A Selection of Modern English Essays

(Compiled by Irfan Raza & Dedicated to my beloved father & Nauman Athar)

“My Tailor” by “Stephen Leacock”

The moral of the essay “My Tailor” is that we should try to understand our fellow beings and try to
share the worries of our fellow beings specially the common professionals around us. We often go to
so many people around us to buy or get prepared something for us but we keep ourselves restricted
to the business matters. We take them for mechanical workers and never try to take them as a ‘man’.

These men also keep a screen of professional dealings and manners on them and do not show their
real personality to us. That is what Leacock has presented in his essay, My Tailor’. He tells us about
his tailor in a funny way. He describes his ways to talk and deal, habits and actions in a mocking way.
But towards the end of the essay he tells us that when he learnt that his tailor was dead, he got a
shock. Only then he understood him as a common man and came aware of his worries and hardships.
When the tailor was alive, the writer had never tried to know about his real life. But after his death he
felt sorry for him and regretted his formal dealings with him. He has not mentioned any particular
moral lesson or advice in the essay. He has simply described the character sketch of the tailor and has
let us draw the moral ourselves. And the best possible moral in this essay is surely that we should not
restrict our dealings with others to the business only.

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.

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 The writer describes this situation in a grave way and wins the sympathies of readers too for the
tailor. The writer always enjoyed the actions, behaviors 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 him for a man and realized his worries
and problems. The death of the tailor tears his professional cover and shows him as a ‘man’.

Q#1: There is, I am certain, a deep moral in this. But I will not try to draw it. It might appear too
obvious. Would you take the, risk and draw the moral?

No doubt, there are two deep morals in this essay. The first moral is that our attitude towards the
people who work for us should not be casual. Leacock had been going to his tailor for the last 30 years.
So there must have been some sort of friendship between the two. But Leacock did not know even his
name. Like Leacock, we too do not establish friendly terms with such people. For us they are nothing
but tailors or doctors etc. and that is all. We think that they do not have usual relations. They do not
have brothers or sisters or wives or daughters. They cannot die. They will always be there to serve us.
Such thinking and attitude is not appreciable. The second moral is that we should share our feelings
and ask others for help and advice. All the people are not heartless. We should not suffer silently just
like the tailor. The tailor was worried about his business and he would have shared his worries with the
writer. If the tailor had done so, they would have come close to each other. The writer may have given
him some advice or some sort of help.

Q#2: Why does Leacock regard the tailor as 'immortal'?

Answer: Both the tailor and the writer are caricatures (A representation of a person that is exaggerated
for comic effect) of conservative Englishmen. The writer regards the tailor as immortal because of his
unchanged manners, routine and behaviour. Firstly, the tailor’s routine and manners are just machine
like. The writer always finds him standing in his shop with his tape woven about his neck. He always
welcomes him with a smile. He is overly excited while showing him the same cloth. Then they have the
same questions and answers. All the measurements have been taken years ago. However he measures
the writer only round the chest. He always says, "A little fuller in the chest." With this comments he
tries to flatter the writer. Secondly, the tailor does not seem to have any human feelings. The writer
cannot imagine that the tailor could be worried about his business or he could have a wife and a
daughter. He always has one mood. He always seems happy and untiring of his smile and manners.
There are no other feelings of worry or trouble. This unchanged mood of the tailor makes him believe
that the tailor is immortal. So the writer has solid reasons to get the wrong impression that the tailor is
immortal.

Q#3: Compare Chesterton's humour with the pensive, delicate humour of this essay which is based
on characterization rather than incident as in Chesterton's essay "From Some Policemen and a
Moral". OR Comment on the essay "My Tailor" as a humorous piece of writing. The humour of the
essay is mixed with pathos.

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Answer. The word pensive means sadly thoughtful. The humour of "My Tailor" makes us sad and also
to think deeply. But the humour of "From Some Policemen and a Moral" makes us think deeply but it
does not make us sad. The humour of this essay is pensive, delicate, based on characterization and is
mixed with pathos. We can divide this essay into two parts. In the first part, the writer portrays the
character of his late tailor. The whole essay revolves round his character. He tells us different aspects of
his personality. His manner of standing, showing him cloth, and the taking the measurement of his
costumer, the writer, never changed during the whole 30 years. Even he always spoke the same
sentences. So, the writer makes us laugh when he humorously tells us how the tailor used to speak and
deal with him. In the second part, we come to know about the death of his tailor. In the second part
the writer repeats the same sentences. But this time he makes us sad. He also makes us think. He again
describes the tailor’s routines, but this time we do not laugh. We think that the writer would have
friendly relationship with his tailor and he would have known the problems of his tailor. Any sensitive
reader would have tears in his eyes while reading the second part.

The essay "From Some Policemen and a Moral" is also humorous but its humour is not delicate and
pensive. So we can conclude that both the essays "My Tailor" and "From Some Policemen and a
Moral" are humorous. But the humour of "My Tailor" is pensive and delicate.

It is true that "My Tailor" is a humorous essay. Stephen Leacock is a great comic writer. He has written
many humorous essays and stories. His humor is light, harmless and free from bitterness. In this essay
his humor is based on characterization. He describes the behavior of his tailor in an amusing way. He
mixes humor in the professional manners of his tailor and makes the essay very delightful.

First, we see that the tailor shows the suit material to his customer on his bended knee with one leg in
the air. He thinks that when he is in this condition; it is difficult for a customer to resist him. The writer
is fully aware that he is doing it only to flatter him. To writer also tells us that his tailor always talks
about weather to end a discussion. Further, the writer always found his tailor standing in the back part
of his shop with his tape around his neck. Here, the joy of humor is mixed with pain and pathos.

Chesterton's humor is different from Leacock's humor. His humor is based on incident and is ironical in
nature. In his essay "From some policeman and a moral" he has presented a situation in which he
mocks at the behavior of the policeman before and after knowing the writer. Here humor and irony
merge into each other amusing the readers greatly. In short, humor in the two essays is different in
nature and effect.

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