The Luncheon by Somerset Maugham — Summary and Analysis

“The Luncheon” by Somerset Maugham — classy setting but lowkey funny and savage 🤭🍽️

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📘 Summary

The story is told by a man (the narrator) who gets a letter from a woman who admired his writing. She invites him to lunch at an expensive restaurant in Paris. He’s young, broke, but too polite to say no 😅

She says she only eats “a little” — but bro, she orders a whole feast: salmon, caviar, white wine, champagne, asparagus, ice cream… the works 😩💸

Meanwhile, the narrator sits there watching his money evaporate, only eating a mutton chop (cheap meat) and sipping water. In the end, he’s broke and starving — but stays calm and polite the whole time.

Years later, he sees the woman again. She’s fat now. His petty little revenge? He says:
“Today she weighs twenty-one stone.”
💀💀💀

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👥 Characters

Narrator (Maugham)

• Young, polite, broke

• Lowkey sarcastic but plays it cool

• Learns a hard but funny lesson

The Woman

• Manipulative, fake humble

• Pretends to be light on food but eats like a queen 👑

• Doesn’t care about the narrator’s wallet at all

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🧠 Themes

• Deception & Hypocrisy – “I eat very little” 😐... then destroys the menu

• Social Pressure – Narrator feels trapped by manners

• Pride & Politeness – He won’t speak up, even when he’s starving

• Irony & Revenge – That ending twist is pure petty gold

• Gender Roles – Woman takes advantage of being “refined” and “ladylike” to act the opposite

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🔎 Symbols

• The Luncheon = manipulation in disguise

• The Bill = consequences of being too polite

• Her Appetite = fake modesty hiding greed

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📍 Setting

A fancy restaurant in Paris — all elegance, but for the narrator, it’s straight-up financial torture 😂

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✍️ Style & Tone

• First-person, casual and sarcastic

• Lots of dry humour and irony

• Maugham makes fun of himself but also serves cold revenge at the end 🥶

• Smooth storytelling — short, but punchy

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📎 Important Quotes

1. “I never eat anything for luncheon.”
   🔹 LOL... yeah right. Watch her eat the whole kitchen.

2. “I had only a mutton chop.”
   🔹 Shows how broke and passive the narrator was.

3. “She weighs twenty-one stone.”
   🔹 That’s not just weight… that’s payback 😂

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💡 Essay Tips

• Talk about how manners and pride lead to being taken advantage of

• Use irony to show how appearances don’t match reality

• Highlight the narrator’s inner struggle vs outer politeness

• Show how Maugham uses humor to reveal deeper truths

• End strong with the theme of revenge without confrontation

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“Sometimes silence says more than a shout ever could.” 🍷😏