Case Study Somerset Maugham

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the Questions to think about while you read.... 1). Why does the man with the scar kill his wife? What reason does he give? Is this a good reason to kill someone? Why or why not? Do you believe him when he says he loved his wife? Why or why not? 2). The man with the scar likes to gamble. How is killing his wife similar to the poker game he plays or the lottery tickets he sells? 3). Why did Somerset Maugham have the man with the scar get his scar from an “exploding ginger ale bottle” and not from some brave action during battle? How does this change our idea of the man with the scar? 4). The man’s scar is described in detail. How does his external features match his internal character? How does the outside of him match…show more content…
It must have been due to a formidable wound and I wondered whether this had been caused by a sabre or by a fragment of shell. It was unexpected on that round, fat and good-humoured face. He had small and undistinguished features, and his expression was artless. His face went oddly with his corpulent body. He was a powerful man of more than common height. I never saw him in anything but a very shabby grey suit, a khaki shirt and a battered sombrero. He was far from clean. He used to come into the Palace Hotel at Guatemala City every day at cocktail time and strolling leisurely round the bar offered lottery tickets for sale. If this was the way he made his living it must have been a poor one, for I never saw anyone buy, but now and then I saw him offered a drink. He never refused it. He threaded his way among the tables with a sort of rolling walk as though he were accustomed to traverse long distances on foot, paused at each table, with a little smile mentioned the numbers he had for sale and then, when no notice was taken of him, with the same smile passed on. I think he was for the most part a trifle the worse for
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