William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 in Paris. His parents died when he was young and he was sent to live with an aunt in England. He travelled in Europe and eventually trained as a doctor. However, his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was so successful that he took to writing full-time. He wrote many plays, short stories and novels. He was a very popular writer in his time and one of the most highly-paid writers during the 1930s. He travelled widely and later settled in the south of France. Many of his novels and stories, such as Being Julia and The Painted Veil, have been made into films. He died in 1965.
When the story begins a writer is at the theatre one night where he meets a woman whom he has not seen for 20 years. At that time she had admired a novel he had just published. At the theatre she reminds him of their first meeting 20 years ago.
The writer thinks back to that time, when he was poor and he had to make very little money last for a whole month. The woman had sent him a letter complimenting him on his writing and inviting him to take her to lunch when she was in Paris, where the young writer lived. The luncheon took place at Foyot’s, a very expensive restaurant. Nevertheless, he felt flattered that she wanted to meet him. When the menu came he was startled, as the prices were much higher than he had expected.
Therefore, he was relieved when his guest said that she only ever ate one thing for luncheon. Unfortunately, she went on to order some of the most expensive things on the menu – caviare, salmon, asparagus, peaches, ice cream and champagne. The more food she ordered, the more the writer got into a panic. He tried to economise by only ordering a mutton chop for himself.
As the meal proceeded he began to imagine how he would react if the bill was too large for him to pay. First he thought of claiming that someone had picked his pocket. Then he thought that he would leave his watch at the restaurant and come back later and pay. Finally, when the bill arrived and he paid it, he realised that he had no more money to live off for the rest of the month.
Now, 20 years later, the writer tells us that he had “revenge at last” because the woman now weighs 21 stone (the equivalent of 136 kilograms).
The story title, The Luncheon highlights the importance of that particular event for the writer. It was a very stressful occasion for him, and ended with him having no money to live on for the rest of the month. By remembering this luncheon the writer remembers how young and immature he was at that time. He remembers how flattered he was that the woman showed so much interest in him; and how he agreed to everything she requested - her choice of restaurant, her choice of food – as he was too immature to oppose her.
A luncheon is defined as a formal meal, but it is usually a small one. The woman’s huge meal contrasts with the tiny meal the writer had.
The main themes of story of The Luncheon are the conflict between truth and lies and the contrast between appearance and reality. At the restaurant the woman repeatedly says that she only eats one thing for lunch, but she contradicts herself by ordering more food. At their meeting 20 years later the woman tells the writer: “You asked me to luncheon”. The reality is that she had suggested that the writer “give her a little luncheon at Foyot’s”.
Twenty years ago the writer may have pretended to be more successful than he really was; but he was too proud to let the woman know that he could not afford the meal, so he kept up appearances. He even lied about never drinking champagne, so that he could save some money.
Note:
The main story takes place at Foyot’s, a very expensive restaurant in Paris where French senators dined, and where the writer knew that he would struggle to pay for the meal.
The writer uses the present tense to begin the story, but then takes us back in time to the memory of the earlier meeting with the woman. This literary device is known as a flashback. The main action or plot of the story takes place in the flashback to a past event - the luncheon. The story is structured so that only the beginning and end of the story are told in the present tense.
At that time, 20 years before, the young writer knew the restaurant was too expensive for him, which was confirmed when he saw the prices on the menu. The woman, however, kept ordering expensive things to eat, creating the rising tension in the story as the young man became more stressed. The complication is that the young writer was too afraid to stop the woman ordering more food, even though he knew he could not afford it.
The conflict in the story is created by the tension between the writer’s panic and embarrassment and the woman’s greedy desire to enjoy her meal at his expense.
The writer experienced a great deal of anxiety and panic about how he would pay the huge bill at the end of the meal. As the meal proceeded he began to imagine how he would react if the bill was too large for him to pay. First he thought of claiming that someone had picked his pocket, then he thought that he would leave his watch at the restaurant and pay later to get it back. The climax of the story occurs when the bill finally arrives. He found that he could manage to pay it, but would have no more money left for the rest of the month.
Now, 20 years later, the story finally reaches a resolution as it ends with an ironic ‘twist in the tale’. The narrator tells us that he had “revenge at last” because the woman was now very overweight.
Note:
There are three characters in the story – the young writer, the woman he takes to lunch and the waiter at the restaurant. The writer is the protagonist, the main character. The woman is the antagonist, as she stands in opposition to him and creates the tension in the story. The young writer is very scared of the forty-year-old woman so he allows himself to be manipulated into buying her an expensive meal. He is too proud to tell her that he cannot afford the restaurant, being a young, inexperienced and upcoming writer. His youth and inexperience contrast with the woman’s ruthless, selfish behaviour. He admits that he is flattered that she had admired his writing:
“she seemed inclined to talk about me”
The writer says he was “prepared to be an attentive listener”. This shows how he is easily seduced by flattery.
In the story we only see the woman from the writer’s point of view. He describes the woman in unpleasant terms:
“She was not so young as I expected and in appearance imposing rather than attractive.”
She seemed to have a big mouth and more teeth than she needed and he is repulsed by the sight of her eating the asparagus:
“I watched the abandoned woman thrust them down her throat in large voluptuous mouthfuls”
Apart from the fact that the woman is not truthful, she is also bossy, as she constantly tells him that he is wrong to eat what she refers to as a “heavy luncheon” and to fill his stomach with “a lot of meat”. She has no sensitivity, as she does not see that one chop is not a “heavy luncheon”, in contrast to what she has eaten.
The woman has no understanding of or insight into the writer’s dilemma. When he leaves only a small tip for the waiter (which is the only money he has left), she thinks he is mean. At the end of the luncheon she does not understand that the writer is telling the truth when he says he will “eat nothing for dinner”. It appears to her that he is joking and she, therefore, calls him a “humorist”. At the end of the story we see that the woman has never admitted the truth to herself about her eating habits, because after 20 years of excessive eating she is now obese.
At the end of the story we see how, 20 years later, the writer has changed and feels differently about the woman’s behaviour. He is not, as he admits a “vindictive” man, as he did not do anything to her, or say anything to show how unfairly she had treated him. However, he is comforted that circumstances (“the immortal gods”) made her pay for her greedy self-indulgence. Now he can look at her without fear or anger, but with “complacency” (self-satisfaction), because clearly years of eating so much have resulted in her being very overweight.
The only other character mentioned in the story is the waiter. The writer feels that he is “ingratiating” and “false”, which makes him seem as if he only wants to please the woman. The waiter has a “priest-like face”, which gives the appearance that he is very serious, and perhaps also intimidating to the young man. It seems that the young man was in such a panic about paying the bill that he thought the waiter was working against him by encouraging the woman to order expensive food. In reality, he was perhaps simply being a good, attentive waiter.
Note:
In the story the writer emphasises how the woman contradicts herself by saying one thing but doing another. The repetition of her words: “I never eat more than one thing” or “I never eat anything for luncheon” are used each time just before she decides she wants to order something else to eat. The narrator does this to indicate how the meal progressed. The more food she ordered, the more he began to panic.
In contrast, the writer only orders a mutton chop and drinks water instead of champagne. The contrast between the two characters and what they eat highlights the differences in their experience of the meal. Both were not being truthful, but for different reasons: the woman was not telling the truth because she was pretending she was not greedy and the writer was not telling the truth because he was too proud and afraid to tell her that he did not have much money.
The more food the woman orders the more anxious the writer becomes. The tension builds in the story very effectively so that the reader also starts feeling anxious, until the point in the story when the bill finally arrives.
The story is narrated from a first person perspective. The narrator is the older writer, remembering an event that took place 20 years before. He is able to see how young and immature he was at the time; and how manipulated he was by the woman.
Note:
Some examples of figures of speech in the story include:
At the beginning of the luncheon the tone is friendly and polite. The narrator is feeling generous and encourages the woman to order food at the restaurant. As the story progresses he becomes more depressed and the tone becomes anxious, as reflected in these words:
“My heart sank a little.”
“I fancy I turned a trifle pale.”
“Panic seized me.”
The tone lifts again in the last paragraph of the story when the narrator tells us that the woman, 20 years later, has become very overweight. This ‘twist in the tale’ is told in a light-hearted way that contrasts with his anxiety in the rest of the story.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?
Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
[The narrator and his guest are about to order their meals.]
I was startled when the bill of fare was brought, for the prices were beyond my means. But she reassured me. |
| sensitive; polite; sincere; manipulative |
Answers to Activity 3
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Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
[The narrator and his guest are finishing their meal.]
“You see, you’ve filled your stomach with a lot of meat” – my one miserable little chop – “and you can’t eat any more. But I’ve just had a snack and I shall enjoy a peach.” |
Answers to Activity 4
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Words to know
Definitions of words from the short story: | |
bill of fare | menu, price list |
caviare | expensive fish eggs |
effusive | enthusiastic |
airy gesture | light-hearted wave of the hand |
mortifying | humiliating, make feel ashamed |
succulent | juicy |
voluptuous | self-indulgent |
discoursed | discussed, talked |
ingratiating | trying to please |
intimidating | scary, frightening |
contradict | go against, oppose |
manipulative | influence, control |
flattered | feeling pleased after being complimented |
humorist | joker |