The Vessel of Wrath by William Somerset Maugham – author of The Mother, my note on that short story is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-mother-by-william-somerset-maugham.html where there are scores of other lines on dozens of his stories - 10 out of 10

 

The Vessel of Wrath by William Somerset Maugham – author of The Mother, my note on that short story is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-mother-by-william-somerset-maugham.html where there are scores of other lines on dozens of his stories

 

10 out of 10

 

 

It intrigued me to imagine what happens after the end of The Vessel of Wrath – therefore, there are some qualms here, would a spoiler alert be needed, is anybody reading beyond the first line, and then if I muse about after the finale, who is to be upset, I am moving out of this tale, granted, it will be into another one by Maugham

 

Thus, I was thinking that the characters of this story could well move into another one, by the same author, at least the two most important, Ginger Ted and Miss Jones, they could change places, or follow the destiny of Millicent and Harold, from Before The Party, looked at here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/04/before-party-by-somerset-maugham-his.html

There are quite a few similarities between Ginger Ted and Miss Jones on one side, and Harold and Millicent Skinner on the other, Harold arrives in England, where he is not enthusiastic about Millicent, just like Ginger Ted is in fact annoyed by Miss Jones, at least to begin with, the men are both alcoholics, and then things could change

 

In Before The Party, we have a tragic end, well, sort of, in that Millicent marries Harold, moves with him to the Far East, where she learns that the fellow had been under orders, he either found a wife, or he would be fired, he had reached the point where his drunkenness would no longer be tolerated, and a solution was needed

Nevertheless, Harold is drinking again, a daughter is born, and he stops so that she would not learn about the dejection of her father, only he is again falling into this abyss, and his spouse finds him in a lamentable state, she takes a parong, local sword, and kills him, is it the momentary lapse of reason, or something else

 

The greatness of Maugham’s works rests in this complexity, you are invited to think about complex, challenging situations, is this part euthanasia, the man was lost, there were not specialized clinics one hundred years ago, was the wife a monster, or are we somewhere in between, she had tried and resisted, but there was no hope…

In the Vessel of Wrath, Reverend Jones comes to see the controller of this small island in the Far East, asking him to expel Ginger Ted, this white man who is drinking all the time, and in his stupor causes all sorts of mischief, he is a sinner, has a bad reputation, women fall for him, ergo the fornication and hell that awaits them

 

What is worse, one of those who had converted, the reverend had brought to ‘the right path, resurrection, redemption and all that’, has been seduced by this agent of Satan – I am using hyperbole here, but that was the point the man of the church was making, more or less – and hence she has left the church…

The Contrôleur is amused by this, he in fact is much closer to the ruffian that to the reverend, he drinks with the ruffian, so he decides to deny the clergy his request, and instead, send the white man to prison for a few months, and then wait for his, to have beers together, in the meantime he will keep the money for him

 

Ginger Ted does time and then he is back, drinks with the Contrôleur, and then he is involved in a peculiar situation – a serious medical case requires attention, normally, it would be the reverend to offer help, but now he is incapable, ergo his sister wants to sail (she is his sister) against the advice of her brother, she says she will be alright

Miss Jones has to sail in a small boat, with Ginger Red and some natives, only the boat has a problem, so they change course, to the nearest island, which is uninhabited, to the despair of the forty years old woman, who is sure she will be abused, tells the men this is not possible, they could not go there, under any circumstances

 

She threatens that she will tell the Contrôleur, they will be punished, jailed, but this is to no avail, eventually, Ginger Ted tells her to put a stop to all this nonsense, a propeller is faulty, there is nothing they can do until the morning – she is offered food, she refuses, and is convinced her virtue, virginity will be attacked

However, after a night in which at first, she looked for means to defend her state (which is apparently so much in favor with Saint I do not know who, was it Paul, or one of the other apostles) and then she fell asleep, in the morning, to her amazement, she is untouched, and then she has some sacks to cover her, and protect her from cold

 

Upon her return, she speaks with her brother, who goes to the Contrôleur, and then he expresses his gratitude, asks for forgiveness, because the loathed man spared the sister, they invite him for dinner, but when Ginger Ted finds, he is furious, for he had never once thought about rape – the woman was not good looking

Nevertheless, an epidemic is the occasion when he helps Miss Jones, and when the calamity ends, he visits the Contrôleur, the latter offers a beer, only to be astonished to hear that his guest would have…tea, he has stopped drinking, he wears white, clean clothes (the opposite of his usual attire) and the climax…

He will marry Mis Jones, the Contrôleur insists he must sail at once, it would be his only escape, and come to think of it, I started this note wondering is after they marry, they will follow a similar scenario to the one from Before the Party, but maybe Miss Jones is much stronger than Millicent, and she could control the whole game…

 

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.”