What is the difference between Jeffrey archer and W. Somerset Maugham?

Explanation:

Secure copies of the "The Luncheon" by W. Somerset Maugham for half the class and copies of "The Luncheon" by Jeffrey Archer for half the class.

Prepare two overheads with prereading questions or write the questions on the board. (See Session 1 for prereading questions.)

For those unfamiliar with the short stories featured in this lesson, a brief synopsis of each is provided.

"The Luncheon," by W. Somerset Maugham:

The narrator, a book writer, recognizes a woman with whom he had lunch years ago. He starts remembering the unforgettable evening. He was young, living in Paris, and could barely make ends meet. She had read one of his books and wrote to congratulate him on his work. He invited her for lunch and to his horror she chose an expensive restaurant. He had only eighty francs to last him the rest of the month. She ordered one expensive dish after another and when the bill came he paid and was left with no money at all. However, in the end, the narrator feels that he has finally had his revenge when he sees that the woman now weighs twenty-one stone (approximately 300 pounds).

"The Luncheon," by Jeffrey Archer

The narrator, a book writer, meets a woman whom he doesn't recognize at first, but pretends to remember because she is a famous film director's wife. He invites her to have lunch, but can only afford a cheap meal with his paltry £37.63. She chooses an expensive restaurant, far beyond his means, and proceeds to order the most exorbitant dishes on the menu. When the meal is over and the narrator is left with very little money, the woman confesses that she has divorced the film director and married another man, who just so happens to be the owner of the restaurant.

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merry christmas to you, too. may god be with you all in doing your work and just living a great life in general! < 3

the metamorphosis is based on an evident father-son problem. this story shows, as a result of the unthinkable transformation of the son in an insect, the deformation and destruction of the individual caused by the authoritarian and hierarchical structures of the family. the narrative begins with the transformation into an insect of enormous proportions of the traveling salesman gregor samsa, a lonely, introverted and submissive, who keeps his family with his work. when he worked, he was appreciated by everyone, but, now that he can not work, he is despised, especially by his father, but this is going to be joined, painfully for the protagonist, first his mother and, finally, his own sister, grete, with whom he had held a special relationship of complicity and affection for many years.

condemned by a deep sense of responsibility, gregor fears the reaction that his frightful aspect will incite in his family. he feels guilty for not being able to continue being useful to the beings he maintained. his own family, however, is ashamed and runs away from him, and even tyrannizes and resists him. the father, of a severe and despotic character, humiliates him and treats him with great cruelty. all his attempts to escape from the confinement to which he is subjected in his own room fail before the hostile rejection of the beings that surround him. prisoner in his lair and unable to continue playing the only function of making money he had, finally chooses, with the consent of his parents and sister, to die of starvation. with this, he is freed from a servile and unhappy existence. the family appreciates gregor while he fulfills the interests. but when he is unable to continue earning money, it becomes a problem, a shame, and family relationships begin to become tense, until coexistence becomes impossible.