THE FORCE OF CIRCUNSTANCE - by Somerset Maugham

1. In pairs, reconstruct the story.

2. What are the main themes of the story? Prejudice? Colonialism? Marriage? Adapting to a new
culture? Any other? Explain.

3. Describe the main and the secondary characters of the story.

4. Describe Doris and Guy’s relationship. Do they really love each other?

5. Do you think Doris did the right thing? What would you have done if you were in her shoes?

6. Do you think Doris would really have stayed if Guy hadn’t been married before? Would she have
adapted to the new kind of life? Could it have been just an excuse for her to leave the place and “go
home”? What role did her relationship with her mother play in her departure from the Malay
outpost?

7. Was Guy’s story of his life convincing? Was he right to send his Malay wife way and to ignore his
own children?

8. What were Guy’s difficulties to adapt to the life in the Malay village? What was his status in the
village?

9. Discuss the following analysis:

 Maugham shows us in "The Force of Circumstance" that he thinks a white man must not "go native".
We see this in the way how he describes Doris and how he describes Guy. While Doris always stays
true to her British origin and manages to live her normal lifestyle in a completely different
environment. Doris personifies the western values and rules in the time of colonization; she stays
true to them and finally leaves with her intact dignity. These rules say among other things that
British must not "go native", British have to be self-restrained and more. Guy’s behavior, on the
other hand, is not comparable to the western standard. He loses his self-restraint and falls in love
with a native woman. Guy starts to live like a native, and his native partner gives birth to his
children. His last try to hold on to British society is when he brings Doris to his outpost. This fails
because Guy already has a wife and he can not just push her away and reject his responsibility to his
first family. (https://fwscaughtbetweencultures.wikispaces.com )

 Maugham lived during an era of European high Imperialism. It is, therefore, not surprising that
themes of European prestige, racial boundary and miscegenation are central to his writings,
especially his short stories. These short stories expose the trials and tribulations of colonial
European characters amidst the seas of indigenous peoples and settings. But unlike Joseph Conrad,
Maugham never provides voice to these natives and considers them as merely part of the backdrop
of his settings with the European characters as the principal actors.
(http://universitypublications.net/ijas/0705/pdf/V4Z148.pdf)

10. How is the narrative different/similar to the previous short stories we read?