Waddington

A. Tsvetkova
 * A character sketch of Waddington. Whom is he contrasted to in the novel? **

I have read the novel ‘The painted veil’ by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is full of bright heroes. One of them is Waddington. He was the Deputy Commissioner. He was a little thin man, with a bald head and a small bare face. His features, his nose and his mouth were hardly larger than a child’s and he had a small, very bright blue eyes. His eyebrows were fair and scanty. He looked like a funny little old boy. He was fond of music but he was sick of his old gramophone records. Waddington was the really honest man. He spoke everything what he thought about a person such as about Charlie. He was shrewed. He was kindly disposed towards Kitty and she liked him. He was not witty nor brilliant. He was full of fads and oddities. He had many anecdotes of his adventures during 20 years in China. He liked to drink because it kept from the cholera out. Waddington also tried to understand the relationship between Kitty and Walter, but it was really difficult for him. He respected Walter, his brains and character were a very unusual combination. Waddington helped Kitty finds herself in Men-tai-fu. She worked in the local convent and helped the nuns. In my opinion, Waddington is contrasted with Charlie. Charlie was forty and fat. He was not a very clever man and everybody knew that. He liked to feel as the onely person in the world. He was always ready to do a servise that was not any trouble to himself he wanted to be thanked. He did everything in public. He had many little flirtations which were not serious. But Waddington was not the same person as Charlie. He was really a kind and clever man. He wanted to help people without any obligations. He did not want to be popular but he only did something useful for people. He fell in love with a Chinese girl but he did not want to break her life. He did not allow her to follow him but she loved him to distraction. At the end they lived happily together. Waddington is the most interesting hero of the novel.