A FRIEND IN NEED
The given extract is taken from the story "A man in need" that was written
by William Somerset Maugham. He was the one of the famous English novelists
and short story writers. In his stories, he revealed the problems of vanity,
hypocrisy and cruelty of society. the latter is the subject of this passage.
The last point is the subject matter of this passage. William Somerset
Maugham describes in this story not only the problems of human cruelty, but also
he tells the reader about the problem of true friendship.
The story is told in the first person. The main character was talking with
his friend and the conversation turned to the namesake of the main character. The
main character of the story, Burton the Elder, was a successful businessman.
Burton the Young, the namesake, was good-looking, but had a penchant for card
games. After losing all his money, he came to Burton the Elder asking for a job.
But it turned out that Burton the Young could do nothing but swim. At that time,
in swimming as well as in cards, Burton the Young was not successful, since he
had not practiced for a long time. Despite this, Burton the Elder agrees to give
him a job if he swims a long distance to the lighthouse. Young Burton agrees, but
due to the river’s flow and his bad condition, he died. Burton the Elder doesn't
express any regret. It turns out that at that time he had no vacancies.
Having read this passage, it becomes clear that this story belongs to the
type of relationship with some psychological elements. It is a dramatic story due
to its prevaling mood that is sad and tragic with a melancholy and emotional slant.
As for the title of the story - it is an allusion to the well-know proverb “a friend
in need is a friend indeed” and the author specifically omitted the second part of
this proverb to underline the entire essence of the character of old Burton.
As for the structure of the text itself, it can be divided into three logically
connected parts. In the exposition the author begins his story by describing the
appearance and personality one of the friends. The author creates the atmosphere
of hidden envy, hate, taunt and lies on the part of Burton the Young to his friend
who has careless lifestyle, catches admiring glances of women and has prosperity
of money. The action rises at the moment of conversation between two Burtons
one of which is in a difficult life situation and another has got a chance to help
him. Burton the Young was looking for a job and asked Burton the Elder about
vacancy. The action leading to the climax when old Burton agreed to give his
namesake a job if he swam a long distance with a very strong stream. The climax
of the story is in the moment when Burton the Young dies during the swimming
at the request of Burton the Elder. The climax is followed by the denouement,
where Burton the Elder says that he did not have any vacancies at that time.
Speaking about the main characters, first of all it is necessary to mention
Burton the Elder’s attitude towards his namesake. In order to emphasize it, the
author of the story used a number of stylistic devices: using litotes “he wasn’t a
bad chap”, the author underlines the disparaging attitude of the main character to
his namesake. Also, it is clearly seen through the repetition of the word “rather”:
“It’s rather funny story; I was rather surprised; He went rather pale; It's rather
difficult on account of the currents round the beacon”. Thus, Burton the Elder
wants to hide his true feelings and even appear to be a cold-blooded person. The
author uses irony “Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I'll see
what I can do” in order to show the disinterest of Burton the Elder’s help. The
author uses the contrast between the words and actions of Burton the Elder and
his appearance. Using epithets that are both inversion “those kind and candid blue
eyes of his”, the author emphasizes this contrast. Some more epithets “kindly
little chuckle” highlights Burton the Elder’s arrogance; “trifle shocked” shows
emotional states of Burton after the accident. The text is full of short sentences.
It is necessary to highlight Burton the Elder’s brevity and lack of interest in the
whole situation.
The namesake of the main character was Burton the Young. William
Somerset Maugham describes his appearance by means of epithets: “handsome;
well-dressed; smart-looking; pink-and white cheeks. Also, the author used
comparison “Women thought a lot of him” and “The girls wouldn’t have thought
so much of him if they’d seen him then” in order to show how bad Burton the
Young had become. Syntactical parallelism alongside with anaphors "He didn't
move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then told me that he
had had bad luck at cards for some time. He hadn't been willing to stick to bridge,
he'd been playing poker, and he'd got trimmed. He hadn't a penny. He'd pawned
everything he had. He couldn't pay his hotel bill and they wouldn't give him any
more credit. He was down and out. If he couldn't get something to do he'd have
to commit suicide" were used in order to show how desperate the situation of
Burton the Young’s was.
Thus, after analyzing the entire text, we can conclude that the main idea of
the text is to show that not every friend is a true friend. A True friend will be with
you when you have a problem, he\she will always help you. I totally disagree with
the main character. Despite all the dislike or reluctance, it was possible not to
send a person to perish, but simply to refuse. As it is, Burton the Elder proved to
be a truly cold-blooded person who does not care about the people around him. I
have never encountered such an attitude towards myself, but I am sure that such
people exist in our time. This means that the problem described by William
Somerset Maugham will be relevant for a very long time.