IB Extended Essay

IB Extended Essay For what purpose and to what extent does James Alfred Wight use personal experiences in his novel All Creatures Great and Small?

Richard Bonett Extended Essay Final Draft Advisor: Mrs. Foster ToK Teacher: Mr. Deignan Word Count: 3940

Abstract James Alfred Wight wrote the novel All Creatures Great and Small as a collection of stories from his personal experiences as a veterinarian in Scotland. While Wight claimed that his stories were based on fact, there is substantial evidence suggesting that Wight manipulated his stories to better suit his novel‟s plot. With this evidence in consideration, this essay focused on Wight‟s reasons for using personal experiences in his novel and the extent to which he accurately recorded these experiences in the novel with the following research question in mind: For what purpose and to what extent does James Alfred Wight use personal experiences in his novel All Creatures Great and Small? The veracity of the events detailed in Alfred Wight‟s stories is questionable due to the fallibility of memory, as Alfred Wight wrote All Creatures Great and Small “entirely from memory” (Timothy, 90-92). Moreover, Alfred Wight‟s son James stated that the elder “deliberately manipulated events and dates to suit his stories” (Wight, prologue). This investigation examined the extent to which Alfred Wight‟s personal experiences were conveyed despite lapses of memory and manipulation, as well as investigating Wight‟s purpose for using and manipulating his personal experiences. The novel and relevant interviews, reviews, and an informational bulletin were used to answer the research question, detailing examples for discoveries made concerning the topic. The essay concluded that Alfred Wight mainly used personal experiences as a basis for his stories, while fictitiously writing specific details of events and dialogue. Moreover, the essay determined that Alfred Wight manipulated the novel‟s dialogue, chronology, and details to develop the novel‟s protagonist while maintaining the novel‟s intrigue. Furthermore, potential writers are encouraged to use personal experiences as a basis for their writing, while using specific details to better suit the course of the plot.

Word Count: 296

Table of Contents I.

Introduction…………………………………………………………...1-2

II.

Extent of the Veracity of Alfred Wight‟s Novel………………………2-4

III.

Phonetic Spelling in All Creatures Great and Small…………………..4-7

IV.

Memory as a Factor in Conveying Personal Experiences……………..7-9

V.

Manipulation of the Sequence of Time………………………………..9-10

VI.

Personal Experiences in Medicine and Labor…………………………10-12

VII.

Conclusion……………………………………………………………..12-13

I.

Introduction James Alfred Wight published the novel All Creatures Great and Small in 1972 to detail

his lifetime of veterinary practice in Thirsk, the United Kingdom. Wight wrote the novel as a collection of stories from his own past experiences, presumably as factual events with protective pseudonyms behind them. Astounding many critics with his success, Wight sold millions of copies of All Creatures Great and Small in only a few years despite his late beginning as an author. Of the many reasons for the novel‟s success, Wight‟s inclusion of personal experiences has been speculated as one of the most influential factors. Thus, future writers may find that including one‟s personal experiences is a possible venue for writing successful works of their own, and as such be interested in the extent to which these personal experiences should be used. Even so, a detailed examination of Wight‟s purpose for using personal experiences, as well as the extent to which he used factual events has yet to be undertaken. As there is evidence that Wight inserted fictitious elements into his stories, this essay will systematically bring into consideration plausible reasons for his use of personal experiences as a framework for his novel. Although analyses of this topic are limited, relevant information will be consulted from sources other than Alfred Wight‟s novel to address the research question. In doing so, this essay will provide an answer for the purpose and extent to which personal experiences were used in James Alfred Wight‟s novel All Creatures Great and Small, and thus be a reference to potential authors. To address the research question, the investigation will begin by examining the extent to which Alfred Wight used personal experiences, and determine if Wight deliberately altered his experiences to better suit the novel‟s plot. Following this examination will be an analysis of literary elements in All Creatures Great and Small that Wight derived from his personal experiences, as well as possible sources of discrepancies between reality and the novel. Greater

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focus will be given on the purpose and extent of Wight‟s manipulative nature of his experiences in regard to the plot than on other sources of alteration of events to remain under the word limit. Due to previous investigation of the topic, the concept that Alfred Wight manipulated his experiences to create an enjoyable and culturally appropriate novel will be used as a basis for the essay. Moreover, as James Alfred Wight named his son after himself, the essay will refer to the father and son as Alfred and James Wight respectively.

Extent of the Veracity of Alfred Wight‟s Novel

II.

In The Real James Herriot, James Wight states that “ninety percent of my father‟s stories are, as he always maintained, based upon fact” (Wight, prologue). This statement can be interpreted in two different manners; firstly, that Alfred Wight‟s stories were mainly factual and meant to be so, whereas alternatively one can place greater emphasis on the stories which don‟t fall into the 90% claim or the simple inclusion of “based upon” instead of only “fact.” This essay takes the stance that the totality of Alfred Wight‟s book was not correct, based upon the memories of his son, who is also a veterinarian in Scotland where he continues to maintain his father‟s veterinary practice. While most of the events of All Creatures Great and Small occurred before his birth, James Wight retained the memories of his father‟s original stories with which to base his biography off of. In addition to these, James Wight was able to see many of his father‟s letters to his own parents and the vast veterinary records that had been kept safe by Alfred Wight‟s mother (Wight, prologue). With these resources, he had the unique ability to discover details about his father‟s life during his work directly after graduating from veterinary school.

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Moreover, his son has a good basis for understanding his father‟s writings in that he himself is a veterinarian. James Wight‟s biography of his father explores, as the title suggests, the true identity of his father. While reading his father‟s several literary works, James Wight did in fact discover several differences between what Alfred Wight did and what the fictitious character James Herriot did. According to James Wight, his father “deliberately manipulated events and dates to suit his stories” (Wight, prologue). This is directly applicable to the research question in that it affirms the presumption that Alfred Wight manipulated his stories. Even so, Wight‟s personal “manipulated” events may have been mistaken due to a separate cause, for example, a lapse of memory versus confusion with another event, or perhaps even a memory of an event that didn‟t ever occur in reality. Yet James Wight counters this theory by stating that Alfred Wight had an “ability to reproduce incidents that occurred many years before” (Wight, Ch. 1). This claim, while it is largely unverifiable and may be false, provides more credence to the idea that Alfred Wight deliberately made the changes to his stories. With the idea manipulation in mind though, it is made evident that his work is not an autobiography at all, but rather a semi-autobiographical work of fiction, in that the stories are based off of reality but not confined to reality. Thus, All Creatures Great and Small is more of a realistic fiction than a nonfictional autobiography. Although this may be true, there are certain areas in which the truthfulness of the novel is evident, primarily in its depiction of the lifestyle of veterinarians and farmers of the twentieth century Scottish small town farms. This depiction is seemingly accurate, as it shows scientific veterinary procedures attempting to overcome age-old farmer myths, which were then still adamant that certain procedures would work no matter of their lack of a scientific background. One such instance is that of a cow which Wight tends to for its inability to stand up. Initially,

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Wight tells the farmer that the cow has a broken pelvis and would never be able to walk again. Despite Wight‟s certainty, the farmer stubbornly decides to place a sheepskin on the cow, as old folklore had promised as a cure. After a short time, the cow indeed begins to walk to Wight‟s astonishment (Herriot, 217-225). Wight provides a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, yet still expresses an interesting outlook on the rationality of Scottish farmers. Alfred Wight‟s story here can still be disputed on the level of specific details, such as dialogue points, yet in relation to Wight‟s lifestyle and community his story is likely based off of his own experiences as a veterinarian. This evidence constructs a framework for the extent of Wight‟s actual experiences in All Creatures Great and Small, showing that Wight tended to use his personal lifestyle and labor as a realistic background for his novel.

III.

Phonetic Spelling in All Creatures Great and Small This section will address the use of phonetic spelling in Alfred Wight‟s novel All

Creatures Great and Small both to convey personal knowledge or beliefs and to manipulate stories to better suit the plot. Alfred Wight extensively uses his interpretation of the Scottish dialect in his dialogue. This is seen especially in Wight‟s interactions with the Scottish farmers and merchants. Wight often writes the farmers‟ speech with many contractions and phonetic spelling; for example, on page 92 of All Creatures Great and Small, Alfred Wight writes the merchant‟s speech as “Ah‟m not good-lookin‟… Ah‟m not clever, but by God ah can talk… now look „ere” (Herriot, 92). In this case, Wight replaces the traditional pronoun of “I” with “ah,” and replaces the “g” at the end of “good-looking” with an apostrophe, similarly replacing the “h” at

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the beginning of “here” with another apostrophe. Manipulation of the dialogue in this manner leads readers to postulate that the speaker is different than Alfred Wight and others who speak traditionally. The effect of altering the dialogue to its phonetic interpretation also entails the use of auditory imagery in place of simple communication. As such, the story gains value by involving the reader on an additional level of imagery, more than Alfred Wight would have achieved by not using this imaginative speech pattern. Therefore, Alfred Wight‟s purpose in using this style of writing may arise from a desire to improve his stories on a literary level. Even though Alfred Wight uses many contractions and phonetic interpretations for the speech of some characters, he seldom does so with his own speech. On page 448, Wight uses this difference in speech by first writing a farmer‟s daughter‟s speech as “t‟village” while himself saying “the village” (Herriot, 448). In doing so, Wight conveys himself as more professional through formal speech, while attributing the daughter as informal. On further analysis, Alfred Wight has been seen as using phonetic writing of speech almost exclusively for Scottish commoners, while writing the speech of professionals and wealthier individuals in a standard format. This is ironic in reference to actuality, in that Alfred Wight reportedly had a “throaty Glaswegian” (Brower, 90) accent, similar to those whose speech he writes phonetically. Alfred Wight himself even admitted “I [Alfred Wight] still speak with a Scot's burr” (Gonzalez). Therefore, Wight must have deliberately made this distinction. There are multiple possible reasons for Alfred Wight to have made a distinction between the speech of Scottish commoners and himself. Wight‟s purpose may have been to achieve a literary effect, in the way of an increase in auditory imagery. By writing in a phonetic style of speech for the commoners, Wight conveys his experiences to the reader of how they talked. As such, Wight‟s inclusion of personal experience is used in this case to improve the effect of the

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novel. Moreover, the aforementioned distinction of professionalism may have been his goal. Alfred Wight‟s neglect to write in a phonetic style of speech for himself and several others, despite his accent, certainly divides Wight from others on a level of formality. Furthermore, Wight may have believed that this distinction would appeal to a larger number of readers; Alfred Wight‟s professionalism certainly makes him seem a better veterinarian, and thus a better protagonist. On another level, Wight‟s decision to not include his personal experiences of his own voice can be attributed to a hope that his novel would be more intelligible to readers. As most readers are used to writing in a standard format, it is probable that Alfred Wight wanted to maintain this format to prevent confusion and difficulty in reading. Juliet Marillier, who authored several books attempting to use the Scottish dialect wrote that the “Scots Dialect” was “wearying to write and, I think, difficult to read” (Marillier). This statement furthers the idea that Alfred Wight wanted to retain the intelligibility of his writing, and thus limited his inclusion of personal experiences in the field of knowledge related to speech. However, Marillier also states that her use of a phonetic Scottish form of writing “helped the characters spring to vivid life” (Marillier). As Marillier made this discovery, it is possible that Alfred Wight did as well. Therefore, Wight may have desired to give the commoners a Scottish personality through their speech patterns, and thus make them more intriguing to the reader. Moreover, Alfred Wight stated in an interview with Arturo Gonzalez that “what I [Alfred Wight] really wanted to do was put down on paper something of Yorkshire life that was almost gone” (Gonzalez). As Wight made this statement himself, it is a valuable resource for interpreting his reason behind the use of phonetic writing. From this quote, it is likely that Wight wanted to preserve Scottish heritage through his writing, and found that limited inclusion of the

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Scottish dialect was an appropriate way of achieving his goal. The use of phonetic writing certainly evidences this in All Creatures Great and Small, where the phonetic spelling leads to phonetic reading, and enhances the story with the Scottish heritage through their dialect.

IV.

Memory as a Factor in Conveying Personal Experiences

A prominent issue in determining the truth behind Alfred Wight‟s novel is that the events of the novel took place over thirty years before Wight recorded them, and the majority of the events in the novel “have been entirely from memory” (Green, 90-92). According to the Harvard Health Publications, qualified for statements regarding health concerns under the Harvard Medical School, humans have a “tendency to forget facts or events over time,” named “transience” (Harvard Health Publications). Therefore, as people are likely to forget specific facts about events over time, many points of Wight‟s stories are likely not remembered with exact precision. In relation to All Creatures Great and Small, Alfred Wight may have misremembered exact dialogue, movement, and moods, causing Wight to fill in the blanks of his writing with what he believes are pertinent ideas, or events that would further the story in a meaningful way. Wight‟s description of a visit to Mrs. Mallard, during which he reportedly heard faint music in the background, is a prime example of an improbable memory. Although Alfred Wight wrote the book thirty years after this event would have taken place, he describes the music as being “Body and Soul” (Herriot, 241), a popular jazz piece composed in 1930. The large amount of time between the event and when Alfred Wight recorded what occurred lends credence to the

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idea that Wight misremembered the music that actually was playing in the background, assuming Wight heard any music at all. In his later years, Alfred Wight likely decided that Body and Soul was an appropriate song to include in his novel, even if another song was actually played. As such, Wight‟s inclusion of personal experiences is limited in that it relies heavily on personal memories of events from a substantial amount of time in the past. While the previous example may be an accurate memory of the event, the dialogue of All Creatures Great and Small is perhaps more questionable. An attempt at recreating dialogue in its entirety without having any amount of error is highly implausible due to the aforementioned transience. And when a conversation is not quoted verbatim, the event which it represents can be construed in an entirely different manner. For example, in one story Alfred Wight is having a conversation about Mr. Grier, another veterinarian. During the conversation, the man that Wight is conferring with calls Mr. Grier a “devil” (Herriot, 242). As the older Alfred Wight wrote the story, he chose to write down “devil” as opposed to a different label. Should Wight have used the word “man” instead of “devil,” the sentence “not with that ugly old devil, you mean, eh?” would have a less negative connotation towards Mr. Grier (Herriot, 242). And that in itself would lead to a different image of Mr. Grier in the book, changing the story. Even though this change may be a slight one, the entire story can be altered through a small tweak in language. In the case of Mr. Grier, Alfred Wight uses him as a symbol of what a veterinarian ought to not be; essentially, Mr. Grier is seen as a senile man who is Wight‟s opposite in most manners. Alfred Wight likely experienced these aspects of Grier over the course of his practice, and implements details that further this overall theme, disregarding the actuality of the events in question. The disputability of Alfred Wight‟s memory in the previous example builds on the idea that Wight manipulated his stories to better suit the plot. In specific details, Wight likely added

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information that he believed was the truth or similar, yet was not a completely accurate representation of his personal experiences. In this way, Wight uses vague outlines of his personal experiences as an outline for his stories, while using fabricated dialogue and specific details to improve the stories‟ imagery and further the plot.

V.

Manipulation of the Sequence of Time Another concept of the manipulation of the book‟s autobiographical nature is Alfred

Wight‟s alteration of the sequence of time. Effectively, Alfred Wight moved the events into an order that fit the plot, despite them not actually taking place in that order, Wight could have altered a large portion of the book‟s meaning. And according to his son, Alfred Wight did in fact “manipulate” the time, or “dates” (Wight, prologue), of the story. An example in which this causes a significant change in the story‟s meaning is the story in the book where Alfred Wight courts and eventually marries his wife. If Wight‟s conversation with Siegfried Farnon on page 478 had occurred at a different time in the story, the plot would have been different. In the conversation Farnon convinces Wight to marry Helen Alderson. Beforehand, Wight had been skeptical of taking the marriage so suddenly, and was more willing to wait a longer time before finally deciding to marry. Another mistake in timing is the use of more recent events as if they had occurred in the time period of the book. According to his son, Alfred Wight used some events from the more recent history, the 1950s to 1960s primarily, in All Creatures Great and Small, which takes place from his beginnings in veterinary medicine in the early 1930s to his marriage in 1941. One such

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example is the use of “Tricki Woo,” a dog owned by Mrs. Pumphrey (Herriot, 95). James Wight himself has memories of the gifts incurred from the dog, and has personal memories of when his father mistakenly addressed Tricki with the incorrect title. James Wight recalls that “these were worrying days for the family as weeks passed without the delivery of a single hamper” (Wight, Ch. 17). As such, Alfred Wight wrote of a later event in an earlier context. Because Alfred Wight‟s ultimate goal was to connect his various stories into a novel, his purpose for changing the sequence of time may have been to improve the flow of the plot. By placing some stories out of order from reality, Wight is able to insert symbols and develop characters that accentuate his story. Moreover, as each preceding story builds on the next, Wight‟s inclusion of stories from his later years allows him to insert ideas from his older and more mature self to improve the character of his younger self. According to Mitzi Brunsdale, Alfred Wight “looked back upon his youth and presented it in the light of his older self” (Brunsdale, 28) in All Creatures Great and Small. The alteration of the sequence of time is one manner by which Wight is able to present his younger self in this new light.

VI.

Personal Experiences in Medicine and Labor

Reflecting his background in veterinary medicine, Alfred Wight appears to be accurate in the majority of his stories on the grounds of animal treatment. While there are many amusing stories in which Wight states the improper use of the veterinary practice, such as with Tristan Farnon‟s unusual interaction with a pig on page 166, these are made clear and obvious. Alfred Wight overall accurately conveys his experiences of veterinary practice as it was in the 1930s

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and early 1940s in All Creatures Great and Small. Moreover, as the veterinary practice changed dramatically in this time period with the advent of new drugs and procedures in all fields of medicine, there are some instances where Alfred Wight begins to use new techniques and medicines as opposed to the old ones. Wight conveys his skepticism and feelings about the new procedures through his stories, oftentimes happy at the success of a new procedure while also including less successful ventures in All Creatures Great and Small. Alfred Wight also is careful to include the effect of the new procedures on the veterinary practice and the lives of Scottish farmers in his region. One major development in the area of farming was a shift from the use of horses to the utilization of machines for manual labor. In All Creatures Great and Small, Alfred Wight stated on page 170 that “in the thirties there were still quite a lot of horses on the farms though the tractors had already sounded their warning knell” (Herriot, 170). Wight included his experiences with horses in the upcoming chapter, likely to express his feelings about the change. It is evident that Wight didn‟t have a preference for horses in terms of labor, as his “morale was never very high” (Herriot, 171) when he would operate on horses. Wight implements his personal experiences as justification for his feelings; on pages 174 through 176 of All Creatures Great and Small, Wight has a story about an unusually large horse with a tumor. Alfred Wight wrote of a traumatic incident with the horse, where the horse violently kicked him on his right thigh. Wight‟s emotions were also described, with his fear being a major element of the story. In this manner, Wight included his personal experiences as emotions while using a story as a framework. With this story however, Wight provides evidence of its reality with “I have a cavity in the muscle of my thigh to remind me of that day” (Herriot, 176). Moreover, the events of this story can be attributed to the new practice of castrating horses

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that was growing in popularity during the 1930s. According to Wight, “standing castration was coming very much to the fore” (Herriot, 170) and was far more dangerous although less difficult than the previous procedure. Wight uses his example to show that while the new procedure had a negative impact for veterinarians, its requirement of less time and labor was beneficial to the farming community. Thus, with this personal experience Alfred Wight is able to illustrate a personally important issue in a cultural context. While before his story about the aforementioned large horse took place Wight feared and resented horses, he uses this story as a turning point in his regard to horses. At the end of page 176, Alfred Wight states that “horse work has never worried me as much since then” (Herriot, 176), implying that his fear of horses was greatly diminished from this incident. Wight‟s purpose in including this statement may have been to develop the protagonist in his novel, and as such cause the novel to be more appealing to readers.

VII. Conclusion Examination of the question for what purpose and to what extent does James Alfred Wight use personal experiences in his novel All Creatures Great and Small? has led to an understanding that Alfred Wight manipulated his personal experiences in a variety of ways to further his personal beliefs and the novel‟s plot. Evidence gathered in the essay suggests that Wight employed personal experiences as a framework for his stories yet not for specific details, due to the fallibility of memory. Moreover, Wight chose the elements of conversation and dialogue as well as event details to steer the novel‟s plot in a way that developed the protagonist

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and maintained intrigue, without regard to factual evidence outside of his memory in most cases. Furthermore, Wight expressed his cultural heritage through the use of phonetic writing of the Scottish dialect and reference to changes in rural Scotland. This essay affirms the thesis that Wight manipulated his personal experiences to suit his own beliefs while creating an enjoyable novel. The high sale rates of his novel make evident the success of his novel in the latter area, while his deliberate manipulation of chronology and event details contributed to both goals. As a tool for future writers, one can determine from this investigation that personal experiences can be effectively used as a basis for a story, while specific details may be altered to better suit the course of the piece‟s plot.

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Bibliography ● Brower, Monty. "Long a Success as 'James Herriot,' Yorkshire Vet Jim Wight says All Things Must Come to an End." People Weekly 23 (18 Mar. 1985): 90-92. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Scot Peacock. Vol. 80. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Jan. 2013. ● Gonzales, Arturo and James Herriot. "Interview with James Herriot." Maclean's 91.11 (29 May 1978): 4-6. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Scot Peacock. Vol. 80. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Jan. 2013. ● Green, Timothy. "Best-selling vet practices as usual." Smithsonian 5.8 (Nov. 1974): 90-92. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Scot Peacock. Vol. 80. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Jan. 2013. ● Herriot, James. All Creatures Great and Small. Bantam Edition. New York, New York, United States: Bantam Books, inc., 1972. Print. ● Marillier, Juliet. "A wee bittie dialect." Writer Unboxed. Writer Unboxed, 05 2010. Web. 6 Jan 2013. . ● Wight, Jim. The Real James Herriot. United States: Ballantine Books, 1999. eBook. ● . "Forgetfulness — 7 types of normal memory problems." Harvard Health Publications. Harvard Health Publications, 03 2012. Web. 6 Jan 2013. . ● "All Creatures Great and Small." James Herriot. Mitzi Brunsdale. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1997. 20-38. Twayne's English Authors Series 534. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Jan. 2013.