Structural Evaluation of Maugham?s: Before the Party, the Pool and Mackintosh

The present study is carried out to analyse the basic elements of short stories that are fundamental to make up an effective piece of short fiction unique to the genre. The examination subsequently proceeds to expose the key elements that are employed by in his three selected stories: Before the Party, The Pool, and Mackintosh (Maugham, 1951). This study finds most of the elements exist in the selected stories. The elements include: A beginning, middle, and end, unity of effect, conflict, character changes and realistic style. Thus, the study concludes that Maugham’s short fictions are well written within the frame of what makes an effective piece of short stories and are recommendable to be a structural model for short fiction writing. The exploration, hopefully, would disclose what key elements are employed by Maugham in order to make his short fictions well-liked by his reader.