Abstract:William Somerset Maugham is a famous British novelist and dramatist, who created a large number of works during his life. The Moon and Sixpence is one of his three long masterpieces, which created a great sensation in the literary world because of its vivid plots and profound words. The novel reveals the theme of escapism, which was in accordance with the pursuit of many Westerners and became a popular novel in the twentieth century.

The novel describes the story of a London stock broker Strickland, who abandons his wife and gracious life for pursuing art and goes to the Tahiti Island in the South Pacific, devoting all the value of life into gorgeous canvas. The novel shows the contradiction between genius personality and material civilization as well as modern marriage, which has wide life perspective.

This paper focuses on analyzing the conflict between social expectation and the protagonist’s pursuit. It makes an interpretation of the Strickland's violation of social norms, and of Strickland's Self-redemption by pursing the true beauty of the heart and artistic life by an unconventional way. In this way, I hope to provide a new academic perspective to Maugham’s spirit research and a better way to understand the original novel.   

Keywords：Maugham  The Moon and Sixpence  socialization  Strickland  self-redemption

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 William Somerset Maugham-1

1.2 The Moon and Sixpence-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 Significance and Composition of the Thesis-3

Chapter Two Theories of Socialization-4

2.1 Introduction to Socialization-4

2.2 Ways to Achieve Socialization-5

Chapter Three Cause for Strickland’s Self-Redemption-7

3.1 Conflict with Social Morality-7

3.1.1 The Moral Environment for Strickland-7

3.1.2 Strickland’s Deviation from Moral Expectations-8

3.2 Conflict with Artistic Environment-8

Chapter Four Way of Strickland’s Self-Redemption-10

4.1 Escaping from Social Norms-10

4.2 Escaping from Conventional Artistic Life-11

4.3 Strickland’s Self-Redemption-12

4.3.1 Strickland’s Self-Redemption in Social Morality-12

4.3.2 Strickland’s Self-Redemption in Artistic Pursuit-14

Chapter Five Conclusion-16

References-18