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Character-Sketch of "My Tailor" by Stephen Leacock
‘My Tailor’ is apparently a humorous essay with a sad end. It is about the life of a professional man who looks like a machine during his work and keeps his real life and personality hidden under the cover of his professional life.
The writer draws the character sketch of his tailor and describes his behaviour and actions in a funny way. But towards the end of the essay he turns this humorous figure into a pathetic character and tries to win our sympathies for him. In fact he seems to be of the view point that the real personality of such men is hidden beyond their professional smiles, actions and dialogues.
Whenever the writer used to go to his tailor to order for new suits, the tailor used to behave in the same way and rehearsed the same dialogues in every visit as these were the part of his dealings. There was always a smile of welcome on his face and a tape around his neck. He talked in a very sympathetic and polite way to his customers and always showed them cloth by putting on his bended knee. While taking the measurement, it was his habit to flatter the writer by saying that the size of his chest had increased by half an inch though the writer knew it very well that there was no increase at all in the size of his chest. Normally people start their conversation with the topic of weather but the tailor used to end the conversation at this topic.
The writer always enjoyed the actions, behaviours and machine like attitude of his tailor. But when he learnt that the tailor was dead, and his family was in trouble, he felt sorry for not knowing about his real personality in his life. For the first time, he took his for a man and realized his worries and problems. The death of the tailor tears his professional cover and shows him as a ‘man’. The writer describes this situation in a grave way and wins the sympathies of readers too for the tailor.
‘My Tailor’ is apparently a humorous essay with a sad end. It is about the life of a professional man who looks like a machine during his work and keeps his real life and personality hidden under the cover of his professional life.
The writer draws the character sketch of his tailor and describes his behaviour and actions in a funny way. But towards the end of the essay he turns this humorous figure into a pathetic character and tries to win our sympathies for him. In fact he seems to be of the view point that the real personality of such men is hidden beyond their professional smiles, actions and dialogues.
Whenever the writer used to go to his tailor to order for new suits, the tailor used to behave in the same way and rehearsed the same dialogues in every visit as these were the part of his dealings. There was always a smile of welcome on his face and a tape around his neck. He talked in a very sympathetic and polite way to his customers and always showed them cloth by putting on his bended knee. While taking the measurement, it was his habit to flatter the writer by saying that the size of his chest had increased by half an inch though the writer knew it very well that there was no increase at all in the size of his chest. Normally people start their conversation with the topic of weather but the tailor used to end the conversation at this topic.
The writer always enjoyed the actions, behaviours and machine like attitude of his tailor. But when he learnt that the tailor was dead, and his family was in trouble, he felt sorry for not knowing about his real personality in his life. For the first time, he took his for a man and realized his worries and problems. The death of the tailor tears his professional cover and shows him as a ‘man’. The writer describes this situation in a grave way and wins the sympathies of readers too for the tailor.