论文部分内容阅读
Abstract
Maugham presents a hell-like China image in his famous novel, The Painted Veil, and illustrate that the inner thought of the Western world, i.e., China should remain at an ancient and backward state and offer an Utopian and exotic dreamland for spiritual condolence for the West. The modernization and development of China will definitely pose a threat to the West.
Key words: Maugham, The Painted Veil, China, Orientalism
Barbarism is a heated subject in the Western literature. Guided by the old practice, Maugham, the traditional English writer, borrows the idea of barbarism in his work, The Painted Veil. His composition on China’s negative images makes China a barbaric and dreadful place where danger is sneaking here and there.
1 Primitive and Backward Nation
In The Painted Veil, starvation and backwardness rule the inner city Mei-tan-fu, a miniature of China at that time. Being primitive and backward, Mei-tan-fu is featured with being filthy and epidemic-plagued.
Kitty’s horrible experiences in Mei-tan-fu are shut in the shadow of death caused by cholera. From the very first, it’s the death of Watson, a missionary and the previous owner of the Walters’ bungalow, that offers an opportunity for Walter to force Kitty leave HK with him. Later when they are on the journey nearly reaching Mei-tan-fu, they more often than not see many a graveyard “with little green mounds close, close to one another, so that the ground was ribbed like the sea sand when the tide has gong out”. As the disease spreads, in Kitty’s daily life, now and then, she also hears “the beating of gongs and the clatter of fire-crackers…the great city lay in terror; and death, sudden and ruthless, hurried through its tortuous streets”. Later on follows the death news of a fourth French nun in the convent. Finally, though the whole city’s situation gets control, the hero Walter is infected with cholera and died tragically.
Clearly, Kitty’s life in Mei-tan-fu bristles with dread and danger. The graveyards, lifeless bodies, cries, coffins and ghastly streets etc. all contribute to demonstrating a fearful atmosphere of death that makes Mei-tan-fu a hell-like city. Therefore, China is also reduced to a land imbued with images of death, brewing a potential of hostility, danger and threat towards the West.
2 The Submissive and Silent Chinese
Making a general survey of the whole novel, the overwhelming majority of Chinese characters in The Painted Veil are negative. The Chinese people are depicted as the typical Orientals in the eyes of the West. Whether the homely amah or the capable magistrate, they are all first Orientals, all first Chinese, who are supposed to be the inferior to the Westerners and deserve no attention in a British writer’s story.
As to the Chinese being thought to be the saved, these little orphan girls cannot fail to prove this viewpoint. The girls are abandoned by their cruel parents and thanks to the French nuns’ taking them in the convent, they somehow get a place to stay. One French nun, Sister Joseph tells Kitty that everyday they adopt some girls who are sent to the convent by the parents (they are given some money in return) and offer them food and accommodation. When Sister Joseph refers to an idiot girl whom Kitty feels disgusting about, she calls her “poor little mite” (161) and says: “She was brought here positively dying…You would not believe what trouble we have had to keep her with us. Three of four times we thought that her little soul would escape to Heaven”(161).
Maugham presents a hell-like China image in his famous novel, The Painted Veil, and illustrate that the inner thought of the Western world, i.e., China should remain at an ancient and backward state and offer an Utopian and exotic dreamland for spiritual condolence for the West. The modernization and development of China will definitely pose a threat to the West.
Key words: Maugham, The Painted Veil, China, Orientalism
Barbarism is a heated subject in the Western literature. Guided by the old practice, Maugham, the traditional English writer, borrows the idea of barbarism in his work, The Painted Veil. His composition on China’s negative images makes China a barbaric and dreadful place where danger is sneaking here and there.
1 Primitive and Backward Nation
In The Painted Veil, starvation and backwardness rule the inner city Mei-tan-fu, a miniature of China at that time. Being primitive and backward, Mei-tan-fu is featured with being filthy and epidemic-plagued.
Kitty’s horrible experiences in Mei-tan-fu are shut in the shadow of death caused by cholera. From the very first, it’s the death of Watson, a missionary and the previous owner of the Walters’ bungalow, that offers an opportunity for Walter to force Kitty leave HK with him. Later when they are on the journey nearly reaching Mei-tan-fu, they more often than not see many a graveyard “with little green mounds close, close to one another, so that the ground was ribbed like the sea sand when the tide has gong out”. As the disease spreads, in Kitty’s daily life, now and then, she also hears “the beating of gongs and the clatter of fire-crackers…the great city lay in terror; and death, sudden and ruthless, hurried through its tortuous streets”. Later on follows the death news of a fourth French nun in the convent. Finally, though the whole city’s situation gets control, the hero Walter is infected with cholera and died tragically.
Clearly, Kitty’s life in Mei-tan-fu bristles with dread and danger. The graveyards, lifeless bodies, cries, coffins and ghastly streets etc. all contribute to demonstrating a fearful atmosphere of death that makes Mei-tan-fu a hell-like city. Therefore, China is also reduced to a land imbued with images of death, brewing a potential of hostility, danger and threat towards the West.
2 The Submissive and Silent Chinese
Making a general survey of the whole novel, the overwhelming majority of Chinese characters in The Painted Veil are negative. The Chinese people are depicted as the typical Orientals in the eyes of the West. Whether the homely amah or the capable magistrate, they are all first Orientals, all first Chinese, who are supposed to be the inferior to the Westerners and deserve no attention in a British writer’s story.
As to the Chinese being thought to be the saved, these little orphan girls cannot fail to prove this viewpoint. The girls are abandoned by their cruel parents and thanks to the French nuns’ taking them in the convent, they somehow get a place to stay. One French nun, Sister Joseph tells Kitty that everyday they adopt some girls who are sent to the convent by the parents (they are given some money in return) and offer them food and accommodation. When Sister Joseph refers to an idiot girl whom Kitty feels disgusting about, she calls her “poor little mite” (161) and says: “She was brought here positively dying…You would not believe what trouble we have had to keep her with us. Three of four times we thought that her little soul would escape to Heaven”(161).