“The Force of Circumstance”
читать дальшеIn the story “The Force of Circumstance” W. Somerset Maugham tells us about different circumstances of family life and about the way how the characters got through them.
Doris and Guy got acquainted during their holidays. At the end of the leave they got married and return in Sembulu where Guy lived and worked. They were quite happy until a Malay woman didn’t appear in their life. She was hanging about the territory near the house; she made scenes to attract Doris’s attention. The servants turned out this woman and even beat her. Doris could not understand why they offended a poor Malay woman. But after a conversation with Guy she realized everything. This woman was his ex-wife and they had three children who were half-castes. And Guy didn’t tell this fact, because he had a fear to lose Doris. She could not understand that every white man lived in such a way there. He told her only because Malay woman began to blackmail him. Doris was shocked and after half a year meditations she left her husband and returned home. After her departure Guy didn’t have any aim in his life and he allowed Malay woman come back with their children.
“All’s fair in love and war”
читать дальшеIt was a weekend. Late autumn came. Ann and Mark decided to go to the country, because it was an only place where nobody troubled them. The girl was pleased as a Punch, because she tricked her young sister who blackmailed her. Ann laughed harshly at Diana who was sure that her sister would be with Peter.
Their hearts gave a sudden thud and a common sense left them when they stayed alone. Mark threw the blanket and sat down, Ann snuggled up to him and they forgot about time, they could not stop their waffle. And only when a cold shiver gave them gooseflesh the lovers remembered about a stove. They were wise after the event that they had to heat house at the beginning, but anyway even the fact that the girl caught cold didn’t spoil their little holiday together.
At the end they got the determination to confess to their affair. They imagined that Ann’s sister would be struck dumb.