FREE ESSAY ON OF HUMAN BONDAGE

OF HUMAN BONDAGE

Family, love, and friendships are a few of the many colorful threads that are taken and
woven into a tapestry of life. Every person one meets on the way will influence the
patterns of that tapestry. Every incident, be it tragic or cheerful, will guide the
shuttle to take on new directions. With this in mind, William Somerset Maugham's
autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage offers the reader a first person perspective on
the first thirty years of a young man's life.
Philip Carey was born with a clubbed-foot. Many critics believe that this birth defect
paralleled Maugham's own trouble with stammering. This handicap acted as a basis for all
the anxiety and self-consciousness that shadowed Philip's life. As readers, we shadowed
Philip as well, following him from childhood in England, to adulthood in Germany,
adventures in Paris, and back to a village on the British coast. Together with Philip, we
were drawn into a world of cynicism, passion, hatred, and the yearning to become someone
greater.
In the beginning, innocence reigned. As a little boy who was just orphaned, Philip took
everything in, not comprehending his situation. There was simplicity in his thoughts and
naivete in his actions. He soon developed self-consciousness about his clubbed-foot,
however, when he was sent to an all boys' school. He was endlessly humiliated by his
fellow classmates and was treated differently by the teachers. When he did something
wrong, the teacher would not cane Philip like he would any other wrong doer because
Philip was a cripple. Having suffered years of shame and loneliness, Philip was truly
grateful to finally make a friend. Rose was very popular with the boys. He was outgoing
and whimsical, and Philip was honored to have Rose treat him as a normal person. There
comes a time, unfortunately, in many friendships when one of the people involved becomes
possessive. Philip became jealous of Rose's other friends, and in childish revenge,
Philip made friends with Sharp, a boy whom he despised. It was Sharp who gave Philip the
idea to go to Germany to study and experience the world. Philip wanted to get out of
England so much that he began to slack off, and eventually, he threw away his scholarship
to Oxford. In his teenage defiance, he learned independence. Out in the world, he met
people who left lasting impressions in his personality. Being sensitive and
inexperienced, Philip believed whatever the next person who came into his life believed.
His uncle had taught him Christianity as a child, and Philip had faith in it. Hayward
taught him that there was more to religion and that civilized people were poets and
lovers, and Philip believed him. Cornshaw then gave him the idea that Christianity was
just morality and those poets were dreamers, and Philip hated his uncle for instilling a
rigid religion and believed that Hayward was living unrealistically. One of his biggest
fears about disbelieving in God was that maybe he was wrong and that he was sinning by
becoming an atheist. Then, in a rare burst of young wisdom, he decided that "after all,
it's not my fault. I can't force myself to believe. If there is a God after all and he
punishes me because I honestly don't believe in Him I can't help it (104)." According to
A. C. Ward, Maugham's "effectiveness as a critic of life is in inverse proportion to his
solemnity." We might be shocked by some of the strong feelings that Philip felt, but
Maugham knew this. He wanted Philip to be honest with himself and in doing so, he wanted
to remind readers of the flaws in mankind. 
John Lehmann once said, "[Maugham's] originality, his power of holding the reader's
attention, consists largely in putting conventional stories in exotic settings." Maugham
wrote of places sometimes with vehemence and sometimes with awe in order to pull readers
in even more closer to Philip's own feelings. Philip traveled to many places in his life.
We observed from the tidy, little house of his aunt and uncle and the crowded rooms of
the school to the elegant and simple rooms of Germany and Paris that Philip's emotions
were closely related to where he was. For example, with its massive furniture and
clean-swept floors, his uncle's house was too formal to be a true home to Philip. Then,
the school in London with its high walls and crowded rooms made both the reader and
Philip feel confined. Possessing much passion in him, Philip had desired freedom. He
found it in Germany and Paris. He found peace in the lush green hills of Heidelberg and
excitement in the city of Paris. 
This novel's foremost purpose was to entertain. In the midst of crying and laughing
alongside Philip, however, we discovered something about us. We discovered human nature.
In order to fit into society, we conceal our fears and emotions, and in trying to be
different, we only manage to become like everyone else. Philip was fascinated by plays.
"To him it was real life. It was strange life, dark and tortured, in which men and women
showed to remorseless eyes the evil that was in their hearts...The characters expressed
themselves in cruel words that seemed wrung out of their hearts by shame and anguish
(105)." We know such insecurities exist from just reading Philip's uncensored thoughts.
This description of plays suits mankind and the things we strive to hide. Of Human
Bondage in itself is a symbol. It addressed the failures and achievements of mankind, and
it removed the visor that blinds us from raw emotions.
Much of this book concentrated on Philip's adolescence. A lot of what he felt mirrors my
life right now as a teenager. I felt the same wonder when Philip first fell in love and
the same anger when Philip's aunt and uncle restricted him from going to Germany and
France. There is a connection with Philip through his honesty and passion. Reading this
novel made me feel that I am not alone in my teenage angst and made me see that due to my
endless complaints and demands, I hurt may have hurt many people in the process. In
Philip's case, I stopped feeling sorry for him and began to think him selfish. When he
didn't have enough money to start his life in Paris, his aunt gave him all her life
savings because of her love for him. Philip only showed momentary gratitude, however,
before forgetting all about her and looking forward to his new life. This was what
Maugham wanted us to see: the selfishness that surrounds us and to let us know that we're
not all that different from Philip.
Through Philip's eyes, Maugham has skillfully and flawlessly transcribed the emotions,
the maturity, and the life of the universal man. Throughout this book, we were actually
able to "see" the threads weaving Philip's life together. There were many times when I
was disgusted at Philip's behavior, granted, but it gave us an unprejudiced view of
ourselves, and in this, I agree with Theodore Dreiser when he wrote that "[Of Human
Bondage] sings, it has color. It has rapture. In viewing it one finds nothing to
criticize or regret."
Bibliography
Lehmann, John. "Somerset Maugham" (1966; copyright ? 1966 by Harrison-Blaine, Inc.),
in The Critic as Artist: Essays on Books 1920-1970, edited by Gilbert A. Harrison,
Liveright, 1972, pp. 228-32.
Ward, A.C. Twentieth-Century English Literature 1901-1960 1964.