W.S.Maugham "In a Strange Land"

William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. His partially autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage (1915) is generally acknowledged as his masterpiece and is one of the best realistic English novels on the early 20^th century. Among his best works are The Moon and Sixpence (1919), The Painted Veil (1925), Cakes and Ale (1930) and Cataline: A Romance (1948).

The direct meaning of the story seems to me very simple and it means location or sojourn in non-native places where you do not feel your home. The indirect meaning of the story comprises the life stories of people, especially women here, who left their native country to strange places where they would never become a part of.

I found several themes in the story. The first and the most important is a life far from your country, culture which influence people anyway. Then I can mention the theme of misunderstanding and disapproval to a young English lady from her parents (Signora Niccolini’s parents disagree with her choice). As a result of it, marriage to a foreigner is the next theme (She married to an Italian man and, moreover, moved to Turkey).

The main character was an unusual-aimed traveler who made it not to see imposing neither monuments, nor beautiful scenery but to see men. And one woman impressed him greatly when he travelled and lived in Asia Minor. The woman was a house-keeper and the interest was in her nationality, she was an Englishwoman. Signora Niccolini met her future husband in England where he worked and sometimes later in spite of her parents’ disapproval they got married and moved to Turkey. There the couple bought a hotel and after many years she still lived there but without the husband. Signor Niccolini had died and his wife adopted his sons. Her lifestory seemed odd for the traveler who pointed it up from other stories.

The main idea of the story shows us that your culture and your nationality cannot be greatly modified by other country. The heroine is a bright example of it. Signora Niccolini had lived in Turkey for many years however everything showed her English origin (from her cockney accent to her manner which she got in the service of the Lord).

I would like to describe Signora Niccolini; she was an Englishwoman, living in Turkey for many years. She met her Italian husband in England where he worked and then they left London to Turkey. She was a little stout woman, not without dignity, and she wore a black apron trimmed with lace a small black cap. She looked exactly like a house-keeper in a great English house. Signora Niccolini spoke Turkish with ease but it was most incorrectly and with a cockney accent.

As for my impression, I like the story. For me it was interesting to read about Signora Niccolini’s lifestory because nowadays there are a lot of examples when people left their home-countries and started their lives there from the beginning. The heroine decided to get married in spite of her parents’ disapproval and moved to Turkey, the country had no similarity with England. Nevertheless, she did her best to make the life good with the help of the hotel. I think that she is an example of a strong woman who could continue to live there and worked after her husband’s death and even adopted his children.

The Rendering №12

The article “Endangered and Targeted:Fight to Save Oriental Stork Captivates China” was published on November 22, 2012 by Didi Kirsten Tatlow. It discusses a contest between beauty — in the form of the dramatically elegant black-and-white oriental stork — and a beast — carbofuran, a highly toxic pesticide. The author pointed out that in China this month, hunters wielding the chemical that is banned in many places targeted the endangered bird, attempting to kill dozens — and partly succeeding. It is necessary to mention that tales of the damage inflicted on the environment and wildlife are fairly common in China as the country pursues economic growth decade after decade at seemingly any cost. The correspondent explained that people continue to eat wild animals, even rare species, in the belief that they are especially nutritious.

Analyzing that every autumn hundreds of the large, graceful storks, which are listed as “endangered” on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, land in the Beidagang wetland reserve where they rest and feed for about two weeks, it is necessary to pay attention that this year, about 20 birds never took off again, killed by hunters laying down the “bird poison” known in Chinese as kebaiwei. Didi Kirsten Tatlow mentioned that the poison is also a problem in Britain, where the wildlife minister, Richard Benyon, was harshly criticized by opposition members of Parliament last month for refusing to ban the substance. The author made clear that over the last ten days, at least two dozen birds were saved by quick action by bird watchers and rescuers. It is important that shocked and angered, journalists at The Beijing News have begun a campaign to protect rare birds from attacks such as these, with a hotline for people to report crimes. The stork is a class one protected species in China and is culturally venerated here. Moreover, the bird is also considered a national treasure in Japan, where it died out and was re-introduced into the wild from captivity.

The correspondent believed that something even more important than culture was at work — money, and the still-large market for eating game. It is necessary to point out that each of the birds fetches about 200 renminbi ($32) in local wild game restaurants — not much, but clearly worth it to the hunters. In conclusion the author told that Storks aren’t the only targets, so are swans and ducks and for Chinese conservationists, it’s a horrifying tale. In my opinion, problems such this one is very topical nowadays. We should be more humane to animals and birds in order to save them all over the world.