The Moon and Sixpence Lesson Plan

Who Was W Somerset Maugham?

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Students will develop a deeper understanding of the author and connect his life and who he was as a person to the novel.

Structure:

For this activity, students will use the internet to research who W. Somerset Maugham was. They will do this with one of Maugham's quotes in mind:

"Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other."

The idea here is to get both a general idea of Maugham's life and also seek out elements of his life that may have informed The Moon and Sixpence. They will find a minimum of three reliable sources of...