30|Page

3 he
\n fact, ¥
: d appearance help to
sions an
da's posses

(alker who finaly

he marriage of
necklace — an
judgment of
Mediterrane
know nim. \

_ r. Kela )
2. Does the description of M ejudice toward him?
. ie or
iate the narrator's p
substantiate t!

¥ \dn't thal
" backbone,” wou el
da says that he is "British to oe rato WHA oi 3 |
Foun Wr - more appropriately to oe f Mr. Kelada's sey.
phrase ordinarily app ’ +n tronic verification ©
. ory
conclusion of the s
characterization?

4 uU il th a gu nent over th \e pearls, N K |

. nti e ar

narrator
144 Ramsay 3
isi ct? Why or why no
business was.” Is his real business a surprising fa we
it contribute to the a
i function of Kelada's last sentence? How does it C eR
5. What is the functio : oy ves
change in the narrator's attitude/cha ? «ar
is hv
oT Sa a
v
“Mr. Know All”

rea
* An analysis of Plot

r. Know-All" is a
British author Ww. Some

marily used t fy the ny us: eth

© signify the Cay traffic of the ocean 1
a
fight after the eng of World wa, LAs such it 'S Impossible fo € Narrator 14 oy
a single, Private cabin, on boarq Moreover, It aids to display th flourish ure
Prejudices ang hatred fo, foreigners by whites during that time toq 1 Hy
Setting really stitches well with Characters 5

y The setting and F~-n-

In fac {, the main issue of thi in | Page
, MIS story |
+ who finally sacrifi ; Ory is vary «i
talker ices his ow ery simple, it |
nr Ple. It is about Mr. Kelada, a bi
A ) g

CPutation and pride

Carriage ofa promis

the md SCUos , :
Amer ad as an expert on jewel to save
yata bet on

k Ican |

akes the pi

eh

judgment of his cabinmate, 5 ed

, a Levan

erranean se Vantin

cklace an act that aw

| the genuineness of her pearl

Narrator
i tor into an awareness of his wrong
I
# OUp of people at the Fast of the
@ starts hating even before he gets to

€ Stor .
ncer Ywe find that "Mr. Know-All" definitely
ns a conflicting r

ubplot deals with th

medi a which refers {0 the X e

I

gow him. Looking at the Summary of

consists of two plots. The main i) on

narrator and Max Kelada while the elationship between the
pamsay and Mr. Kelada. With ap 4,
Maugham, these two plots Serve to s
in the story the subplot really functio
its climax and resolution, In other

realizes the deception of appearan

ce. By this w
reader to a surprise resolution with ay, Maugham successfully leads the

a
great moral lesson at the end of the story.
Like many other traditional stories, " Cai
moving continuously from exposition to i A a usuig Shrapplogy.
{he story into three scenes, each of which is related t comvement to divide

a _ 0 Mr. Kelada's arrogant manner

hich inevitably Rlnges him into the strong current of animosity of those westerners
on board. In the fst scene, the exposition simultaneously introduces the two major
characters and provides some contextual backgrounds through a description of place
and time at which the main action takes place. Here the nameless narrator was
implicitly described as an English gentleman who always feels superior to non-white
English citizens from the British colonies, including Mr. Kelada. Throughout the
story,
the reader will certainly get to know Mr. Kelada through the narrator's subjective
the author's trick to mislead his readers to completely follow the
hat Mr. Kelada is an absolutely annoying person so that
he or she will experience a huge surprise with his narrator at the end. However,
the
y be aware of the narrator's racist judgment right at moment he

ative reaction to the name of his cabinmate which does not sound
forced when he moves to comment Kelada's

e, and his unpacked toiletries. All these

e he meets

report. This may be

narrator's ideas and feelings t

wary reader ma

expresses his neg

English at all. This racist perspective is rein

ull of labels, his big wardrob

know Kelada as a person. Onc

mfort to stay with this boastful foreigner for

e is a "British to the

luggage that is f
judgments are made before he gets to

Kelada, he expresses his anxiety and disco : Blot h

14 days on the liner. Although Kelada tries to claim

backbone” (p. 25), for the racist narrator, Kelada:

32 | and dark skinned, wit,

ven
d, clean-sha nd liquid eyes. His

of a sturdy bull lustrous

was short and d very large:

ose an )
a fleshy hooked ! sleek and curly (p- 25) Japan:
S .
long plack hair wa : isfor his Britishness, the Narrator can -
da tee alates as he ;
atter how greatly proud Lee s hatred for Kelada €5¢ he Ma wearin
Her ing English like him: i ate hearing a stranger address hi are tW
accept anon-breeding ior. He cannot toler nto teach him in a carg Jam. nara
and more of his vulgar Be aed for his interrupto” the time. His dislike of ela Jor
r
. n ) .
without “Mr.” He PT around with him most Ce row of his flashing teeth a. prof
0 ) "
pe feels ver at ol that he interprets his cabinmd ic sign. However, the Narratq at
¥
v n :
a pa yy act rather than see it as @ . Kelada shows him his stg As
barbarian’s frig ne iately W — §
a Is his snobbish hypocrisy immed? y hat prohibits alcoholic drinking wi
openly reveals prohibition law t «
of liquor — an act against an American

nal waters. That is the only momeng

internatio
and selling after the end of war even on Kelada without any contempt.

i inking with
that the narrator sits down to enjoy drinking W

imself have a free time,

While riding on the cruise, Mr. Kelada never lets hims

. ities with great delights. He

. : {ous social activities Wi
inn dali Cee appreciate his efforts to create some
: i e wi
only deludes himself to think that Seren his horse the best hated mam
fun for them. But the narrator is quick to remark that Ke )
’ i ix himself with the others and display
on the ship” (p. 27) as a result of his attempts to mix hims - hat
his well-rounded knowledge about every topic they are discussing. Moreover, he it
of sticking a nose into everything in order to get an opportunity to express his
ideas
really makes him become a great nuisance to everyone on board. He never pauses to
consider whether he is wanted or not. His impudent and dogmatic nature forcefully
prompts insulting responses from the other passengers. They all mock and give hima
disdainful nickname “Mr. Know-All", but instead he takes it “as a compliment” (p.
27). 3
Frankly speaking, his irritating behavior does not come out of his evil intention,
but it

derives from his ignorance of some culture codes that are unacceptable to those
westerners, especially an English snob like the narra

tor. This lack of mannerism

helplessly inhibits him from fully assimilatin
33|Page

the passengers hay

Japan € not yet known about his career or his purpose for the sail to

BANG olei story is abouta bet on a string of pearls Mrs. Ramsay is

are two NEW nlnor charts: so the Sepia of the subplot of the story. Since there
eka lanE Hr. Abd Mie I. at presence in this scene, an introduction to these two
the narrator's description a is made as the exposition of the second scene. From
’N, Mr. Ramsay may look socially better than Mr. Kelada only in
profession because he is appointed to work at the position of the American Consular
at Kobe in Japan. By appearance, Mr. Ramsay seems to look poorer than Mr. Kelada.
As the narrator describes, Mr. Ramsay is: “a great heavy fellow from the Middle
West
with loose fat under a tight skin, and he bulged out of his ready-made clothes” (p.
_—

Free oem lL
ames modest pretty le iE New Lich to pick up his wife, Mrs.
andoned to live alone there for a year, to

ER his post In Japan. The narrator witnesses that once the conversation at the
dining table “drifted to" (p. 27) the subject of culture pearl business in Japan
with a
concern abolit how to distinguish the authentic pearls from the fake ones, Mr.
Ramsay,

a guy who is “as dogmatic as Mr. Kelada” and always bitterly resents “the
Levantine's
cocksureness’, cannot resist to “have a fling at the Levantine”. Deluded to believe
that

his wife's pearls are just cheap, fake ones bought from a department store for $18,
Mr.
Ramsay confronts Mr. Kelada with a bet on it when he hears the Levantine evaluate
them at a high price. As usual, Kelada cannot resist exhibiting his being expert at
the
pearls and never wants to surrender to his rival, he accepts the challenge. As two
dogmatic persons face each other, "a heated argument” (p. 27) follows. The incident
reaches its climax when Mr. Kelada is provoked out of his control. He carelessly
bursts
out some information about his career that he has kept so long despite his
loquacity.
As his usual habit, Kelada's anger becomes more intense when he fails to convince
his
rival and other people around. He nearly announces his triumph after examining the
chain with a magnifying glass. A sight of Mrs. Ramsay's desperate face suddenly
stops
him from revealing his discovery. He ultimately sacrifices all his long-established
reputation and pride only for the sake of that pretty little lady. He well realizes
that
Mrs. Ramsay got this invaluable genuine pearl necklace as a gift from her wealthy
lover
while staying alone in New York. Thus, it is better to lose his bet as well as his
own face
in public than to ruin her marriage and reputation although this surrender means a
real pain and shame to him. After this incident, Mr. Kelada's defeat becomes a
popular
topic for everyone on board to mock him in the next day. All this incident is not
out of

the narrator's witness.

3H!

jon of the story,

the next day as the conclusion 0 V- In thie
fs
The third scene sta

is trying to push a letter under the doo, of io

the narrator notices thal omens sed to Kelada. The story ends with ,
He picks it up and see se little wife | shouldn't let ie spenq ,

I a ) Kobe" (p. 30). This is the FRIED that Implicit

oe message on both Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, and it "elps to o
narrator's eyes to the reality of human beings. The bet on Mrs. Ramsay's stri

certainly shows how hypocritical Mrs, Ramsay is. Although she tries to we

a modest little woman in front of the others

husband, Likewise, Mr. Rams

ar q loo

, in reality she is a disloyal Wife to hal

ay who is dogmatic and cocksure also 4

ignorance of his wife's disloyalty. Despite hjs delighy p
Wn, we really see his adherence to pic

reveals