Анализ текста «Seeing people off» Max Beerbohn (Английская Литература)

The text I am going to analyze is titled ‘Seeing people off’ written by Max Beerbohm, an English caricaturist and short-story writer. Certainly, the abstract under discussion includes a wide range of topics that the author wants to bring to light. There are a lot of questions a reader asks himself after he has the text read. Why people are ready to pay money for being seen off? Is it morally correct to offer such a contradictory type of service? Is Hubert Lebos a talented actor or just a new phoney? So if we try to use the most general words to define the subject of the text, I believe it will be society. The short story anticipates how it changes via the appearance of new products and services on the national market. Everything appears for a reason especially when it comes to a capitalist country. Each service or good has its’ consumer. The title of the text ‘Seeing people off’ is quite superficial because it represents only the topic expressed directly.

But as experienced readers, we know that most writers tend to hide the main idea.

So sometimes only the ability to read between lines can help to understand what the text is about.

The composition of the story is rather simple because it develops step by step without any unpredictable plot twists. The story is told from the mouth of the protagonist. The narrator is not just an onlooker, but he directly takes parts in the events. The biggest part of the story is the narration. Only by the middle of the text, it is interrupted by the dialogue between the narrator and Hubert Lebos whose speech slowly turns into a monologue.

The story takes place at Euston, a railway station in England. Speaking about the date of the events, we can only guess what it is. It seems to me that the events took place about a hundred years ago because if we try to imagine that they are laid in the present time, we will likely see a lot of contradictions. That’s why I am sure that it is connected to certain settings due to the historical elements it includes.

The plot transported us to a platform station where people were seeing off their friends. The narrator was standing on the platform looking at the carriage window that framed his friend’s face. The atmosphere was quite confusing because of the way they acted. They could hardly say a few words one to each other. They seemed to be rather strangers than close friends. At one of the windows, the narrator saw a middle-aged man talking with a young pretty woman. He was amazed at the way he was seeing off the lady. In a flash, the narrator remembered that it was Hubert Lebos. The way he looked made him hard to recognize. When the train departed, they walked slowly together along the platform. Hubert Leos confessed that that American lady was not a friend of his. He told the narrator about the Anglo-Americal Socialureau (A. A. S.) that offered people to be seen off by the professional seers-off. The narrator felt ashamed for the way he acted like he was shuttling from foot to foot trying to start a conversation. So he desperately asked Lebos to teach him. He agreed to give him a special course. So he put down his name in his notebook that contained the names of his pupils. The price of studying was high, but the narrator did not grudge an investment.

The structure of the text is not complicated. It is impossible to emphasize structural parts of the text like denouement, resolution, preface due to its’ shortness. Theoretically, it can be divided into three parts that can be titled ‘Farewell’, ‘Chance meeting’, ‘Agreement’.

The atmosphere of the short story is created by the plot which fully conveys the atmosphere of the time. From my point of view, it is quite unemotional. Though there is a scene when Hubert Lebos can hardly keep back his tears, the manner of narration is still dry. Such an unpleasant impression is the result of the lack of the stylistic devices used to bring a certain tone to the story. If we quickly scan the text, we will not find any exclamatory sentences, similes or metaphors. There is nothing bad about it. Vice versa such a laconic writing manner shows the creation of a master who can convey a deep message without needless wordiness. Judging from my feelings, the part of the text which illustrates Hubert Lebos seems a little bit fake. I just cannot believe that there are such talented actors who are able not to play but to live other people’s emotions. So when I read the short story for the second time knowing that Lebos was just serving his duty, I felt something strange. It was like sadness and scorn for the same time. I couldn’t understand what was the reason for people to buy fake seers-off. If it was just to “earn the respect of the guard’ and ‘prevent them from being despised by their fellow passengers”, so it was just silly.

ut when I think of people as they are as lonely so they are ready to pay a big price just to feel that they’re important, it makes me disappointed because there is no misery like loneliness in such a big cruel world. According to the facts mentioned above, I state that the key of the text is not rich in emotions. The only feeling it could cause was the fakeness of people relations.

The gallery of images of the text is not varied. We have two main characters - the narrator and Hubert Lebos. Apart from them, there is the narrator’s old friend whose role in the story is limited to a few sentences. Speaking about the narrator, we are not given any information about his personality. The only things that can be a basement for our discussion are his actions and speech. From the beginning we know, that he has good relationships with his old friend. Though they are quite close it is hard for both of them to express their emotions. So when we see how cold and confused they are when it comes to a farewell, we suppose that they are unemotional people. The part containing the scene of their farewell is not rich in words. There are a few sentences that are said to pass the time. They are said in a polite tone as though they are a guess who is not ready to take anything and a waiter who is distracting him from the choice. The way they talk as well as the narrator’s body language shows how confused they are. Via such a dry sentence like "Have you got everything?" or even the one member sentence like “Well”. the author emphasizes how it is hard for people sometimes to show their true feelings which are hidden somewhere inside. This peculiar reference makes a reader think about the reasons why people are as cold as a stone. That’s even when the narrator is sure that the pretty American lady is a close friend of Hubert Lebos, he is still amazed at how sincerely he expresses his inner state. He pays attention to Hubert Lebos as a seer-off emphasizing every movement of his body. Eve the tears in his eyes were not left without his attention. Let’s turn to the second character. Hubert Lebos is an old acquaintance who from some angles can be considered as his antipode. His speech is wordy when it comes to the business of his life. The thing that I do like about Lebos is that he is a master of his craft. The way he tells the teller about the A. A. S. B. and how he protects acting saying that it is impossible to play without feelings show that he is in love with his business. Though this service seems a little bit strange as well as his reasons to pay for them, he is sure that it is worth it. According to his words, he had studied a lot to get the best result. He knows that he is good at what he does. In one of the paragraphs, he compares how he sees off the lady and how the teller sees off his friend just to emphasize what a large abyss lies between their skills. Certainly, he is a professional because he has pupils who completely trusts him. Though he says that he is not a successful man, I believe that he is a successful person who has found his place in the Sun.

It seems to me that it is impossible to find the author’s opinion in the text because it is deprived of his words at all. It seems to me that he fully sympathises with both his characters but he wrote this short story to kindly laugh at people living in the capitalist society where it is possible to buy everything you want. Have you ever thought about the opportunity to buy a seer-off? Neither have I. So I found this short story quite funny and easy-to-read because it simply represents the funny peculiarities of the society we live in.