Book Review

Even if you had never seen the Moon and Sixpence, you have a very strong possibility of hearing a sentence written by Maugham in his letter, "if you look on the ground in search of a sixpence, you don't look up, and so miss the moon." Although the title contains two meaningful symbols, the moon and sixpence, Maugham didn’t explain them clearly in the text. Before we pursue the deep understanding of this literature, the first thing to be sure of is what the moon and sixpence refer to. A big amount of people insist that the book is about the choose between dreams and material demand. Of course, a thousand readers, have a thousand Hamlet, but Maugham gave the only answer. In the text, Twopence is reminded for three times. Initially, Charles Strickland, the hero of the novel, said, “my dear fellow, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter a twopenny damn to me one way or other”. Later, he said, “Children. How can you care for the opinion of the crowd, when you don’t care twopence for the opinion of the individual?” After Blanche Stroeve’s suicide, he said indifferently, “Do you really care a twopenny damn of Blanche Stroeve is alive or dead?” The word twopence appears three times, and has three different meanings: family, society and ethics. Therefore, sixpence refers to the reality including family, society and ethics. In this respect, the Moon and Sixpence refer to dreams and reality. In the past, we regarded material demand as the biggest barrier to chasing our dreams. The Moon and Sixpence offers a fresh look at the problem. In order to chase his dream well ahead of his time, Strickland breaks the limit of family, society and ethics one by one. By the end of the story, he lives in a utopia and marries a native wife who doesn’t disturb him. It’s family, society and ethics that place restrictions on geniuses’ ambitions, and Strickland is just a character who breaks through regular rules of reality. By creating such an image, the author informs us that the reality composed of family, societyand ethics is the biggest barrier to chasing our dreams. Shaping such an unusual image of dream chaser, is persuading readers to follow suit Maugham’s final purpose? No matter what Maugham’s motivation is, it’s obviously that we aren’t supposed to abandon family, society and ethics like Strickland. To tell you the truth, I hate Charles Strickland due to his extreme selfishness. It’s the selfish desire and vickedness that drove him to harm to others. However, in some respects, his deeds are admirable because of his amazing power on implementation. What’s more, he never regrets the choice he has made, for this reason alone, most of people can’t compare with him. Actually, it’s unrealistic for us ordinary people to abandon family, society and ethics. Finding a balance between dreams and reality should normally be enough. Yang Liping, the well-known dancer, decides not to have children owing to her dance career. Van Gogh persisted drawing although he suffered a lifetime of poverty. The artists above are household as dream chasers, even so, what they abandon is not their kindness or even the whole reality. Generally speaking, everybody has his or her own decisions when they are faced with a choice between dreams and reality. Based on ethical principles, decisions can be different, but no decision is superior to others. More than anything, if you desire to achieve something meaningful, just do it. The one thing to remember is that you should never regret for your past.