Individual Reading "The Moon and Sixpence"

Summary

1. It appeared from Tiare’s story that it was she who found Strickland his wife, a 17-year-old native orphan Ata, with whom the man settled in a remote hut and had two children. 2. The girl was a perfect partner for the artist, for she never bothered him and didn’t prevent him from painting – that’s what the narrator learned from Mrs. Johnson. 3. Later he met Captain Brunot, a Frenchman who happened to know Strickland and some facts from the artist’s family life with Ata. 4. The seaman also had an impression from the girl as a quiet and dutiful wife; besides, what the Captain had in common with Strickland was great admiration of beauty, so that the man could appreciate the pittoresque of the place the painter had chosen for living at its true value. 5. Having established friendly relations with the writer, Monsieur Brunot introduced him to Dr. Coutras who could tell the men about Strickland’s last years of life. 6. It turned out that the artist was fatally ill with leprosy, but refused any help and went on painting, at first on canvas and later on the walls of the house. 7. Only Ata with her children stayed with him to his dying day and then set fire on their hut, following her husband’s will, though the painted house was a work of art. 8. Finally the time for the narrator to spend on Tahiti was over, and the writer went back to London to see Mrs. Strickland and to inform her of some facts he’d learned. 9. The woman was engaged in meeting arts critics and behaved in all ways like a famous artist’s wife.