"Mr. Know - All"

In the story "Mr. Know - All" ,which was written by Somerset Maugham , there are two main and opposite characters: the narrator and Mr. Kelada . Both of them are in the same situation: isolated from the world on board of an ocean liner, that travels from San Francisco to Japan . Both of them don't know anyone on the ship and are forced to be with the same people every moment of the day for two weeks. The interaction between the two characters starts at the beginning of the story, when the narrator, whom the story is written in his perspective only, has been told the name of his roommate - Mr. Kelada . The moment the narrator hears him name, he automatically decides to dislike him, before even meeting him.

The narrator describes Mr. Kelada as a short and sturdy build man, with clean -shaven dark skin, a fleshy hooked nose and very large and liquid eyes. Also, the narrator mentions that Mr. Kelada's hair is sleek and curly, and his gestures are exuberant. Although Mr. Kelada proves he is English by showing the narrator his passport, the narrator thinks he is so much different from an English gentleman. He decides that according to his view of an English man, who has light hair, skin and eyes, polite and talks different than Mr. Kelada and speaks in a formal way with strangers, Mr. Kelada isn't considered as one. 

Unlike the specific description of Mr. Kelada, the writer doesn't describe the narrator. His name and appereance are not revealed in the story, so we can only learn about him from his thoughts and reactions to Mr. Kelada. The narrator is probably a typical British man of the period - after The First World War. He probably has a British name, blond hair, blue eyes and light skin. He is certain to be a racist, snobbish, conservative and with a big amount of respect to the social ethics . The narrator keeps repeating that he doesn't like Mr. Kelada, so we can learn that he already has a strong opinion on Mr. Kelada's look and personality.

In conclusion, the narrator is considered as a genuine British man who gets along only with British men of his kind. Therefore, he doesn't treat Mr. Kelada fairly and doesn't give him a chance to make an impression on him before he decides what kind of person he is. In my opinion,  Mr. Kelada and the narrator are opposites, and this is the reason the narrator judges Mr. Kelada before knowing him, or according to his looks and his origin.

A bit too long but very good work. Well done!
(95)
Daphna

"Count That Day Lost"

Post Reading

October 1st, 2011

Dear diary,
Today was a great day. Our class went on a charity trip to Jerusalem, in which we helped to deliver packages full of goods to families in need. It was so satisfying to watch the poor children open the package and smile at the sight of candies and sweets their parents can't afford buying them. On my way home, I saw an injured puppy and brought it home. I begged my parents to keep it and eventually they agreed, and I called him Fluffy. Then, I called my friend Ronnie to ask her to come and help me set Fluffy a place to sleep in my room. As she picked up the phone and said hello, she started crying. When I asked her what happened, she said that our Math teacher called and said she had failed the test again, and if she didn't improve her grades she didn't graduate like everyone else in our class. I cheered her up and told her that I helped her pass the final exam and offered her to come and help me with Fluffy. She agreed and we had a lot of fun with Fluffy, and afterwards we went to eat vanilla ice cream in the mall.So, I had a pretty nice day today, but now I'm very tired and I'm going to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day, too.Good night,

Jennifer

October 2nd, 2011

Dear diary,
I feel awful! This day wasn't good at all!
First, I fought with my best friend Ronnie today. She tried to help me with my English homework after school, and instead of thanking her for her effort, I was pissed off and nasty and she was insulted and left crying. I feel really bad I hurt her, she doesn't deserve such a behavior. Like that wasn't enough, I fought with my mother too. She just asked me to clean my room and I started screaming at her with no reason. She got mad and grounded me for the rest of the week! Now I can't go to Mike's big party as I planned. As I walked to my room and slammed the door shut, there was a phone call from Mike, asking if I will come to his party as his date. I wanted so badly to say yes because I waited a long time for him to ask me that, but then I remembered that I was grounded!
So, diary, you can now see how bad my day was. I wanted to make Ronnie, my mother and Mike happy but instead I made everyone sad. I'm going to sleep now, wishing  tomorrow  will be kinder...

Jennifer

 

Very good work.

(96)

Daphna

"Count That Day Lost"

Bridging 

The poem "Count That Day Lost"  was written by 'George Eliot', which is a pen name for the female poet Mary Ann Evans. The poem describes the dependence of the consideration of a good and a bad day on your actions on that day. In other words, the poet says that a "well spent day" is a day in which you've done at least one positive deed without expecting any credit or cost. However, a "lost" day is a day in which you haven't .done anything helpful for another person

The poet, Mary Ann Evans, was a female writer in the Victorian England of 1819. At that
 period, the gaps between the classes were huge and women weren't taken seriously as writers. Despite the period's norms, Evans and other leading writers wanted to make a difference in the society and used their writing ability to do it. Mary Ann's books and poems often criticized the behavior of the upper classes towards the ordinary poor people, and pointed out a lot of injustice and discriminations between the classes.

In my point of view, the information that was added to the poem helped me understand it better because learning at what age and in which circumstances the poem was written really adds information about the poet's intentions when she wrote the poem. In addition,  the extra information clarifies that the poet thought that some things were done wrong , and , therefore, wanted to change them. Namely, the poet thought that the

existence of the classes in her period was wrong and was concerned about the moral responsibility that people should take in their lives.

To conclude, the message of the poem "Count That Day Lost" is an advice, which was given by the poet to the people at her time - to do at least one self denying deed a day in order to consider that day a helpful day. Furthermore, the information that was added
about the poet's life helped me understand the poem thanks to the description of the       poet's age and the people's behaviour in it.

Excellent work. Well done
(97)
Daphna.