KU UG SEM2 UNIT-1: With the Photographer- Stephen Leacock

 

With the Photographer"- Stephen Leacock

 Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) is a modern English prose writer.  He has written many prose pieces.  All his prose pieces are known for their subtle humor.  They talk about real life situations.  With the Photographer is an extract from ‘Behind the beyond’. It is a short prose that describes the Leacock’s experience with a photographer.  Leacock, as is the regular case, gets a bitter experience.

Leacock goes to a photographer to get himself photographed.  He waits for an hour even when there is no other customer is waiting.  He reads Ladies Companion (1912), Girls’ Magazine (1902) and Infants’ Journal (1888). The photographer is a grave man.  He calls Leacock into the inner room and rolls a machine into the middle of the room. He crawled into the machine and waits for some time. Leacock was thinking that the photographer was praying for god.  The photographer is not satisfied with the Leacock’s face.  He says that Leacock looks ugly.  He then concludes that he would shoot three quarter view of Leacock.  Leacock acknowledges this and starts reasoning about the decision but the photographer do not respond or care for what Leacock is talking.

The photographer hides himself behind the camera and comes out of it.  He comes close to Leacock.  Leacock thinks that the photographer is going to kiss him but he turns Leacock’s face that would be good for a pose.  The photographer gives a series of instructions to Leacock, like close mouth, drop ears, roll eyes, put the hands on the knees, turn the face upwards, bend the neck, expand lungs, contrast the face, etc., The photographer wanted to show that he was a professional photographer. Leacock is confused and he is frightened.  Leacock becomes impatient. He scolds the photographer and says “This face is mine, it’s not yours, I lived with this for forty years, I know it’s not beautiful, but it’s my only face.” when Leacock trying to rise from the chair, the photographer clicks a shot.  Leacock is shocked.

The photographer asks Leacock to check the proof on Saturday and the photograph would be delivered by Sunday.  On Saturday Leacock is further shocked on seeing the proof.  The photographer says that he has edited the eyes, eyebrows and the mouth.  He also plans to edit his ears.  Leacock wanted to take a photograph that would resemble him and something that his friends might keep after his death. He shouts at the photographer for editing his photo and advices him to go on editing it by remove eyes, correct mouth, adjust the face, restore lips, reanimate the neck tie, reconstruct the waistcoat, coat it with inch of gloss and keep it for yourself and your friends. He acknowledges that the edited photo is a worthless item for him. He says that he loves his original face than the altered one.  He leaves the photo studio with tears.

Conclusion:

Initially, Leacock doesn’t like his original face. But at the end of the story, he realized the value of his original face.