TASKS for Chapter 14

I. Find in the text the following words and phrases and translate them into Russian:

on one excuse and another – то с одной, то с другой отговоркой

to confess to oneself – признаться кому-либо

that was all to the good – все, что не делается - все к лучшему

shrewd – проницательный

vanity – тщеславие

to have an affair with sb. – иметь с кем-либо интрижку

sallow – болезненный

to feel compassion for sb. – чувствовать сострадание к кому-либо

eminent persons – выдающиеся люди

to lay no claims on sb. – ничего не предъявлять

to use all her arts of cajolery – использовать все ее умение льстить

stale food – несвежая еда

to overcome one's scruples – преодолеть сомнения

to find someone a trifle dull – находить кого-либо немного скучным

to have no inclination – не иметь склонностей

a man of the world – человек с опытом

she was modest about herself – она была скромного мнения о себе

a smack in the face – пощечина

sulkily – сердито

Julia's heart was wrung – сердце Джулии екнуло

chivalrous courtesy – рыцарская учтивость

a vile disposition – отвратительный нрав

alacrity – готовность

wistful – тоскливый

to act with great naturalness – играть очень естественно

to make a scene – закатывать сцену

she was in a black rage – она была в праведном гневе

she'd get even with him – расплатиться с ним

to rack one's brains – думать над чем-либо

II. Answer the following questions:

1. Was Julia really in love with Tom Fennell? And he?

I think that she was in love with the man, she felt passion and desire to be with him anytime. But Julia did not confess in her feelings even herself until he realized she could hide and overcome it. As for Tom, I don’t think he loved Julia because he was too young and she too old for him. He was interested in her, not more.

 2. How old was Tom? What did he do? Why was he a success with women?
Tom was only 22 years old. He was a highly-sexed young man and enjoyed sexual exercise. From hints, from stories that she had dragged out of him, she discovered that since he was seventeen he had had a great many women. He loved the act rather than the person. He looked upon it as the greatest lark in the world. And she could understand why he had so much success. There was something appealing in his slightness, his body was just skin and bone, that was why his clothes sat on him so well, and something charming in his clean freshness. His shyness and his effrontery combined to make him irresistible.

3. How can you characterize Roger? Where was he educated? What were his relations like with his parents? Did he know what he wanted to be? Did he want to go on the stage?

Roger was seventeen. He was a nice-looking boy, with reddish hair and blue eyes, but that was the best you could say of him. He had neither his mother's vivacity and changing expression nor his father's beauty of feature. Julia was somewhat disappointed in him. As a child when she had been so constantly photographed with him he was lovely. He was rather stolid and he had a serious look. His only good features were his teeth and his hair, while his figure was rather lumpy. Roger led his own life. Thus once he told Julia that he desired to leave Eton at Christmas, he thought he had got everything out of it that he could, and he wanted to go to Vienna for a few months and learn German before going up to Cambridge. And speaking about his future, the young man didn’t know what he wanted to be but he for sure didn’t want to go on the stage.

4. How did Tom and Roger get on together?

They were almost at the same age and spent all the time together. They had a great fancy to one another.

5. Was Julia as successful in the movies as in the theatre? Did she envy the film-stars?
She had not the world-wide notoriety of the film-stars; she had tried her luck on the pictures, but had achieved no success; her face on the stage so mobile and expressive for some reason lost on the screen, and after one trial she had with Michael's approval refused to accept any of the offers that were from time to time made her. She had got a good deal of useful publicity out of her dignified attitude. But Julia did not envy the film-stars; they came and went; she stayed. 

 6. Describe in detail how Julia managed to play different characters on the stage. What thrilled her? Why did she sometimes fell like God?
Julia was not aware that she deliberately observed people, but when she came to study a new part vague recollections surged up in her from she knew not where, and she found that she knew things about the character she was to represent that she had had no inkling of. It helped her to think of someone she knew or even someone she had seen in the street or at a party; she combined with this recollection her own personality, and thus built up a character founded on fact but enriched with her experience, her knowledge of technique and her amazing magnetism. People thought that she only acted during the two or three hours she was on the stage; they did not know that the character she was playing dwelt in the back of her mind all day long, when she was talking to others with all the appearance of attention, or in whatever business she was engaged. It often seemed to her that she was two persons, the actress, the popular favourite, the best-dressed woman in London, and that was a shadow; and the woman she was playing at night, and that was the substance. It was not the popularity, the celebrity if you like, that she cared for, nor the hold she had over audiences, the real love they bore her, it was certainly not the money this had brought her; it was the power she felt in herself, her mastery over the medium, that thrilled her. She could step into a part, not a very good one perhaps, with silly words to say, and by her personality, by the dexterity which she had at her finger-tips, infuse it with life. There was no one who could do what she could with a part. Sometimes she felt like God.

7. How did Julia revenge herself on Tom?

Julia decided to revenge on him by turning him out bag and baggage.

III. Make up a list of words and phrases describing Tom Fennell. Comment on the repetition of "a young man" in the text. First "he was a blushing young man" for Julia. Did her attitude change when she was better aquainted with him? Prove it by giving examples from the text.

• sweet with his blue eyes and pale brown hair
• What he's got, of course, is sex appeal
• Lips were soft and there was a perfume of youth about him which was really rather delightful
• There was something charming in his clean freshness
• Young, fresh and ingenuous

IV. Find in the text epithets and similes which characterize Julia and Michael and say what effect the author achieves by using them.

Sometimes she felt like God – Julia realize how powerful and important she was
She read his mind like an open book –There was no unpredictable in his mind and behavior.

V. What stylistic device did Maugham employ at large to characterize Julia? Illustrate your answer with the examples from the text. Comment on the lexicon used by Julia. To what stylistic layer of the vocabulary does it belong? How does it characterize Julia?

The author uses metaphors like poor lamb, sweet little thing, poor little thing, silly little fool to show Julia’s attitude to the man she was thinking about (Tom).
There is inner speech like “Gosh, I’m going down like a barrel of oysters.” "Bloody fool, bloody fool" by means of which we can understand Julia’s true feelings and reactions.

VI. Give a summary of chapter 14. (in written form)

How strongly Julia did not try, she could not overcome her feeling to the young man Tom, the relationship with whom was in progress. The time of vacation Julia supposed to spend in a good company of Tom but the man preferred her seventeen years old son Roger to Julia. They were almost at the same age and had a lot in common. That was the reason why the men spent all the vacation together. Julia was not glade about this fact; moreover, she was jealous Tom but did not show that. However, she decided to revenge on him by turning him out bag and baggage. He returned her money and she realized he was aggrieved. Being afraid she can lose him Julia made her best to repair their relations.