Анализ «A friend in need»by William Somerset Maugham. "друг познаётся…" сомерсет моэм Maugham a friend in need анализ

ДРУГ ПОЗНАЁТСЯ…
Сомерсет Моэм
(перевод В. Райкина)

Целых тридцать лет я изучаю людей, но по-прежнему знаю о них очень мало. Я не решусь нанять слугу только на основании формы и выражения его лица; однако же, именно так мы судим о незнакомцах. Делаем выводы исходя из размеров челюсти, выражения глаз, изгиба губ. Было бы любопытно проверить, как часто мы оказываемся правы. Причина, по которой жизнь в романах и пьесах предстаёт упрощённой, заключается в том, что их авторы - наверное, по необходимости - делают своих героев чересчур цельными, избегают внутренних противоречий, чтобы не запутать читателя. Однако, в большинстве своём мы внутренне противоречивы и являем собой путаницу случайных и часто несовместимых качеств. В учебниках по логике говорится, что абсурдны утверждения типа «желтое является полым» или «благодарность тяжелее, чем воздух». Но в калейдоскопе элементов, составляющих чью-либо личность, «жёлтое» может предстать конным фургоном, а «благодарность» - утром следующей среды. Когда я слышу, что первое впечатление о человеке - самое верное, я только пожимаю плечами; по-моему, верить в это могут лишь очень недалёкие или очень тщеславные люди. О себе могу сказать, что чем дольше я с человеком знаком, тем меньше его знаю, и хуже всего я знаю самых старых моих друзей.

Такие мысли нахлынули на меня, когда в утренней газете я прочёл, что в Кобе скончался Эдвард Хайд Бёртон. Это был коммерсант, много лет занимавшийся бизнесом в Японии. Моё с ним знакомство было недолгим, но запоминающимся, поскольку однажды он меня здорово удивил. Не услышь я эту историю от него самого, ни за что бы не поверил, что он был на такое способен. Его поступок был тем более шокирующим, что манеры Бёртона находились в точном согласии с его внешностью, - это была сама цельность, если таковая вообще существует. А был он маленький, чуть выше метра шестидесяти, стройный, белоголовый, с морщинистым красным лицом и голубыми глазами. Когда мы познакомились, ему, думаю, было около шестидесяти. Одевался он всегда аккуратно и неброско, соответственно своему возрасту и положению.

Хотя его офис находился в Кобе, Бёртон часто приезжал в Иокагаму, где мне однажды пришлось несколько дней дожидаться парохода. Нас представили друг другу за партией в бридж в Британском Клубе. Играл он хорошо и не скупился. Был немногословен - как во время игры, так и после, за коктейлями, - но если уж говорил, то по делу. Шутил метко, не повышая голоса. В клубе Бёртон был весьма известен и потом, когда перестал там бывать, о нём вспоминали, как об одном из лучших. Когда выяснилось, что мы оба остановились в Гранд Отеле, он пригласил меня на другой день вместе поужинать. Я познакомился с его женой - пожилой, полной и улыбчивой женщиной - и с двумя их дочерьми. По всему было видно, что это дружная, любящая семья. Думаю, что в первую очередь меня привлекла доброжелательность Бёртона. Голубизна его глаз была успокаивающей, а голос - мягким, было трудно представить его гневно повышенным; улыбка - кроткой. Бёртон излучал расположение к ближнему, но в нём не было приторной сентиментальности. Он был обаятелен, любил карты и лёгкую выпивку, мог рассказать солёный анекдот; а в молодости был атлетом. Да, Бёртон был богат, но всё своё состояние, до последнего пенса, заработал сам. Ещё, думаю, многим нравились его малый рост и хрупкость - такого хотелось взять под защиту, казалось, он не обидит и мухи.

Однажды днём я сидел в холле при гостиничном баре - тогда, ещё до большого землетрясения, там стояли кожаные кресла. Из окна открывалась панорама гавани, полной разнообразных судов и судёнышек. Там высились величественные океанские лайнеры, направлявшиеся в Ванкувер, Сан Франциско, или Европу - через Шанхай, Гонг-Конг или Сингапур; на их фоне плыли тяжёлые грузовые суда под флагами всех стран мира; умело лавировали потрёпанные штормами джонки с задранными носами и огромными яркими парусами; шныряли бесчисленные сампаны*. Удивительно, но эта картина неугомонного труда и движения успокаивала. Романтика дальних странствий просто висела в воздухе, казалось, до неё можно было дотронуться.

Войдя в холл, Бёртон сразу меня увидел, подошёл и опустился в соседнее кресло.

А не пропустить ли нам по стаканчику?

Хлопком он подозвал слугу и заказал две порции джина с тоником. В тот момент, когда слуга принёс напитки, проходивший по улице человек увидел меня через окно и помахал рукой.

Вы знакомы с Тёрнером? - Спросил Бёртон, когда я кивнул в ответ.

Мы познакомились в клубе. Говорят, он живёт на переводы из дома.

Да, скорее всего, здесь таких пруд пруди.

- … и хороший игрок в бридж.

Как большинство из них. В прошлом году здесь был один такой, кстати, мой тёзка, лучший бриджист из всех, кого я знал. Вы могли его встречать в Лондоне - Ленни Бёртон. Кажется, он состоял в хороших клубах.

Не припоминаю.

Потрясающий игрок! У него был особый карточный инстинкт, этому нельзя научиться. Я с ним играл много раз. Какое-то время он прожил в Кобе.
Бёртон отхлебнул из стакана.

С ним связана одна престранная история. Это был симпатичный малый, и мне он нравился. Хорошо одевался и был не глуп. К тому же красавчик - кудрявый, розовощёкий, любимец женщин. И совершенно безобидный, разве что немного дурно воспитан. Выпить, конечно, любил, как и вся эта братия. Раз в квартал он получал небольшой перевод по почте, добавляя картами. Я сам ему спустил немало.

Бёртон добродушно хмыкнул. Я знал, что Бёртон умеет благородно проигрывать. Он погладил гладко выбритый подбородок своей тонкой, едва ли не прозрачной рукой, на которой сквозь кожу просвечивали вены.

Думаю, поэтому, сев на мель, он обратился за помощью именно ко мне. И ещё потому, что мы были тёзки. Однажды он появился у меня в офисе и попросил взять его на работу, чем весьма удивил. Объяснил, что из дома перестали слать деньги, и он нуждается в заработке. Я спросил, сколько ему лет.

«Тридцать пять.»

«И какой Вы владеете профессией?»

«Да в общем-то, никакой.»

Я подавил смешок.

«Боюсь, не смогу Вам помочь, - говорю. - Заходите лет ещё через тридцать пять, тогда поговорим.»

Он не двинулся с места и побледнел, как мел. Помолчав с минуту, признался, что в последнее время ему не везло. Кроме бриджа он взялся за покер и проигрался вчистую. Остался без гроша, заложил всё, что мог, теперь было нечем расплатиться с гостиницей, и ему перестали верить в долг. Положение безвыходное, и если он не найдёт работы, останется только самоубийство.

Я вгляделся в него и увидел, что он-таки был у края. Пил больше обычного и выглядел на все пятьдесят. Даже девушки, думаю, от него отвернулись.

«И всё-таки, Вы хоть что-нибудь умеете, кроме игры в карты?» - Спросил я.

«Плавать могу,» - говорит.

«Плавать!» - Я не поверил своим ушам.

«Я плавал за сборную университета.»

Я-то понял, что он имел в виду, но это меня не впечатлило: слишком многие из моих знакомых в юности походили на бронзовые статуэтки.

В молодости я сам был отличным пловцом, - вставил я.

И тут меня осенило.

Бёртон сделал паузу и развернулся ко мне.

Вы хорошо знаете Кобе?

Нет. Был там однажды проездом, всего один вечер.

Тогда Вы не знаете клуб Шиойя. В молодости я проплывал от него вокруг маяка до устья ручья в Таруми. Это больше трёх миль, и плыть трудно из-за сильных течений вокруг маяка. Я рассказал моему тёзке про этот маршрут и добавил, что если он проплывёт по нему, я возьму его на работу. Он пришёл в замешательство.

«Но Вы же сами сказали, что Вы отличный пловец.»

«Да, но… теперь я не в лучшей форме.»

Я промолчал, только пожал плечами. Он бросил на меня всего один взгляд и сразу кивнул.

«Я согласен. Когда надо плыть?»

Я посмотрел на часы - только что минуло десять.

«Заплыв не займёт у Вас больше часа с четвертью, я подъеду к ручью в половине первого, отвезу Вас обратно в клуб, там Вы сможете переодеться, а потом мы пообедаем вместе.»

«Договорились.»

Мы пожали друг другу руки, я пожелал ему удачи, и он ушёл. В то утро навалилось много работы, и я едва успел приехать в половине первого. Но можно было не спешить - он так и не появился.

Струсил в последний момент?

Нет, не струсил, он отплыл от условленного места. Но его здоровье было подорвано пьянкой и рассеянным образом жизни - и он не смог совладать с течениями. Три дня спустя нам удалось обнаружить тело.

Поражённый рассказом, я не мог произнести ни слова, и только через пару минут спросил Бёртона:

Знали ли Вы - делая ему предложение- знали ли Вы, что он утонет?

Бёртон ответил мягким покашливанием и посмотрел на меня своими добрыми и честными голубыми глазами. Поглаживая подбородок, он сказал:

В тот момент у меня не было вакансий.

A Friend In Need
By Somerset Maugham

♦
For thirty years now I have been studying my fellow-men. I do not know very much about them. I should certainly hesitate to engage a servant on his face, and yet I suppose it is on the face that for the most part we judge the persons we meet. We draw our conclusions from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eyes, the contour of the mouth. I wonder if we are more often right than wrong. Why novels and plays are so often untrue to life is because their authors, perhaps of necessity, make their characters all of a piece. They cannot afford to make them self-contradictory, for then they become incomprehensible, and yet self-contradictory is what most of us are. We are a haphazard bundle of inconsistent qualities. In books on logic they will tell you that it is absurd to say that yellow is tubular or gratitude heavier than air; but in that mixture of incongruities that makes up the self yellow may very well be a horse and cart and gratitude the middle of next week. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. I think they must have small insight or great vanity. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me: my oldest friends are just those of whom I can say that I don’t know the first thing about them.

These reflections have occurred to me because I read in this morning’s paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in business in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise. Unless I had heard the story from his own lips I should never have believed that he was capable of such an action. It was more startling because both in appearance and manner he suggested a very definite type. Here if ever was a man all of a piece. He was a tiny little fellow, not much more than five feet four in height, and very slender, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled, and blue eyes. I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.

Though his offices were in Kobe, Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at the British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one. He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humour. He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they described him as one of the best. It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly, and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united and affectionate family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger; his smile was benign. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. He had charm. But there was nothing mawkish in him: he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly.

One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge of the Grand Hotel. This was before the earthquake and they had leather arm-chairs there. From the windows you had a spacious view of the harbour with its crowded traffic. There were great liners on their way to Vancouver and San Francisco or to Europe by way of Shanghai, Hong-Kong, and Singapore; there were tramps of all nations, battered and sea-worn, junks with their high sterns and great coloured sails, and innumerable sampans. It was a busy, exhilarating scene, and yet, I know not why, restful to the spirit. Here was romance and it seemed that you had but to stretch out your hand to touch it.

Burton came into the lounge presently and caught sight of me. He seated himself in the chair next to mine.

‘What do you say to a little drink?’

He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two gin fizzes. As the boy brought them a man passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand.

‘Do you know Turner?’ said Burton as I nodded a greeting.

‘I’ve met him at the club. I’m told he’s a remittance man.’

‘Yes, I believe he is. We have a good many here.’

‘He plays bridge well.’

‘They generally do. There was a fellow here last year, oddly enough a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. I suppose you never came across him in London. Lenny Burton he called himself. I believe he’d belonged to some very good clubs.’

‘No, I don’t believe I remember the name.’

‘He was quite a remarkable player. He seemed to have an instinct about the cards. It was uncanny. I used to play with him a lot. He was in Kobe for some time.’

Burton sipped his gin fizz.

‘It’s rather a funny story,’ he said. ‘He wasn’t a bad chap. I liked him. He was always well-dressed and smart-looking. He was handsome in a way with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks. Women thought a lot of him. There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Those sort of fellows always do. A bit of money used to come in for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. He won a good deal of mine, I know that.’

Burton gave a kindly chuckle. I knew from my own experience that he could lose money at bridge with a good grace. He stroked his shaven chin with his thin hand; the veins stood out on it and it was almost transparent.

‘I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke, that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job. I was rather surprised. He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work. I asked him how old he was.

‘“Thirty-five,” he said. ‘

“And what have you been doing hitherto?” I asked him.

‘“Well, nothing very much,” he said.

‘I couldn’t help laughing.

‘“I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you just yet,” I said. “Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I’ll see what I can do.‘
“He didn’t move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then he 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.

‘I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. He’d been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty. The girls wouldn’t have thought so much of him if they’d seen him then. ‘
“Well, isn’t there anything you can do except play cards?” I asked him. ‘

“I can swim,” he said.

‘“Swim!” ‘I could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such an insane answer to give. ‘

“I swam for my university.”

‘I got some glimmering of what he was driving at, I’ve known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it. ‘

“I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man,” I said.

‘Suddenly I had an idea.’

Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me.

‘Do you know Kobe?’ he asked.

‘No,’ I said, ‘I passed through it once, but I only spent a night there.’

‘Then you don’t know the Shioya Club. When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon and landed at the creek of Tarumi. It’s over three miles and it’s rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young namesake about it and I said to him that if he’d do it I’d give him a job.

‘I could see he was rather taken aback. ‘

“You say you’re a swimmer,” I said. ‘

“I’m not in very good condition,” he answered.

‘I didn’t say anything. I shrugged my shoulders. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded. ‘

“All right,” he said. “When do you want me to do it?”

‘I looked at my watch. It was just after ten.

‘“The swim shouldn’t take you much over an hour and a quarter. I’ll drive round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you. I’ll take you back to the club to dress and then we’ll have lunch together.”

‘“Done,” he said.

‘We shook hands. I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the creek at Tarumi at half past twelve. But I needn’t have hurried; he never turned up.’

‘Did he funk it at the last moment?’ I asked.

‘No, he didn’t funk it. He started all right. But of course he’d ruined his constitution by drink and dissipation. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage. We didn’t get the body for about three days.’

I didn’t say anything for a moment or two. I was a trifle shocked. Then I asked Burton a question.

‘When you made him that offer of a job, did you know he’d be drowned?’

He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his. He rubbed his chin with his hand.

‘Well, I hadn’t got a vacancy in my office at the moment.’

For thirty years now I have been studying my fellow-men. I do not know very much about them. I suppose it is on the face that for the most part we judge the persons we meet. We draw our conclusions from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eyes, the shape of the mouth. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me: my oldest friends are just those of whom I can say that I don"t know anything about them.
These thoughts have occurred to me because I read in this morning"s paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise. If I had not heard the story from his own lips I should never have believed that he was capable of such an action. It was the more startling because both his appearance and his manner gave the impression of a very different man. He was a tiny little fellow, very slender, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled, and blue eyes. I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.
Though his offices were in Kobe Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at the British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one. He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humour. He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they described him as one of the best. It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united and loving family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could raise it in anger; his smile was kind. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. He had charm. But there was nothing sentimental about him: he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete . He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he would not hurt a fly.
One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge of the Grand Hotel. From the windows you had an excellent view of the harbour with its crowded traffic. There were great liners; merchant ships of all nations, junks and boats sailing in and out. It was a busy scene and yet, I do not know why, restful to the spirit.
Burton came into the lounge presently and caught sight of me. He seated himself in the chair next to mine.
"What do you say to a little drink?"
He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two drinks. As the boy brought them a man passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand.
"Do you know Turner?" said Burton as I nodded a greeting.
"I"ve met him at the club. I"m told he"s a remittance man."
"Yes, I believe he is. We have a good many here."
"He plays bridge well."
"They generally do. There was a fellow here last year, a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. I suppose you never came across him in London. Lenny Burton he called himself."
"No. I don"t believe I remember the name."
"He was quite a remarkable player. He seemed to have an instinct about the cards. It was uncanny. I used to play with him a lot. He was in Kobe for some time."
Burton sipped his gin.
"It"s rather a funny story,", he said. "He wasn"t a bad chap. I liked him. He was always well-dressed and he was handsome in a way, with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks. Women thought a lot of him. There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Fellows like him always do. A bit of money used to come in for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. He won a good deal of mine, I know that."
Burton gave a kindly little chuckle.
"I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke , that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job. I was rather surprised. He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work. I asked him how old he was.
"Thirty five," he said.
""And what have you been doing before?" I asked him.
""Well, nothing very much," he said.
"I couldn"t help laughing.
""I"m afraid I can"t do anything for you just now," I said. "Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I"ll see what I can do."
"He didn"t move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time. 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 a job he"d have to commit suicide.
"I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. He"d been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty.
""Well, isn"t there anything you can do except play cards?" I asked him.
""I can swim," he said.
""Swim!"
"I could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such a silly answer.
""I swam for my university."
""I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man," I said.
"Suddenly I had an idea.
Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me.
"Do you know Kobe?" he asked.
"No," I said, "I passed through it once, but I only spent a night there."
"Then you don"t know the Shioya Club. When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon and landed at the creek of Tarumi. It"s over three miles and it"s rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young namesake about it and I said to him that if he"d do it I"d give him a job.
"I could see he was rather taken aback.
"You say you"re a swimmer," I said.
""I"m not in very good condition," he answered.
"I didn"t say anything. I shrugged my shoulders. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded.
"All right," he said. "When do you want me to do it?"
"I looked at my watch. It was just after ten.
"The swim shouldn"t take you much over an hour and a quarter. I"ll drive round to the creek at half-past twelve and meet you. I"ll take you back to the club to dress and then we"ll have lunch together."
"Done," he said.
"We shook hands. I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the creek at half past twelve. I waited for him there, but in vain."
"Did he get frightened at the last moment?" I asked.
"No, he didn"t. He started swimming. But of course he"d ruined his health by drink. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage." We didn"t get the body for about three days."
I didn"t say anything for a moment or two. I was a little shocked. Then I asked Burton a question.
"When you offered him the job, did you know that he"d be drowned?"
He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind blue eyes of his. He rubbed his chin with his hand.
"Well, I hadn"t got a vacancy in my office at the moment."

Exercises

1. The title of the story is the beginning of the proverb ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’. Why do you think the author doesn`t give the ending of the proverb?

2. Find in the story the English for:

Судить о человеке, делать вывод, озадачивать (ставить в тупик), приходить на ум, быть способным на что-то, морщинистый, повышать голос, и мухи не обидеть, помахать рукой, тезка, потягивать джин, быть высокого мнения о ком-либо, посмеиваться, в состоянии отчаяния, совершить самоубийство, измученный, течение, ошеломленный, пожелать удачи, тщетно (зря), подорвать здоровье, утонуть.

3. Fill the gaps with these words or word combinations in an appropriate form:

• To draw conclusions
• In vain
• To wave one`s hand
• To sip
• A current
• To shrug one`s shoulders
• To be capable of
• Wrinkled
• To commit suicide
• To be drowned

1. We _____________ from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eye, the shape of the mouth.
2. I should never have believed that he __________ such an action.
3. He was a tiny, little fellow, very slender, with white hair, a red face much ______________ and blue eyes.
4. A man passed along the street outside and seeing me _____________.
5. Burton _________ his gin.
6. If he couldn`t get a job he`d have to _____________.
7. The __________ round the beacon were more than he could manage.
8. I ____________ when people tell me that their impressions of a person are always right.
9. I waited for him there but _________.
10. When you offered him a job did you know that he __________?

4. Replace the italicized words/ word combinations with a synonym:

• To judge
• A namesake of
• To raise one`s voice
• Puzzled
• To think a lot of
• To ruin one`s health
• To occur
• Down and out

1. We often form an opinion about a person by his looks.
2. These thoughts came to my mind because I read in this morning`s newspaper about Edward Burton`s death.
3. You could not imagine that he could speak in a higher tone in anger.
4. There was a fellow there last year whose name was also Edward.
5. Women thought highly of him.
6. He was unemployed and without money .
7. I could see he was rather taken aback .
8. But of course he undermined his health by drink.

Discussion points

Answer the following questions:

1) What thoughts occurred to the author when he read in a newspaper about Mr. Burton`s death?
2) Why did Mr. Burton interest the author?
3) Where did the author make Mr. Burton`s acquaintance?
4) What did the author know about Mr. Burton?
5) What attracted the author in Mr. Burton?
6) When and where did he tell the author the story of his namesake?
7) What kind of man was young Burton?
8) Why did he once come to Mr. Burton?
9) What was the situation he found himself in?
10) What idea did suddenly Mr. Burton have when his namesake said he had swum for the university?
11) Why was young Burton taken back?
12) Why was young Burton drowned?
13) What was the author`s reaction to the story?
14) Why did Mr. Burton say he offered his namesake a job?

Discuss the following:

1. Why would the author never have believed that Mr. Burton was capable of such an actionif he had not heard the story from his own lips? Do you think that the first impressions of a person are always right?

Comment on the following proverb (with referrence to the story):

Appearences are deceitful .

2. Make guesses about young Burton`s 35 years of life. Why had he never done anything in his life?

3. Is there any evidence in the story that Mr.Burton was not that kind and gentle? Why did he promise his namesake a job if the latter swam round the beacon? Did he know he would be drowned? Why did he come to the creek?

4. Why did Mr.Burton tell the author the story? Why did he say it was rather a funny story? Why did he give a little mild chuckle when the author asked him if he had known that the guy would be drowned?

5.What is the story about beneath the surface of the narrative? Explain the title of the story. What could have naturally expected of ‘a friend in need’ in that situation? What would you have told Mr.Burton if you had been his listener?

6. What is you main impression of the story?

For thirty years now I have been studying my fellow–men. I do not know very much about them. I should certainly hesitate to engage a servant on his face, and yet I suppose it is on the face that for the most part we judge the persons we meet. We draw our conclusions from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eyes, the contour of the mouth. I wonder if we are more often right than wrong. Why novels and plays are so often untrue to life is because their authors, perhaps of necessity, make their characters all of a piece. They cannot afford to make them self–contradictory, for then they become incomprehensible, and yet self–contradictory is what most of us are. We are a haphazard bundle of inconsistent qualities. In books on logic they will tell you that it is absurd to say that yellow is tubular or gratitude heavier than air; but in that mixture of incongruities that makes up the self yellow may very well be a horse and cart and gratitude the middle of next week. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. I think they must have small insight or great vanity. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me: my oldest friends are just those of whom I can say that I don’t know the first thing about them.

These reflections have occurred to me because I read in this morning’s paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in business in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise. Unless I had heard the story from his own lips I should never have believed that he was capable of such an action. It was more startling because both in appearance and manner he suggested a very definite type. Here if ever was a man all of a piece. He was a tiny little fellow, not much more than five feet four in height, and very slender, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled, and blue eyes. I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.

Though his offices were in Kobe, Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at the British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one. He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humour. He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they described him as one of the best. It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly, and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united and affectionate family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger; his smile was benign. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. He had charm. But there was nothing mawkish in him: he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly.

One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge of the Grand Hotel. This was before the earthquake and they had leather arm–chairs there. From the windows you had a spacious view of the harbour with its crowded traffic. There were great liners on their way to Vancouver and San Francisco or to Europe by way of Shanghai, Hong–Kong, and Singapore; there were tramps of all nations, battered and sea–worn, junks with their high sterns and great coloured sails, and innumerable sampans. It was a busy, exhilarating scene, and yet, I know not why, restful to the spirit. Here was romance and it seemed that you had but to stretch out your hand to touch it.

Burton came into the lounge presently and caught sight of me. He seated himself in the chair next to mine.

‘What do you say to a little drink?’

He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two gin fizzes. As the boy brought them a man passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand.

‘Do you know Turner?’ said Burton as I nodded a greeting.
‘I’ve met him at the club. I’m told he’s a remittance man.’
‘Yes, I believe he is. We have a good many here.’
‘He plays bridge well.’
‘They generally do. There was a fellow here last year, oddly enough a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. I suppose you never came across him in London. Lenny Burton he called himself. I believe he’d belonged to some very good clubs.’
‘No, I don’t believe I remember the name.’
‘He was quite a remarkable player. He seemed to have an instinct about the cards. It was uncanny. I used to play with him a lot. He was in Kobe for some time.’

Burton sipped his gin fizz.

‘It’s rather a funny story,’ he said. ‘He wasn’t a bad chap. I liked him. He was always well–dressed and smart–looking. He was handsome in a way with curly hair and pink–and–white cheeks. Women thought a lot of him. There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Those sort of fellows always do. A bit of money used to come in for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card–playing. He won a good deal of mine, I know that.’
Burton gave a kindly chuckle. I knew from my own experience that he could lose money at bridge with a good grace. He stroked his shaven chin with his thin hand; the veins stood out on it and it was almost transparent.

‘I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke, that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job. I was rather surprised. He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work. I asked him how old he was.

‘“Thirty–five,” he said. ‘
“And what have you been doing hitherto?” I asked him.
‘“Well, nothing very much,” he said.

‘I couldn’t help laughing.

‘“I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you just yet,” I said. “Come back and see me in another thirty–five years, and I’ll see what I can do.‘
“He didn’t move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then he 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.

‘I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. He’d been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty. The girls wouldn’t have thought so much of him if they’d seen him then. ‘

“Well, isn’t there anything you can do except play cards?” I asked him. ‘
“I can swim,” he said.
‘“Swim!” ‘I could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such an insane answer to give. ‘
“I swam for my university.”

‘I got some glimmering of what he was driving at, I’ve known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it. ‘

“I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man,” I said.

‘Suddenly I had an idea.’

Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me.

‘Do you know Kobe?’ he asked.
‘No,’ I said, ‘I passed through it once, but I only spent a night there.’
‘Then you don’t know the Shioya Club. When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon and landed at the creek of Tarumi. It’s over three miles and it’s rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young namesake about it and I said to him that if he’d do it I’d give him a job.

‘I could see he was rather taken aback. ‘
“You say you’re a swimmer,” I said. ‘
“I’m not in very good condition,” he answered.
‘I didn’t say anything. I shrugged my shoulders. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded. ‘
“All right,” he said. “When do you want me to do it?”
‘I looked at my watch. It was just after ten.
‘“The swim shouldn’t take you much over an hour and a quarter. I’ll drive round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you. I’ll take you back to the club to dress and then we’ll have lunch together.”
‘“Done,” he said.

‘We shook hands. I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the creek at Tarumi at half past twelve. But I needn’t have hurried; he never turned up.’
‘Did he funk it at the last moment?’ I asked.
‘No, he didn’t funk it. He started all right. But of course he’d ruined his constitution by drink and dissipation. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage. We didn’t get the body for about three days.’

I didn’t say anything for a moment or two. I was a trifle shocked. Then I asked Burton a question.
‘When you made him that offer of a job, did you know he’d be drowned?’

He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his. He rubbed his chin with his hand.

‘Well, I hadn’t got a vacancy in my office at the moment.’

In A Friend in Need by W. Somerset Maugham we have the theme of appearance, hopelessness, friendship, desperation and connection. Taken from his Collected Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that Maugham may be exploring the theme of appearance. The narrator like many people believes that you cannot judge an individual’s character based solely on how someone might look. To emphasis his point the narrator highlights some of his friends that he has known for a long time yet he would consider that he knows very little if anything about these friends. Something that many readers would find understandable. It is difficult if not impossible to formulate a knowledgeable appraisal of another individual based solely on how they might look. Each individual will be different even if some may look similar in appearance. Maugham also appears to be exploring the theme of friendship though in reality all the characters mentioned in the story would merely be acquaintances of each other. Which may be the point that Maugham is attempting to make. He may be suggesting that things might have been different for Lenny Burton should he have had a friend in Yokohama.

Lenny’s reliance on Edward ended up costing him his life and the reader senses that Edward does not really feel anything when it comes to Lenny’s death. Rather than simply offering Lenny a job (even though there was no vacancy) Edward decides upon issuing Lenny with a challenge. How desperate Lenny may have been is noticeable by the fact that though he knows he is physically out of condition he still nonetheless attempts to do the swim. For many readers this would be a warning sign into Edward’s character however the narrator himself through judging Edward by appearance considers Edward to be a good man. Though both Lenny and Edward were merely acquaintances Edward should have known better than to issue the challenge to Lenny. It is as though life is a game to Edward. Should Lenny have been successful he still may not have gotten a job from Edward as there was no vacancy. There is also no doubting that Lenny needed help. His circumstances had changed dramatically due to his lifestyle yet the reality was he did not know anybody well enough that might be able to help him. Hence Lenny reaching out to Edward.

It is also possible that Maugham is asking the reader to define what friendship is. In the story there is no real connection between any of the characters apart from periods when they may be drinking or playing bridge together. The reader never really gets to know what makes each character tick. Which may be important as Maugham may be suggesting that friendship is elusive. You might think you know somebody, as the narrator thinks he knows Edward, but the reality may be very different. Just as you can incorrectly judge somebody by their appearance. Similarly you may not necessarily know somebody just because you spent a brief moment with them. It can take time to know who a person is. You need to see a person at their best and their worst before you can not only formulate an opinion about the person but also to see if there is the possibility that you might become friends with the person. This may have been the mistake that Lenny made. Through desperation he thought that perhaps Edward might be able to help. However the reality is Lenny and Edward were no more than two individuals who happened to play cards together.

The end of the story is interesting if not shocking as the reader really gets an insight into how Edward thinks. He is cold and lacks compassion when it comes to Lenny’s death. He does not consider himself to be responsible in anyway nor does he suffer from any guilt. As mentioned life is a game to Edward. It did not bother him that someone he knew came to him seeking his help. As Edward did not view Lenny as being a friend. Something which ended up costing Lenny his life. The fact that Edward chuckles when asked by the narrator did he know that Lenny would drown is also interesting. As in many ways this sums up Edward’s reaction to Lenny’s death. A desperate and hopeless man has lost his life and Edward views what happened as no more than a business transaction. A transaction which the reader suspects that Edward looks upon favourably. Despite the narrator telling the reader that Edward ‘looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his.’ The reader is left suspecting that not only Lenny but the narrator too have been fooled by Edward’s appearance. He is not the man that he appears to be and he is most definitely not a friend to either Lenny or the narrator.

Анализ
A Friend In Need.

The author of the text is Maugham William Somerset, an English writer. He is best known by his short stories. The text under analysis is titled «A Friend In Need» The subject of the extract is drown from life and deals with problems true friendship. The story has a narrative presentation with elements of dialog.

There are no the secondary characters. The main characters are 2 men. This story is about one of them, the man who had had bad luck at cards. He was down and out and because of it he drunk a lot. He came to his namesake and asked him for a job. But he can’t do anything except swim. And Burton told him, if he swam round the beacon and landed at the creek of Tarumi he would give him a job. And despite of his bad condition after alcohol the hero agreed to do it. He was drowned, but Burton didn’t express any regret about him. He only rubbed his chin and say that he hadn’t got a vacancy in his office at that moment.

The text can be divided into 2 parts.
At the first part the scene ordinary laid at the Barton’s office. And in the second part author tells us of the death of the main character.

To support the emotional impact of the passage the author uses such colorful expression as (down and out, he was all to pieces, kindly little chuckle).

It was not difficult to read this story, because its language is very emotional and expressive and at the same time is rather simple. It doesn’t contain any special terms or complex constructions. And all this makes the story interesting to read. The story is rather instructive. The writer draws our attention to be tolerant of each other, to help our friends in any way, because we also can be in some hard situation. And if you like such kind of stories I advice you to read it and don’t make such mistakes in life.

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