THE LUNCHEON BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM – ENGLISH FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE PAPER 2: LITERATURE; SHORT STORIES GRADE 12 STUDY GUIDE AND NOTES

THE LUNCHEON BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM – ENGLISH FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE PAPER 2: LITERATURE; SHORT STORIES GRADE 12 STUDY GUIDE AND NOTES It is a story about a lunch date with a lady who is an admirer of Maugham’s stories. She wins the author’s favor and expresses her wish to meet him at a high class restaurant called Foyot. In the story, the author exposes the false motives of modest eating habits, of the middle classes with a touch of humor.

The Luncheon by W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 in Paris. His parents died when he was young and he was sent to live with an aunt in England. He travelled in Europe and eventually trained as a doctor. However, his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was so successful that he took to writing full-time. He wrote many plays, short stories and novels. He was a very popular writer in his time and one of the most highly-paid writers during the 1930s. He travelled widely and later settled in the south of France. Many of his novels and stories, such as Being Julia and The Painted Veil, have been made into films. He died in 1965.

1. Summary

When the story begins a writer is at the theatre one night where he meets a woman whom he has not seen for 20 years. At that time she had admired a novel he had just published. At the theatre she reminds him of their first meeting 20 years ago.
The writer thinks back to that time, when he was poor and he had to make very little money last for a whole month. The woman had sent him a letter complimenting him on his writing and inviting him to take her to lunch when she was in Paris, where the young writer lived. The luncheon took place at Foyot’s, a very expensive restaurant. Nevertheless, he felt flattered that she wanted to meet him. When the menu came he was startled, as the prices were much higher than he had expected.
Therefore, he was relieved when his guest said that she only ever ate one thing for luncheon. Unfortunately, she went on to order some of the most expensive things on the menu – caviare, salmon, asparagus, peaches, ice cream and champagne. The more food she ordered, the more the writer got into a panic. He tried to economise by only ordering a mutton chop for himself.
As the meal proceeded he began to imagine how he would react if the bill was too large for him to pay. First he thought of claiming that someone had picked his pocket. Then he thought that he would leave his watch at the restaurant and come back later and pay. Finally, when the bill arrived and he paid it, he realised that he had no more money to live off for the rest of the month.
Now, 20 years later, the writer tells us that he had “revenge at last” because the woman now weighs 21 stone (the equivalent of 136 kilograms).

2. Title

The story title, The Luncheon highlights the importance of that particular event for the writer. It was a very stressful occasion for him, and ended with him having no money to live on for the rest of the month. By remembering this luncheon the writer remembers how young and immature he was at that time. He remembers how flattered he was that the woman showed so much interest in him; and how he agreed to everything she requested – her choice of restaurant, her choice of food – as he was too immature to oppose her.
A luncheon is defined as a formal meal, but it is usually a small one. The woman’s huge meal contrasts with the tiny meal the writer had.

3. Themes

The main themes of story of The Luncheon are the conflict between truth and lies and the contrast between appearance and reality. At the restaurant the woman repeatedly says that she only eats one thing for lunch, but she contradicts herself by ordering more food. At their meeting 20 years later the woman tells the writer: “You asked me to luncheon”. The reality is that she had suggested that the writer “give her a little luncheon at Foyot’s”.
Twenty years ago the writer may have pretended to be more successful than he really was; but he was too proud to let the woman know that he could not afford the meal, so he kept up appearances. He even lied about never drinking champagne, so that he could save some money.

Note:

•  Keeping up appearances – pretending to be something you are not; giving an appearance or illusion

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The main story takes place at Foyot’s, a very expensive restaurant in Paris where French senators dined, and where the writer knew that he would struggle to pay for the meal.

4.2 Structure and plot development

The writer uses the present tense to begin the story, but then takes us back in time to the memory of the earlier meeting with the woman. This literary device is known as a flashback. The main action or plot of the story takes place in the flashback to a past event – the luncheon. The story is structured so that only the beginning and end of the story are told in the present tense.
At that time, 20 years before, the young writer knew the restaurant was too expensive for him, which was confirmed when he saw the prices on the menu. The woman, however, kept ordering expensive things to eat, creating the rising tension in the story as the young man became more stressed. The complication is that the young writer was too afraid to stop the woman ordering more food, even though he knew he could not afford it.

The conflict in the story is created by the tension between the writer’s panic and embarrassment and the woman’s greedy desire to enjoy her meal at his expense.

The writer experienced a great deal of anxiety and panic about how he would pay the huge bill at the end of the meal. As the meal proceeded he began to imagine how he would react if the bill was too large for him to pay. First he thought of claiming that someone had picked his pocket, then he thought that he would leave his watch at the restaurant and pay later to get it back. The climax of the story occurs when the bill finally arrives. He found that he could manage to pay it, but would have no more money left for the rest of the month.
Now, 20 years later, the story finally reaches a resolution as it ends with an ironic ‘twist in the tale’. The narrator tells us that he had “revenge at last” because the woman was now very overweight.

Note:

• A flashback allows the writer to show events that happened before the time of the present narration.
• A twist in the tale is also known as an ironic twist or plot twist. It is an unexpected change in the outcomes or ending of the story.

4.3 Characterisation

There are three characters in the story – the young writer, the woman he takes to lunch and the waiter at the restaurant. The writer is the protagonist, the main character. The woman is the antagonist, as she stands in opposition to him and creates the tension in the story. The young writer is very scared of the forty-year-old woman so he allows himself to be manipulated into buying her an expensive meal. He is too proud to tell her that he cannot afford the restaurant, being a young, inexperienced and upcoming writer. His youth and inexperience contrast with the woman’s ruthless, selfish behaviour. He admits that he is flattered that she had admired his writing:

“she seemed inclined to talk about me”

The writer says he was “prepared to be an attentive listener”. This shows how he is easily seduced by flattery.
In the story we only see the woman from the writer’s point of view. He describes the woman in unpleasant terms:

“She was not so young as I expected and in appearance imposing rather than attractive.”

She seemed to have a big mouth and more teeth than she needed and he is repulsed by the sight of her eating the asparagus:

“I watched the abandoned woman thrust them down her throat in large voluptuous mouthfuls”

Apart from the fact that the woman is not truthful, she is also bossy, as she constantly tells him that he is wrong to eat what she refers to as a “heavy luncheon” and to fill his stomach with “a lot of meat”. She has no sensitivity, as she does not see that one chop is not a “heavy luncheon”, in contrast to what she has eaten.
The woman has no understanding of or insight into the writer’s dilemma. When he leaves only a small tip for the waiter (which is the only money he has left), she thinks he is mean. At the end of the luncheon she does not understand that the writer is telling the truth when he says he will “eat nothing for dinner”. It appears to her that he is joking and she, therefore, calls him a “humorist”. At the end of the story we see that the woman has never admitted the truth to herself about her eating habits, because after 20 years of excessive eating she is now obese.
At the end of the story we see how, 20 years later, the writer has changed and feels differently about the woman’s behaviour. He is not, as he admits a “vindictive” man, as he did not do anything to her, or say anything to show how unfairly she had treated him. However, he is comforted that circumstances (“the immortal gods”) made her pay for her greedy self-indulgence. Now he can look at her without fear or anger, but with “complacency” (self-satisfaction), because clearly years of eating so much have resulted in her being very overweight.
The only other character mentioned in the story is the waiter. The writer feels that he is “ingratiating” and “false”, which makes him seem as if he only wants to please the woman. The waiter has a “priest-like face”, which gives the appearance that he is very serious, and perhaps also intimidating to the young man. It seems that the young man was in such a panic about paying the bill that he thought the waiter was working against him by encouraging the woman to order expensive food. In reality, he was perhaps simply being a good, attentive waiter.
Note:

• Flattery – Excessive and insincere praise
• Obese – Extremly fat
• The waiter may have encouraged the woman to order more food, so he could get a bigger tip. The higher the bill, the bigger the tip would be.

4.4 Style

In the story the writer emphasises how the woman contradicts herself by saying one thing but doing another. The repetition of her words: “I never eat more than one thing” or “I never eat anything for luncheon” are used each time just before she decides she wants to order something else to eat. The narrator does this to indicate how the meal progressed. The more food she ordered, the more he began to panic.
In contrast, the writer only orders a mutton chop and drinks water instead of champagne. The contrast between the two characters and what they eat highlights the differences in their experience of the meal. Both were not being truthful, but for different reasons: the woman was not telling the truth because she was pretending she was not greedy and the writer was not telling the truth because he was too proud and afraid to tell her that he did not have much money.
The more food the woman orders the more anxious the writer becomes. The tension builds in the story very effectively so that the reader also starts feeling anxious, until the point in the story when the bill finally arrives.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The story is narrated from a first person perspective. The narrator is the older writer, remembering an event that took place 20 years before. He is able to see how young and immature he was at the time; and how manipulated he was by the woman.

Note:

• The writer uses I to indicate the first person point of view

4.6 Diction and figurative language

Some examples of figures of speech in the story include:

• Irony
  The writer makes use of irony a great deal in the story. Irony is when the narrator suggests that the situation appears to be the opposite of what it really is. For example, it is ironic that the woman often repeats that she does not eat much even when she orders many dishes and certainly eats much more than “one thing”.
  She goes on to criticise the writer for filling himself up on meat even though all he ate was one chop.
  At the end of the luncheon the writer tells her that he will not eat again that day. Ironically, this is one time when he is telling the truth, but she thinks he is joking.
• Similes
  The descriptions of the food in the story are very vivid because of the figurative language used.
  In one effective simile the writer compares the effect of the smell of the asparagus on him to the effect of the delicious smell of temple sacrifices to God made by the Jews in ancient times:
  The smell of the melted butter tickled my nostrils as the nostrils of Jehovah were tickled by the burned offerings of the virtuous Semites.
• Metaphor
  One effective metaphor is the comparison of peaches to the rosy skin of a young girl, or to the colour found in an Italian landscape: “They had the blush of an innocent girl; they had the rich tone of an Italian landscape.”
• Cliché
  A cliché is an expression that is unoriginal and is so often repeated that its original effect is lost. Clichés, however, are expressions which tell a truth. In this story they are used effectively to express the writer’s emotional state during the luncheon. Here are some examples of clichés from the story:
  • “How time does ”
  • “I was earning barely enough money to keep body and soul ”
  • The prices were “beyond my means”.
  • My mouth “watered”.
  • “My heart sank”

4.7 Tone and mood

At the beginning of the luncheon the tone is friendly and polite. The narrator is feeling generous and encourages the woman to order food at the restaurant. As the story progresses he becomes more depressed and the tone becomes anxious, as reflected in these words:

“My heart sank a little.”
“I fancy I turned a trifle pale.”
“Panic seized me.”

The tone lifts again in the last paragraph of the story when the narrator tells us that the woman, 20 years later, has become very overweight. This ‘twist in the tale’ is told in a light-hearted way that contrasts with his anxiety in the rest of the story.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary 
The Luncheon by W. Somerset Maugham

1. Title
   • By calling it The Luncheon the author highlights the importance to him of that lunch date.
2. Themes
   • Conflict between truth and lies
   • Contrast between appearance and reality
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • Mainly in Foyot’s the expensive restaurant in Paris
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • Flashback: From the present to a past event
   • Rising tension: The woman ordering expensive things to eat
   • Complication: The young writer is too afraid to stop the woman ordering more food
   • Conflict: Tension between the writer’s panic and embarrassment and the woman’s greed
   • Climax: The arrival of the bill
   • Resolution: The ironic ‘twist in the tale’ when the writer sees the obese woman 20 years later
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: The writer is the main character.
   • Antagonist: The woman stands in opposition to him.
   • The waiter: Serious and “false”
     3.4 Style
   • Repetition: The woman’s words, “I never eat more than one thing”.
   • Contradiction: Her words (above) contradict her actions.
   • Tension: This contradiction builds the tension in the story.
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • First person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • I’ll eat nothing for dinner tonight.”
     Irony
   • “The smell of the melted butter tickled my nostrils as the nostrils of Jehovah were tickled by the burned offerings of the virtuous Semites.”
     Simile
   • “They had the blush of an innocent girl; they had the rich tone of an Italian landscape.”
     Metaphor
   • “How time does fly”; The prices were “beyond my means”.
     Clichés
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Begins with a friendly and polite tone; becomes anxious as tension mounts; and ends with a light-hearted tone.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 3 

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[The narrator and his guest are about to order their meals.]

1. Describe the events that lead to the narrator and his guest having lunch (2)
2. Refer to lines 1-2 (“I was startled … I had ”).
   1. Explain what the word “startled” suggests about the kind of restaurants the narrator usually (2)
   2. Write down the more commonly used word for “bill of fare”. (1)
   3. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
      The real reason that the narrator agrees to take the guest out for lunch is because he is …
      1. flattered.
      2. forced.
      3. intimidated.
      4. kind.                                                                                                (1)
3. Refer to the following sentence in line 2: “But she reassured me.”
   From your knowledge of the story as a whole, explain why the guest is NOT reassuring.      (2)
4. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided in the list below.
   

   sensitive; polite; sincere; manipulative

   The narrator and his guest are different in character. The narrator is a) … while his guest is b) …       (2)

5. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Using your own words, give a reason for your answer.
   The narrator does not order asparagus for himself because he hates it.            (2)
6. Refer to line 13 (“My heart sank a ”).
   1. Identify the figure of speech used (1)
   2. Explain why the narrator has used this figure of (2)
7. Consider the story as a whole.
   If you were the narrator, what would you have done in this situation?      (2) [17]

Activity 4 

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[The narrator and his guest are finishing their meal.]

1. Refer to paragraph 1
   Quote ONE word to show that the narrator has not enjoyed his meal.         (1)
2. Consider the story as a whole.
   Is the guest telling the truth when she says, “But I’ve just had a snack…”? Explain your answer.      (2)
3. Refer to paragraph
   Why does the narrator become even more anxious when his guest takes a peach, in particular? State TWO points.  (2)
4. Why does the narrator feel the tip he leaves for the waiter is “inadequate”? (1)
5. Refer to line 9 (“Follow my example …”).
   Explain why it would not be good to follow the guest’s example.
   State TWO points.                                                                                                       (2)
6. Refer to line 11 (“I’ll eat nothing for dinner tonight ”).
   Using your own words, explain the following:
   1. How the guest understands these words (1)
   2. What the narrator means (1)
7. Refer to the last paragraph (lines 15-18).
   1. Write down ONE word to describe how the narrator feels (1)
   2. Explain why the narrator’s desire for revenge is “pardonable”. (2)
8. From your knowledge of the story as a whole, do you think the narrator is a “mean” person? Explain your answer (2)
9. The narrator is to blame for what happens at the restaurant
   Do you agree? Discuss your view.                                                  (2)
10. Explain why the title The Luncheon is suitable (1) [18]

Words to know