Book Review

Book Review of The Moon and Sixpence The Moon and Sixpence written by W. Somerset Maugham tells a story that Mr. Strickland gave up everything in his life just for the dream of painting and abandoned his wife after 17 years they are married. At the time he left, he knew nothing about painting so everyone thought that he was crazy. At the end of the story, he died on the island Tahiti.   The book was finished in 1919 after the author travelled back to Europe from the island Tahiti. In the story the author told us, the prototype of Mr. Strickland was Paul Gauguin. Just like Mr. Strickland, Paul Gauguin had been an agent before he determined to devote himself to painting. In addition, Paul Gauguin once put forward his desire to be buried in the island Tahiti after he died too.   In the book The Moon and Sixpence, the author put forward a question: What should we choose? The moon or the sixpence? Actually, the moon stands for the dream we can chase for. On the contrary, sixpence stands for the reality and what we have possessed. In the story, the moon for Mr. Strickland was painting while the sixpence for him was his former job and family. Finally, as we know, Mr. Strickland chose to chase his dream.    In the story, Mr. Strickland was asked, “Supposing you’re never anything more than third-rate, do you think it will have been worthwhile to give up everything? You can get along quite comfortably if you’re just adequate; but it’s different with an artist”. Mr. Strickland’s answer was that he couldn’t help himself just like a man who fell into water had to get out instead of caring how he swam. He just could not give up his dream of being a paint. Everyone has his or her answer of choosing “the moon” or “sixpence”. For me, I preferred “the moon” more than “six pence”. Everyone can live a normal life, but just few people choose to live for their dreams. They are afraid of losing all the things they already have. It’s the fear that stops them. However, I think, if we have a dream, we should be brave to chase it. We cannot be stopped by other things around us. Chasing a dream is never an easy thing. Sometimes we may lose everything and we need to make hard choices. We should be well prepared to face all the difficulties. Just like climbing a mountain, we can see the most beautiful scenery when we are at the top. After we realize our dream overcoming all the difficulties, we see the “scenery” which other people cannot see.