Theme
Because Thompson wrote her account some forty years after the events she describes she was able to identify the period as a pivotal point in rural history: the time when the quiet, close-knit and peaceful rural culture, governed by the seasons, began a transformation, through agricultural mechanisation, better communications and urban expansion, into the homogenised society of today. The transformation is not explicitly described. It appears as allegory, for example in Laura’s first visit to Candleford without her parents: the journey from her tiny village to the sophisticated town representing the temporal changes that would affect her whole community. Although the works are autobiographical, Thompson distances herself from her childhood persona by telling the tale in the third person; she appears in the book as “Laura Timmins”, rather than her real maiden name of Flora Timms. This device allows Thompson to comment on the action, using the voice of “Laura” as the child she was and as the adult narrator, without imposing herself into the work.
She wrote a sequel Heatherley, (set in Grayshott, Hampshire) describing her life as a postmistress in the 1920s, but the period lacked the changing social significance described in her earlier works and she did not seek to have it published. It appeared posthumously, in 1979.
Read more about this topic: Lark Rise To Candleford
Famous quotes containing the word theme:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“Only the most acute and active animals are capable of boredom.—A theme for a great poet would be God’s boredom on the seventh day of creation.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)