ignorant

[Peter Jiong]

She was educated as best could be, in half-a-dozen countries, and it’s a marvel to me that she is not entirely ignorant or entirely vicious. She’s a brilliant example in favour of the opinion that the human race is inclined to good rather than to evil.

From Mrs. Craddock by W Somerset Maugham (1902)

Does "ignorant" mean the opposite of "vicious"？

If "she was educated as best could be", why is it a marvel to the speaker that "she is not entirely ignorant"?

 

[SoothingDave]

Because her education took place in half a dozen different places.

 

[GoesStation]

Does "ignorant" mean the opposite of "vicious"?

What do you find when you look up the words in a dictionary?

 

[Peter Jiong]

“not educated”

 

[GoesStation]

"not educated"

That's one definition of "ignorant". More broadly, it means lacking knowledge. Does "vicious" mean having knowledge?

 

[Peter Jiong]

How does that suggest the human race is inclined to good rather than to evil?

 

[Peter Jiong]

She was educated as best could be, in half-a-dozen countries, and it’s a marvel to me that she is not entirely ignorant or entirely vicious.

What does this sentence imply?

 

[GoesStation]

How does that suggest the human race is inclined to good rather than to evil?

The extract doesn't tell us.

 

[GoesStation]

She was educated as best could be, in half-a-dozen countries, and it’s a marvel to me that she is not entirely ignorant or entirely vicious.

What does this sentence imply?

To me, its main significance is that the writer hadn't yet learned to write comprehensibly. Why do you keep reading this book? Maugham did eventually produce some excellent work that would be well worth studying.

 

[Peter Jiong]

Studying in different countries is supposed to make one ignorant and vicious？

 

[SoothingDave]

Having a disjointed education with no continuity can be a problem. I am sure that is the point.

As for being vicious, I think that is a class attitude that the uneducated must be violent and crude.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Studying in different countries is supposed to make one ignorant and vicious？

No.

First sentence: It's amazing that although her formal education was not traditional, she is well-informed and well-mannered.

Second sentence: This proves that you don't need a fancy education to become a good person.