Reexamination of Orientalism by the Protagonist’s Psychological Interiority in Concert with Setting Description in The Painted Veil

Abstract

In The Painted Veil, the setting descriptions serve as an apparatus to reveal the protagonist Kitty’s mental or emotional status for that her psychological interiority is projected onto these external objects, which T.S. Eliot named Objective Correlative. Through this angle, this paper reexamines certain Orientalism related topics and previous critiques. This paper analyzes how Kitty’s psychological world and setting descriptions coordinate to indicate Kitty’s transformation. The transitional process of Kitty’s attitudes towards China and Chinese and the development of Kitty’s perception of life are explored. Intriguingly, this paper tempts to prove that some critiques against Maugham and the novel may be prejudice-oriented or evidence insufficient.