Essay Questions

Explain how Cooper’s gramophone may be the most important symbol in the story.

Mr. Cooper’s gramophone barely even warrants a mention in the story, yet takes on great power as both symbol and plot device. Maugham doesn’t bother to explain why Warburton possesses such a intense disrespect for this original record playing invention, but he hardly needs to since the moment the reader finally learns of his distaste the device is playing a recording of ragtime music. Mr. Warburton is, if nothing else, a traditionalist and it’s no great leap to suspect his peculiar hatred of the gramophone is an expression of conservative resistance to change. Since the story’s overriding them is one that puts the values of Cooper into conflict with the values of Warburton, it is only fitting that symbol of this divide might also be ultimately responsible for the tragedy that quickly ensue. Warburton is on his way to talk over the latest complaints being made against Cooper by the locals when the reader learns of the older man’s feelings about the gramophone. The suggestion is strongly indicated that had Warburton not been so averse to the sound of ragtime coming from Cooper’s bungalow that he would have proceeded with the conversation and perhaps the resolution would have been settled without violence.

Compare and contrast Mr. Warburton with Mr. Kurtz from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

Both stories about European colonialism and imperialism as seen through the perspective business exploitation of indigenous people and natural resources in undeveloped faraway locations. Kurtz’s original purpose and situation can effectively defined as an “outstation” position although the details vary considerably from Warburton’s. The major point is that both are examples of colonial superiority and imperialist power. Another significant point of comparison is—in admittedly strikingly different ways—both characters can be described as having violated the underlying foundational rule of running a successful outstation operation: they both went native. Equally significant is that both went native as a result of being seduced by the acquisition of power over the natives despite coming to varying degrees of respect and admiration for those whom they would make subject.

That Warburton does not seem to have gone native speaks to the essential contrast between the two. Kurtz has gone more than simply native; he’s gone made with power. He may have delusions of being a pagan god, but in comparison to Mr. Warburton it is clear that he is a shockingly inferior manager. These are two stories that place a character moving in the direction of narcissistic mania front and center as a metaphor for colonial and imperialist aims of an entire culture. Where Kurtz clearly crosses over into full-blown mania and is personified as an indictment of the worst excesses of this system, however, Warburton retains administrative control to reveal the flip side. Perhaps by definition colonialism is pure exploitation, but in practice, at least, it must be allowed to have shades of gray. Warburton is every bit as much a cog in the bureaucracy of imperialist ambition as Kurtz, but because he is a more efficient manager, his situation does not break down under the stress of ambition.

In what stylistic way does “The Outstation” differ from the bulk of Maugham’s best-know stories and novels and what may account for this decision?

In stories like “Footprints in the Jungle” and novels like The Razor’s Edge—among many other representative examples of Maugham’s fiction—the story features a fictionalized narrator based on Maugham himself. Through this stylistic choice, the central narrative being told comes across as disconnected from all interested parties, thus allowing for both conversational tone and objective reportage of the facts occasionally punctuated with subjective opinion by the author. On some occasions, Maugham actually interacts with the major players (usually at some point later in time after the central incident worth telling) while on other occasions he presents the story being told as one related to him by another outside observe privy to some facts.

In this case of the conflict between Warburton and Cooper, however, Maugham eschews this favorite stylistic device in favor of a traditional third-person account albeit with sudden shifts from full omniscience to limited omniscient point of view. Considering that Maugham had depended upon his usual method of storytelling to enact much more complicated scenarios, one can only guess at why he decided to do something a little less typical here. The most obvious answer is that he wanted to narrow the focus as much as possible to portraying the conflict between Warburton and Cooper and thus found his narrator character intrusive and unnecessary. Another strong possibility is that he did not consider this to be the typical kind of character-driven story that aligns so well with his narrative device. Warburton and Cooper possess traits that make them more symbolic figures of something bigger than their own story than is found in the usual Maugham tale. In fact, one of the consistent knocks against his reputation is that he rarely felt the need to challenge himself and try to write stories with more depth. Perhaps the content and style of "The Outstation" was a response to such criticism.