one, which would be a waste of the funds on such a project

He has his own way of dealing with them, if they commit a crime, and yes, this is a mixture of abuse of power, with a strange attachment, maybe the word is affection, I do not know if it is love, we may get to the ending, so a spoiler alert here, maybe I will say what happens near the end, besides, maybe you could read something better than this note

 

The anti-colonialists would be justified in pointing to what the man does to infuriate, and even impoverish the locals, when he has that crazy plan, and we will get to that (Insha’Allah) soon, while those who look at what happens to him, and how he wants to spare the population any blame and punishment, might plead his cause

We should, like always, use the wise rule of Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html the Golden Rule would urge moderation, virtue has vice on both sides, the man who jumps on a motorbike, to speed with 300 miles per hour is not brave, just like the coward who is secluded at home

 

Makintosh is the opposite of Walker, and his assistant, even physically they seem at the extremes of the spectrum, one heavy, the other tall and thin, the leader is not very educated, makes grammar mistakes, and his assistant is rather sophisticated, alas, one is often too rude, unpolished and brutal, while the other is malignant, up to a point

In Scoop https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/scoop-by-evelyn-waugh-adapted-for-bbc.html ‘up to a point’ stands for this is a lie, Lord Copper is the owner of The Daily Beast, and he gets two kinds of answers to his questions, definitely, when it is a genuine fact, and ‘up to a point’, when they have to lie to him

Makintosh hates his boss, and let me just say this is yet another proof that proverbs and sayings can be stupid, in this case, there is the ‘opposites attract’ sage mot, when we can see here, and in most cases, people that are so unlike each other tend to reject each other, a bandit will not be friends with an opera lover…

 

Well, the latter might be confusing, for we know from The Godfather https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-godfather-written-by-francis-ford.html and other classics that the mafiosi could well love great music, family, and still kill with abandon, be savage with their foes and rivals

At one point, Walker wants the natives to build a road, and we reach a climactic moment, when they refuse to do it for the twenty pounds he offers, because they have learned better from Maluma, the son of the chief, who has been on the other islands and saw that the authorities pay much higher wages, for the same work

 

Ergo, this ‘rabble rouser’, or legitimate ‘fighter for human rights, emancipation’, insists that they must refuse the white man, because they have the power and they could wait until he comes to his senses, and pays what is fair and proper, but Walker would have none of that, his power is absolute, or so he thinks

Indeed, it looks as if he can get the upper hand, again, and in a conflict with the locals, he had never lost, up to now, and he threatens them, after he says he will have a feast, when the road is finished, that they will regret this attitude

 

Cunning as he is, this ‘local prince’ has a smart plan, that is one that works for him, though not for the population, he invites men from other islands to work for the twenty pounds that he wants to pay for this project, and they come to work with gusto, because there is an awful catch to all this, and it ruins the natives

Their custom is that they feed and offer hospitality to strangers, those who work at this road get paid, and they are nourished and they drink at the expense of those who refused the money, and as days become weeks, food is vanishing, they have to cut trees to get the needed materials and they face poverty and destitution

 

The guests take their time, this is a good deal for them, seeing as they pay nothing for their upkeep, and Maluma is beaten, seen as responsible for all this calamity, the poor fellow has to spend days lying down, after the beating, and goes to Makintosh to get some treatment, and this is when he sees the gun that the assistant has

Makintosh is aware of the temptation, his heart is beating faster, and he could envisage what will happen to his boss, if Maluma gets the revolver, and yet, the young man is left alone, and allowed to steal the means to exact revenge, which leads to the tragedy (second spoiler alert, if needed) in fact, it is a double drama, first Walker is shot, and wounded so badly that he will die in hours, but not before showing this resplendent stoicism, magnanimity, he insists that he liked Makintosh, who will take his place, and he must not say what happened, he does not want ‘his children to suffer’, so this was ‘an accident’, though we know it was murder…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”