An Ideal Hero
It is common knowledge that every man has merits and demerits, and that we must accept the good and the bad in them and ourselves together. Selfishness and kindness, idealism and sensuality, vanity, snobbishness, obstinacy, shyness and diffidence, can all exist in the same person. The normal is what you rarely find. The normal is ideal. It is a picture that one fabricates of the average characteristics of men and women, and to find them all in one person is hardly to be expected. I believed in this universal truth, but I changed my mind radically and rapidly when I read the novel The Razor’s Edge, written by my favorite writer William Somerset Maugham. This novel is devoted to Larry Barrel – an ideal person, a role model, from my point of view. I took pains to find out the slightest drawback, but I was doomed to failure from the very beginning. I couldn’t but admire Larry’s character, deeds, and life philosophy.
I suppose that Larry’s main goal is to do only positive things to achieve salvation. Many people may think that Larry does it (I mean seeks for faith, for the meaning of his life) only for his own sake, but they are mistaken, because only thanks to such people as Larry, does kindness exist in this world, and they are constantly saving the world from collapse and destruction. He tried to bring happiness to everyone he came across. He helped Isabel’s husband Gray to get rid of terrible headaches, gave a helping hand and moral support to Suzanne, who was down and out, he could probably have rescued Sophie Macdonald if Isabel with her vicious jealousy and selfishness had not interfered. He is merciful, kind, tolerant, compassionate. His kindness is active (it is, obviously, an indication of a strong character and a firm will). He has never been loquacious (“It was not often that he spoke at any length”), but his actions speak louder than his words. Who knows what would have happened to Gray, Suzanne and others if they hadn’t come across Larry. He altered their life and showed them the light at the end of the dark tunnel.
But I am sure that every person is not an inborn villain or, on the contrary, a righteous man. Everyone creates himself, his own image, passing through various levels of development. We are all people of change. Changes are the atmosphere we breathe and they have a considerable impact on the formation of our inner world. The First World War made Larry undergo various changes. It was a turning point, a crucial moment for him, that led to an alteration of his life, values, and ideas. He was born again. So, that is how he started his spiritual Odyssey. He needed to answer existential, philosophical (or the so-called “damned”) questions of the humanity: “Does God exist or not? Whether I have an immortal soul or when I die it’s the end? What life is all about, and whether there is any sense in it or whether it is all a tragic blunder of blind fate?”
The fact is that everyone must try to live as if the whole of eternity is ahead of them, but, of course, not in the conventional meaning of this word. What I am driving at, is that a person, while visualizing his/her objectives, should take pains to choose from a wide range of them those for the accomplishment of which there won’t be enough life, those which are the most precious and can make one’s life worth living. This is much better than creating purely realistic goals. Many people who set such high goals managed to remain in eternity, they are: Socrates, Epicurus, Descartes, Seneca... They created, loved and prolonged their lives. They are highly appreciated by Larry. “I was reading Descartes the other day. The ease, the grace, the lucidity. Gosh!”… “I’ve been reading Spinoza the last month or two. Solitude and an air so pure that it goes to your head like wine and you feel like a million dollars.” Judging by these words, we can say that Larry possesses a vivid imagination and an extremely romantic personality.
It seems to me (and I guess to Larry too) that these great people are more living, vivacious and real in comparison with people of high society, who only pretend to be full of vitality and energy, but, in fact, look like machines: they don’t live, but merely exist. “They talked with inanity in a loud, metallic voice without a moment’s pause, as though afraid of the fact that if they were silent for an instant the machine would run down and the artificial construction which was all they were would fall to pieces.” The overwhelming majority of these human machines come to various parties only to get a free meal; some of them are stupid; some are worthless. Actually, it is the same society that was masterfully depicted in Maugham’s story Gigolo and Gigolette and it raises a strong feeling of disapproval and disgust.
Maugham showed very brilliantly that American society was becoming a society of consumers and by stimulating the desire to consume as much as possible, the hunger of pleasures, people can create such a model of life, which will be considered by many to be the paradise on the Earth. One of those deceived by its glamours is Isabel. “But Isabel thought they were grand; she liked their rich clothes and expensive pearls and felt a twinge of envy for their sophisticated poise. She wondered if she would ever achieve that supreme elegance.”
Moreover, the author shows that a person can be dead not only physically, but also spiritually. The high meaning of life is replaced the struggle for achievement of wealth, happiness – by consumption, high ideals – by practicality; all this leads to moral degradation. Larry is against this kind of life. He is opposed to Gray Maturin and his father with their “meaningful goal” to earn as much money as possible. “I want to learn as passionately as – Gray, for instance, wants to earn pots of money”, Larry says. He disapproves of those who believe that their blessing is the possession of power. “I wouldn’t exchange the life of the spirit for all the power and glory of the world.” Larry does not want to be like those (like Elliot Templeton) who are happy, when they are in the center of everybody’s attention. And, undoubtedly, Larry won’t support those who (like Isabel) can’t imagine their lives without fun, entertainment and pleasures. The wisest man is the one for whom spiritual self-perfection is the most precious goal of life, a real life-long ambition. As the saying goes: “A person who knows others is smart; the one who knows himself is wise”. “I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection”, said Larry. “I wish I could make you see how exciting the life of the spirit is and how rich in experience! It’s such a happy life”.
However, this life does not only provide a person with a feeling of exaltation, contentment and joy. I suppose that it is very hard, full of challenges, inevitable obstacles – in other words, it is not a bed of roses. “The hardest is the way of knowledge”. It is like walking on the razor’s blade and it is a lifelong journey. One American writer used to repeat that every man is born at least twice and the second time he is born on the road. Larry travels a lot physically (visiting Paris, Germany, America, India, Greece), comes across various people, share their wisdom, exploring the world, and spiritually (reading for 12 hours a day, studying Philosophy, Literature, Art, Religions).
At first, it was a stumbling block for me to understand why Larry made up his mind to study ancient Greek, besides, his treasure dream was to travel to Greece with Isabel and later on with Sophie Macdonald. This matter has a particular, high meaning for him. But then it flashed into my mind that people of Ancient Greece were the first who wanted desperately to know themselves, to find a solution to the enigma of a person’s soul, and they saw a source of philosophical knowledge in it. So, the choice of countries to visit for Larry is not accidental. These countries are the great centers of spiritual life; the mere atmosphere in them strengthens the sense of his spiritual significance. It is impossible to require the meaning of life without faith and Larry is in a constant search of it. He comes to a conclusion that: “God is within me or nowhere”. I guess that is absolutely right. As a matter of fact, a person even may say that he/she does not believe in God, but having faith and unconsciously having Him inside of his/her soul may prevent a person from being vicious and evil. “People must live as if God existed.” (Kant)
Everyone who wants to make his/her life significant constructs certain values for himself, which become an oases in the vast desert of existence, and when a person reaches those values he/she gets rest and answers to his questions. For Larry these values-oases were Truth, Beauty, Kindness. Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have, as the saying goes. Larry always follows this principle. “Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.”
So, I imagine a young man, very slim and tall with an “engaging smile”. The author certainly puts emphasis on his smile, it’s Larry’s characteristic feature. It’s a reflection of the harmony of his soul, his attitude to this life and the world, and there is a kind of mystery about it, just like in Mona Liza’s smile.
To sum it up, I would like to say that while reading this book I understood that to live means to be able to use the fullness of feelings, emotions, abilities which you were gifted by God; to appreciate every moment of life; to not be afraid of being different from others; to be unique; to choose the right road for yourself and go along it, irrespective of all hardships, just like Larry, who is satisfied to lead his chosen life and be no more than just himself. The emotion this deep and boundless book gave me was exquisite. Using Larry’s words: “The ease, the grace, the lucidity”. It makes you feel as if you have only to get on tiptoe and stretch out your hands to touch the stars. The author masterfully compelled me to look at this world through his eyes and presented me a real pleasure to admire its beautiful, harmonious pattern which he created from chaos. But the most exciting thing is that he did not try to prove anything, to paint black certain things or on the contrary to idealize; he merely “painted” the picture, reflecting the reality, and it’s up to you to decide whether to look at it, appreciate and accept, or not. I am sure that Maugham’s novel is great, marvelous and its chief personage Larry Darrell is an ideal model to follow.
By Yelena Sidorova,
Student 2nd year OGU, Orel |