Домашнее чтение, Уильям Сомерсет Моэм «Узорный покров» главы XXXIV - XXXVIII, 1,2,3 (Школьные сочинения)

1. Why Kitty’s plans to go away from Mei-tan-fu were unreal?

Suffering from being in Mei-Tan-Fu with the person she only scorned Kitty had made a lot of escape.

ut all of them were unreal because first of all, she had nobody she could run to. Not to her mother, because if she had gone to her, she wouldn’t have got any support, because her mother always wanted to get her off her hands. Moreover, her mother and sister wouldn’t fail to crown over her. She wanted to go to Charlie, but he didn’t want her. She remembered the way he was looking at her, and his face full of fear and dislike for her. She thought about flinging herself on her knees before her husband and admitting her fault, but it was out of the question.

He didn’t tell that Charlie was a good or bad man, but his opinion about him wasn’t high.

He obviously knew him better than Kitty, because as he said he had caught him with the mask off. Waddington was only an official, so Charlie didn’t need to pretend. So Waddington knew that Charlie was a shallow person who cared only about his own skin.

ut he wasn’t stupid, because he managed to make a science of popularity. Charlie had the gift of making everyone he met feel that he was the one person in the world he wanted to see. He was sly, knowing many tips of manipulating people. Waddington had more sympathy for Dorothy, because he as an old-fashioned man, liked a well-bred woman. She was his wall who kept them from falling down.

3. Characterise Charlie as portrayed by Waddington.

Judging by Waddington’s opinion Charlie was:

-boring; (“I’ve always thought him a bore”)

-ambitious; (“He’s made a science of popularity. ”)

-selfish; (He was ready to do you favour only if it wasn’t any trouble for him)

-sly; (If your favour had made him inconvenience, he would have given you the impression that it was only because it was not humanly possible)

-charming;

-insincere; (“It’s a relief then to deal with a man who isn’t quite so delightful but a little sincerer”)

-a good pretender with a huge background; (he managed to make any person believe that he was a good and sincere person; he put his mask off only when he was surrounded by those who weren’t of high social status)

-stupid; (Waddington said that such people were in demand, because clever men had ideas which could cause troubles. )

-vain; (“And of course he wasn’t a passionate man; he was only a vain one. )