3.

Neil MacAdam
1. The story under analysis is “Neil MacAdam” which belongs to the pen of the prominent English writer
S. Maugham. William Somerset Maugham is one of the most successful dramatists and short-story writers as
well as a novelist of considerable rank. He is known for his cynical attitude to mankind. He ridicules many
social vices, such as snobbishness, money-worship, pretense, self-interest, etc. His reputation as a novelist rests
primarily on four books: Of Human Bondage (1915), a semi-autobiographical account of a young medical
student's painful progress toward maturity; The Moon and Sixpence (1919), an account of an unconventional
artist, suggested by the life of Paul Gauguin; Cakes and Ale (1930).
2. One of Maugham’s longest stories, this one describes the arrival of young, earnest, Scot, Neil Macadam,
to be assistant curator at the museum at Kuala Solor curated by the kindly, older Scot Angus Munro. Munro’s
wife Darya is the daughter of a Russian general and princess, who Munro saved from a life of poverty in Japan.
While the old man is a passionate and honest naturalist, his wife is a crazy, impulsive, passionate Russian, mad
about Turgenev and Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
At the club in town, when Macadam innocently announces that the Munros have invited him to stay on
with them, some of the young bloods snigger and say he isn’t the first one to be seduced by Mrs Munro. At
which puritanical Macadam punches the man who said this.
Then Munro announces that he and Macadam are going on a month-long expedition upriver into the jungle
to catch specimens and that, unusually, Darya has volunteered to come with. And it’s on this trip that Darya
makes her intentions increasingly plain, whenever Munro’s back is turned: she loves Macadam, she can’t do
without him, he is so young and virile etc. She surprises him by bathing in a pool naked and strips and gets in
herself before he can stop her. She tries to sneak into his tent to seduce him but Macadam makes a great fuss to
wake up Munro. And so on. She tries everything to have sex with him; Madadam keeps nobly putting her off.
Finally Munro goes off on a lengthy solo exploration from the main camp which they’ve established, and
Darya spends the whole afternoon trying to wear down Macadam’s resistance to her. Up till now he’s taken the
moral high ground that he can’t possibly betray the trust of a man he respects so much, but when quite literally
push comes to shove he admits, at least to himself (and the reader) that he dislikes sex, finds it messy and
disgusting.
Darya physically assaults him, trying to kiss him, then biting the hand Macadam puts up between their
mouths, provoking him so much that he punches her quite hard, and takes to his feet, fleeing into the jungle.
Darya staggers to her feet and hurries after him. On and on they run. Finally in a clearing somewhere he stops
exhausted and she unveils her final weapon: if he won’t love her, she will tell Munro that he tried to rape her.
The bruise on her face, the bite mark in his hand, everything will incriminate him. Her eyes glow red with
triumph. She walks slowly towards her prey: and Macadam turns and flees again, running, running, running he
knows not where.
Eventually, exhausted, he stops, completely lost. But he has a compass and he knows the direction of the
camp. It takes over an hour but by careful navigation he arrives back at parts of the jungle which he recognises,
then, finally, at the camp.
At the end of the day Munro arrives back from his trip and asks where Darya is. ‘Oh, isn’t she in her
room?’ asks Macadam, all innocently. Munro rummages round the camp, then asks the Chinese servants. No-
one knows where she is. Panic-stricken, Munro organizes the Dyak bearers into search parties, one led by
young Macadam, one by himself, and they set off to triangulate the jungle. But Macadam knows they won’t
find her, he knows they ran for ages into the jungle, he has no idea where. He had a compass, but she didn’t.
Clouds gather over the mountains. Then a tremendous tropical storm comes howling down, splitting the
night with lightning, deafening them with thunder.
Macadam knows he has done his duty by his host and his own morality. His heart is pure.
3. Main problem raised by the author is lying in a love triangle.
4. As for the main idea conveyed by the author in this story, it is the brave attempts of the eponymous hero
to escape the claws of a Russian nymphomaniac.
5. From the point of view of the presentation, the story is written in the first person – the narrator sees
everything and is a part of the plot. The types of speech employed by the author of the analyzed story are
narration, description, dialogue.
Speaking about the Compositional narrative Forms, we can observe such types here as: narration. The
narration is also interlaced with descriptive passages of the characters and events and some dialogues of the
personages.
6. The text is written in one mood which is rather calm, dramatic and ironic. Prevailing mood of the story
emphasizes the main conflict which is: honor in contrast to immorality. This conflict helps the reader
understand the main problem of the story under consideration.
7. Compositionally the text falls into 4 logical parts.
 The first part: Neil Macadam’s arrival- describes the arrival of young, earnest, virginal Scot, Neil
Macadam, to be assistant curator at the museum at Kuala Solor curated by the kindly, older Scot Angus Munro.
The second part: Expedition to the jungle- tells us about the outgo on a month-long expedition into the
jungle Munro, Macadam and Darya.
The third part: Escape – Darya physically assaults Macadam, trying to kiss him, provoking him so much
that he punches her quite hard. After that he runs away from her.
The fourth part: Macadam’s return back – Having compass, he returns back from his trip. Munro observes
that Darya isn’t at home, that’s why they try to find her.
The plot of the story runs as follows:
The exposition - Neil Macadam’s arrival
Complication- Expedition to the jungle
Climax – Escape
The denouement – Macadam’s return back
8. The message of the story lies in the honesty and audacity of a main character.
The artistic details used in the analyzed story suggest a touch of depicting details to make a realistic image
of the characters. For example, “She took them into a neat, clean room furnished only with mats on the floor;
they sat down and presently a little girl came in with a tray on which were two bowls of pale tea. With a shy
bow she handed one to each of them. The Captain spoke to the middle-aged woman and she looked at Neil and
giggled. She said something to the child, who went out, and presently four girls tripped in. They were sweet in
their kimonos, with their shining black hair artfully dressed; they were small and plump, with round faces and
laughing eyes. They bowed low as they came in and with good manners murmured polite greetings. Their
speech sounded like the twittering of birds. Then they knelt, one on each side of the two men, and charmingly
flirted with them. Captain Bredon soon had his arms round two slim waists. They all talked nineteen to the
dozen. They were very gay. It seemed to Neil that the Captain's girls were mocking him, for their gleaming eyes
were mischievously turned towards him, and he blushed. But the other two cuddled up to him, smiling, and
spoke in Japanese as though he understood every word they said. They seemed so happy and guileless that he
laughed. They were very attentive. They handed him the bowl so that he should drink his tea, and then took it
from him so that he should not have the trouble of holding it. They lit his cigarette for him and one put out a
small, delicate hand to take the ash so that it should not fall on his clothes. They stroked his smooth face and
looked with curiosity at his large young hands. They were as playful as kittens.”
“She was a woman of five-and-thirty, of medium height, with a pale brown face of a uniform colour and
pale blue eyes. Her hair, parted in the middle and wound into a knot on the nape of her neck, was untidy; it had
a moth-like quality and was of a curious pale brown. Her face was broad, with high cheek-bones, and she had
a rather fleshy nose. She was not a pretty woman, but there was in her slow movements a sensual grace and in
her manner as it were a physical casualness that only very dull people could have failed to find interesting. She
wore a frock of green cotton. She spoke English perfectly, but with a slight accent.”
This story is dominated by indirect descriptions of heroes. Author describes them through their actions,
thoughts and attitude to each other. “It was true he did not drink, and when you made a joke he was as likely as
not to take you seriously, but there was something very taking in his seriousness; everything was interesting
and important to him--that, of course, was why he did not find your jokes amusing; but even though he didn't
see them he laughed, because he felt you expected it. He laughed because life was grand. He was grateful for
every little thing you told him. He was very polite. He never asked you to pass him anything without saying
"please" and always said "thank you" when you gave it. And he was a good-looking fellow, no one could deny
that. Neil was standing with his hands on the rail, bare-headed, looking at the passing bank. He was tall, six
foot two, with long, loose limbs, broad shoulders and narrow hips; there was something charmingly coltish
about him, so that you expected him at any moment to break into a caper. He had brown curly hair with a
peculiar shine in it; sometimes when the light caught it, it glittered like gold. His eyes, large and very blue,
shone with good-humor. They reflected his happy disposition. His nose was short and blunt and his mouth big,
his chin determined; his face was rather broad. But his most striking feature was his skin; it was very white and
smooth, with a lovely patch of red on either cheek.”
“Munro did not smile with his lips, but faintly with his grey eyes. His cheeks were hollow and he had a thin
aquiline nose and pale lips. He was deeply sunburned. His face looked tired, but his expression was very
gentle, and Neil immediately felt confidence in him. The Captain introduced him to the doctor and the
policeman and suggested that they should have a drink. When they sat down and the boy brought bottles of
beer Munro took off his topee. Neil saw that he had close-cropped brown hair turning grey. He was a man of
forty, quiet, self-possessed in manner, with an intellectual air that distinguished him from the brisk little doctor
and the heavy swaggering police officer.”
However, we can also see a direct description of the heroes in the text. For example: “She made him tell her of
his father and mother, his brothers, his life at school and at the university. She told him about herself. Her
father was a general killed in the war and her mother a Princess Lutchkov. They were in Eastern Russia when
the Bolsheviks seized power, and fled to Yokohama. Here they had subsisted miserably on the sale of their
jewels and such objects of art as they had been able to save, and here she married a fellow-exile. She was
unhappy with him and in two years divorced him. Her mother died and, penniless, she was driven to earn her
living as best she could. She was employed by an American relief organisation. She taught in a mission school.
She worked in a hospital. She made Neil's blood boil, and at the same time embarrassed him very much, when
she spoke of the men who tried to take advantage of her defencelessness and her poverty. She spared him no
details.”
9. The author employs a straight line narrative presentation, the reader finds out what happens in the
chronological order – this can lead the reader through events clearly.
10. So as the story is arranged in chronological order we cannot see here are the examples of some
presentational sequencing (retardation, presupposition, flashbacks, foreshadowing).
11. The writer carries the idea to the mind of readers through the extremely effective stylistic devices and
expressive means. Among the most frequently used are the following: Repetition – d'you, an' see. Inversion
–"Made your choice yet?".
The author depicts the life of the main character and uses such SD: metaphors, which help to explain an
idea and make a comparison. For example, “The sun shone upon the varied scene with a hard, acrid
brilliance”, “They were strangely inhuman”, “charmingly flirted with them”, “In the distance, darkly
silhouetted against the blue sky, was the rugged outline of a mountain”, “The green trees of the forest glittered
in the brilliant light”, “life was grand”, “There was a breeze and the Sultan's flag, at the top of a tall staff,
waved bravely against the sky”, “His cheeks were hollow”, “Munro's eyes smiled gently”, “The museum was a
handsome stone building”, “Neil lost his shyness and began with boyish enthusiasm to talk of this and that”,
“Her cheeks, usually colourless, flushed and her pale eyes glowed”, “Neil was a trifle sulky”, “Storm clouds
were gathering in the sky and night fell quickly”.
Epithets – “the little dusty garden”, “a white neat and trim little town”, “young hopeful safe”, “a thin
aquiline nose”, “intellectual air”, “derisive eyes”, “a grave and sober young man”, “a sinister grace”, “this
multicolored and excessive world”, “the blue milky sky”, “ a gracious welcome”, “ a happy, normal activity”,
“a vivid impression of life”, “an enormous appetite”, “A great wind”.
Simile – “Here the girls were Chinese, small and dainty, with tiny feet and hands like flowers, and they
wore suits of flowered silk. But their painted faces were like masks”, “a face like a baby's bottom”, “They were
as playful as kittens”, “Little white clouds on the horizon, like sailing boats becalmed, shone in the sun”, “Neil
stepped in like a swimmer diving confidently into a summer sea”, “noisily talking, as is their way,
indefatigably strove with eternity”, “but there was in her slow movements a sensual grace and in her manner
as it were a physical casualness that only very dull people could have failed to find interesting”, “She skipped
over the first stages of acquaintance and treated him at once like someone she had known intimately all her
life”, “most people keep to themselves like a prodigal flinging gold pieces to a scrambling crowd”, “A great
wind blew and then the lightning rent the darkness, like the scream of a woman in pain, and the tortured
flashes, quick, quick, one on the heels of the other, like demon dancers in a frantic reel, wriggled down the
night”.
12. Speaking about the type of text information we can mention that the author mostly uses the content-
conceptual with slight elements of content-implied. Sometimes the idea is hidden between the lines in order to
grasp the author's idea.
13. The title of the story has an explicit meaning. After reading the title, we understand that the text will be
about men, which is depicted in it.