The Takeaways from The Man with the Scar by W. Somerset Maugham

My World, the heart of the Solar System

If there’s anything that we can learn from The Man with the Scar — and anything leaping off the page — then it’s the lesson of perception. Just take another quick glance at the title: What picture would be drawn by your imagination if there were just a man without any scar? How would that face look? Too impersonal (unless you’ve got a fantasy to live out)?

From what we can see, and for we tend to visualise in order to see, the scar is not just a scar. It is the very first detail we take from the opening sentence, and thus it threads us along the plot. It even comes before the man — have you noticed that?

Therefore, it is safe to say that the scar itself plays the leading role in the story. Yet, we are the ones who placed too much emphasis on it. As old as the world itself, the trick always does wonders for the authors, doesn’t it? We all love covers that shape our impressions of what’s wrapped up inside. And books are evidently no exception. We, humans, enjoy jumping to conclusions by simply catching on to shallow details, kindling something deep down our hearts.

Curiosity? Mystery? Or boredom?

The first killed the cat.

The second opened the Pandora box.

And the third made our eyes run over the others.

Characteristic of us

You might think you know nothing about the unnamed narrator but the thoughts laid out in the open by the author. No significant details shedding more light on who that person is. No background information. Just little bits of random data. Take his words ‘I never saw anyone buy’ [his lottery tickets], meaning that the narrator isn’t new to the environment around him. What can it say about him? Not much, but enough for us to join the dots as to how often he comes over the bar.

He is still a complete stranger to us. Yet, for some enigmatic reason, we do draw parallels between him and ourselves. Of course, they are artfully hidden along the way, as the line between the narrator and the reader is so blurred that at some point we might well feel ourselves listening to the unfolding story.

Essentially, that’s why, to a degree, we are misled by the narration — our part in it could be counted as bystanders or onlookers. Those passive readers who go with the flow, knowing that the ship’s helm is in the hands of others.

Don’t bring your Bible to someone else’s church

Naturally — is this natural? — we are prone to explore the surrounding world through our own rose-coloured or whatever-coloured glasses.

Where did the sentence ‘If this was the way he made his living it must have been a poor one’ come from? Based on which list of attributes of a good life did the narrator make his decision? Some would argue that there hadn’t been any decision, but an assumption as “must have been” implies a degree of uncertainty.

My point is, the good-and-evil matter was, is and, most likely, will be with us until the crack of doom. However, in my eyes, the existence of such a matter begets ever more matters. Who gave us the right to judge and make judgements? What is actually good and what is evil? Does it have anything to do with morals? Why so, if so? Why not, if not?

What bothers us is always left unspoken

Interestingly, we’d prefer to be satisfied with second-hand information, wouldn’t we?

The narrator starts with the riddle of the man’s scar, gives us its detailed description, even shares with us his assumptions, plus, uses the scar as the conversation opener after the General’s departure, and afterwards, suddenly lets it slip…

Has he asked his acquaintance to tell him the story behind the General’s scar at the beginning? Why not?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

There would have been no story if it hadn’t been for the General.

As a player by his nature, the General seems to be keenly aware of any game rules and the price to be paid after any strike of (mis)fortune: he who loses the battle pays the price — be that one’s life, money, or any other means of surrender.

As risky and intriguing as that, a player seeks opportunities to jump at and has its own audience to please.

Grotesque ambiguity

While the scene of the General’s beloved receiving the knife in the neck from her passionate other half is without doubt ‘grotesque’, it requires us to take some action to make our minds: Was it too unbelievable to be true, or was it too ugly to imagine? The underlying thing is that the word grotesque has both meanings — unnatural/exaggerated and very ugly.

To illustrate: ‘Her loveliness was such that as she ran, her mouth slightly open and the agony of her face beautiful, a gasp of surprise was wrung from those indifferent soldiers who looked at her.’

There are some crucial questions to be asked, one of which would be, How on Earth did the indifferent people perform a gasp of surprise? That said, they are either indifferent or emotional. If they have switched from one camp to the other, then something extraordinary has happened, somewhat of one of its kind, or simply put, grotesque.

Depending on your perception of the word grotesque, that scene — and the General’s behaviour (and, frankly, the behaviours of the rest of witnesses) — may lead you to various points of interest in the plot.

Everything we don’t understand seems shocking to us

Shall we speak of love? I mean, personally, I didn’t discover the theme of love throughout the whole story. Besides, the scene of the General’s outlandish performance — however grotesque it is to you — made me carefully reread it again and begin to think of the notion of diversity.

Am I able to judge him? On what grounds if yes?

According to Aberrant reading (in case you have some qualms, google), the narrator might have added his personal touch to the story, as, most likely, Spanish wasn’t his native language. Otherwise, why would he highlight this detail right before the ending scene?

And, furthermore, we, those from today’s world, cannot get the full picture of the cultures of the olden days. The same applies to other cultures, generally speaking.

Such a barrier engenders many questions that are meant to be unanswered.

The true scars are hidden from our eyes

Need I say more?