Point of View

-Part One The story is told in the first person – the narrator sees everything and is a part of the plot. In part one, where he meets with Mr. Kelada, the narrator is more active, and involved.

-Part One He observes, comments and judges Mr. Kelada as he sees him through his own eyes. Since he is influenced by his prejudiced British society, his judgments are subjective.

– Part Two During the necklace examination, the narrator is less involved. He is like a cameraman who takes photos and writes down what he hears objectively. After the chain examination is over, the narrator becomes subjective again.

Examples of Symbolism in Mr. Know All

The cabin – On a boat people live in confined quarters. The small living area represents the closed (small) mindedness that our narrator has when it comes to people of different backgrounds than his.

The labels on the suitcase – While the labels on Mr. Kelada’s suitcases tell us that our main character travels a lot, the labels also represent the labels that prejudiced people place on other people for no good reason.

Symbolism Definition:

– Symbolism is when one idea, feeling, emotion, or other concept is represented by something else

Significance of the Setting:

• How does the setting of the story contribute to the events that take place? Give one example.
• By taking place on the boat, and not in a given country, the writer is saying that prejudice is an international problem, and not a problem of any given place.
• The writer is saying that prejudice and racism are human traits and not the traits of any given culture.

• The ship becomes the symbol of a world in which people are prejudiced. Although the characters are far from their native societies, they still bring with them their racial and cultural prejudices and stereotypes.

Analysis and Interpretation- Setting Definition:

• The setting is the time and place in which the story happens. The story takes place after World War I on a boat traveling from San Francisco in the United States to Yokohama in Japan.

Basic Understating of the text: 

• The narrator was on board a ship sailing to Japan. He had to share a cabin with Mr. Kelada and from the start was prejudiced against him. Mr. Kelada was involved in all the social events on the ship and knew everyone. He became known as Mr. Know All. 

• One evening at dinner, the conversation turned to the subject of pearls. Mr. Kelada said he was an expert and he had a bet with Mr. Ramsay about whether Mrs. Ramsay’s pearls were real or not.

• Mr. Kelada claimed the pearls were worth a lot of money but noticed Mrs. Ramsay turned white. She had said they were very cheap.

• Mr. Kelada said he was mistaken and paid Mr. Ramsay his bet. The next day a 100 -dollar-bill was returned to Mr. Kelada in an envelope.