I love this. Obviously it’s an old story so not politically correct, but so true to how women can be, especially those who think about their weight constantly.
after 25 years of avoiding rich food and still not being able to lose, the perfect ending would have been the rich bread, cream etc leading them all to be as thin as the one who ate rich foods with no fear. )
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the social conventions of women have changed over the years, so I don't see this story as a put down. I think it is a truth of a former time, and the bonding in and independent spirits of these women were as real as today, even if different from today.
@@---Dana---- Perhaps, but I'll tell you what makes me say what I did. In general, the development of social attitudes goes from pulling together a complex group of thoughts and facts into a pared down shorthand of the idea; outliers and anomalies are discarded, and subtleties fall by the wayside. First, the illustration at top is outrageous - but that's not Maugham's fault. The picture was chosen by the presenter of this video; I have seen other illustrations of the story that aren't mocking the women. Actually, I just ignored it. ("Would you care to partake of some of this?" "No thank you," was my answer.) Women of the story's era were obsessed with dieting and losing weight. It was a cultural thing, the culture those women swam through. Mass media- the development of advertising and nationally presented movies, etc.- began after WWI (1920's or so). Yes, the times were misogynistic; the images presented were conjured by men. That is what the women of those times had to deal with in some way or other. What Maugham presents, however, is a group of women whose prime loyalty and personal identity is bound up with a group of other women. He presents women who are not diffused by an orientation towards the men in their lives. Maugham was rare; this is what he takes the time to show us. (Look at other literature and media of the time.) So while the story is about misogynistic times, I don't find the story misogynistic. Please tell me why I'm wrong.
