Mrs. Toms Tan: Quench the Lamp by Alice Taylor, 1990 - Essay Example

Mrs. Tom's Tan: 'Quench the Lamp' by Alice Taylor, 1990 Alice Taylor was described by The Observer as "Ireland's Laurie LeeA Chronicler of fading village life and rural rituals who sells and sells." This book is a sequel to "To School Through the Fields", the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland.'Quench the Lamp' narrates the changing times of rural Ireland as seen through the eyes of a child. While there are no central characters to the book, the narrator is constant, and her detailed observations, delivered in a simple language, provide the story.

Alice Taylor does not try to persuade the reader of facts, but rather, evokes memories through her observations and the impact the scenarios had on her childhood self. We learn no names of her family, but learn in detail about the community in which she lived.There are many passages of note which typify the book; the men in the pub, her feelings about the first dance, washing day, her dog, the beauty of the lace, getting electricity, and coming home decent. HERE IS WHERE YOU MIGHT PUT IN SOME EXAMPLES (2) FROM LAURIE LEE.

INTRODUCE THEM SOMETHING LIKE THIS. Similar childhood memories in Laurie Lee's work call up the same nostalgic feelings as those in 'Quench the Lamp'. For example, "PUT HERE" I think these show just why Alice Taylor has been compared to Lee.The piece I have chosen to focus on is 'Mrs. Tom's Tan'. As an adult with a daughter who was amazed by my instant tan, it struck a chord with me, remembering her innocent surprise, and reminded me of the things we do and the impact they can have on others.

How will she remember the instant tan explanation in years to come Reading 'Mrs. Tom's Tan' allowed me to experience the child's emotions while putting myself in the place of Mrs. Tom. The alliterative words in the title, "Tom's Tan" immediately suggest a child enjoying a sort of secret code, the meaning of which belongs only to the children, and particularly to the little girl recounting the events - the omniscient narrator. With deceptively simple language and informal, conversational, humorous style, the writer paints a picture of a happy time in a warm, peaceful rural setting.

The alliteration of '"sunny day of summer" and the personification and auditory imagery in the words "surrounded as I had always been by all the natural voices of the countryside" confirm the time and place. Mrs. Tom's lets are more than a strange, unnatural phenomenon to the child, they are the metaphorical allusion to innocence giving way to experience; all is not what it might seem on the surface. This is the major theme of the story. The expectation that "Legs that had been clad in lisle stockings and which I had assumed to be pale and milky underneath.." is evidence of what the child thought she knew, and this was overturned with the words "suddenly golden brown.

" The hyperbole in "the extraordinary spectacle" and the metaphor of "captured my imagination" add humour while expressing the little girl's surprise and curiosity. This was an important issue, as the metaphors "heart of the matter", and "transformation" imply. Mrs. Tom's honesty in "clarifying the mystery" confirms the theme, while explaining the value placed on children in that time and place. This puts the story firmly in the cultural context of rural Ireland. The legs become symbols of summer, as denoted by the auditory and visual imagery in the sentence "The first daffodils heralded the arrival of spring and Mrs.

Tom's legs announced when summer was here". The personification of those tanned legs is present from the start, creating a comic image of a pair of legs that walk, talk and challenge assumptions. There was no mention of any other part of Mrs. Tom's anatomy, a fact that adds to the humour while increasing the significance of the tanned legs. They were the key, the source of wonder and amusement, and of lessons learned. The rhythm of the story flows gently, almost sauntering along like the legs, and suggests a summer of long, lazy childhood days.

The leg motif is repeated when simile and alliteration describe another whose appearance was possibly not all it seemed: "My cousin with legs like Mrs. Tom's was the cause of great curiosity." The little girl did not trust this individual, and not only the legs were suspect. Her reservations were based on the experienced learned via Mrs. Tom's revelations. "This paragon of perfection" she noted with sarcastic hyperbole, would bear checking out to see if the tan was real. There is a marvellous tactile image in the personification of the blackthorn hedge by the use of the word "struggle".

The inference in the words "make him look more like one of us" is that the child would relish the perfection being marred, and with that and a few scratches after the struggle, the true colours would be exposed. Experience replaced the innocence of taking everyone and everything at face value. The story takes the reader back to his or her own childhood, to a time and place where life was more simple and honesty would be met with an honest response. With gentle wit, simplicity, and sharp comic observations, the writer has portrayed the learning process for one astute little girl during one long, childhood summer.

Works CitedTaylor, Alice. 1990 Quench the Lamp Chapter 22 Mrs. Tom's Tan Brandon Book Publishers Ltd. Dingle, Co. Kerry. 1990