Style and Technique
As in most of his stories, Callaghan’s style here is objective, concise, and unadorned. He strives to present the essential, illuminating experience directly to his reader. Much depends on the reader’s sensitivity to implications and undercurrents, which is entirely consonant with a story about a young man’s discovery of the poignant reality underlying his mother’s apparently routine existence.
The story is written in the third person, with Alfred as the central consciousness, as befits a story about his moral growth. The clipped dialogue, unmetaphorical prose, and paucity of specific details regarding time, place, characters, atmosphere, and so on allow Callaghan to highlight those moments when the central character’s consciousness expands under the impact of experience.
Structurally, “All the Years of Her Life” develops through a series of surprises moving toward a crucial revelation. Alfred is surprised by his employer, surprised by Mr. Carr’s inexplicable reluctance to prosecute, surprised by his mother’s deft handling of the situation, and finally, surprised by his discovery of the pain and suffering his mother endures. Though compact and spare, the story convincingly suggests the potential in humanity for significant moral development.
Historical Context
Canadian Literature in the 1920s and 1930s
Canada officially became a country in 1867, giving it a relatively short time to develop a unique literary tradition. Before Callaghan emerged in the late 1920s, few Canadian short-story writers had gained significant recognition. As Walter Allen notes in The Short Story in English, most Canadian literature before the 1920s focused on either pastoral life or wilderness experiences, neither of which appealed to Callaghan, who was raised in an urban environment.
The most esteemed Canadian literary figure before Callaghan is generally considered to be Duncan Campbell Scott (1862–1947). Scott was well-versed in the works of prominent European authors of his era, such as Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant, which allowed him to create works of superior quality. Scott’s most famous among his three short-story collections is The Village of Viger (1896).
Another contemporary of Callaghan, Raymond Knister (1899–1932), was also a prolific writer of short stories, poetry, and novels. His stories are known for their clarity and vivid realism. Callaghan himself recognized the excellence of Knister’s work, but Knister's career was tragically cut short when he drowned in Lake St. Clair, Ontario, at the age of thirty-three. However, according to Allen, it is Callaghan’s work that signaled a new era for Canadian literature.
During the 1930s, Callaghan earned his living by publishing in the United States rather than Canada. For Canadian writers of that time, getting published in their home country was challenging. In his 1938 essay, ‘‘The Plight of Canadian Fiction,’’ published in the University of Toronto Quarterly, Callaghan advised young Canadian writers that, despite their talent and honest writing, they would not get published in Canada unless they were first published elsewhere. He highlighted that only those Canadian writers who were willing to conform to a predictable formula for the mass-market magazines could get published in Canada. According to Callaghan, literary writers in Canada who refused to compromise their integrity for market demands had no outlet for their work. Callaghan was able to sustain his writing career by publishing in esteemed American magazines such as Harper’s, Scribner’s, the Atlantic, Esquire, and the New Yorker. His book publisher in the 1930s, Random House, was also based in the United States.
During the 1940s, uniquely Canadian fiction began to flourish, with works published by Canadian authors like Sinclair Ross (1908–1996) and Hugh Maclennan (1907–1990). These writers focused on Canadian themes and identity, rather than drawing inspiration from American or British...
(This entire section contains 465 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
models. However, it took some time for this movement to make its way into the Canadian education system.
Margaret Laurence (1926–1987), a prominent Canadian novelist, recalled that in the early 1940s, when she was in high school, she was not assigned any books by Canadian authors. She believed that Canadians of that era greatly undervalued literature created by their own compatriots.
Literary Style
Point of View
The narrative is presented from a selectively omniscient perspective. This implies that while the narrator, who is not a character in the story, can delve into the thoughts of any character, they typically focus on one character.
For instance, the narrator provides minimal insight into Mr. Carr's thoughts. The drugstore owner's feelings are evident through his words and actions; he is clearly irritated by having a thief as an employee. Delving further into Mr. Carr’s mind would divert the reader’s attention from Alfred, the main character. The narrator’s understanding of Alfred’s internal thoughts allows the reader to experience his perspective both internally and externally.
The narrator also refrains from exploring the mind of Alfred’s mother. The impact of the drugstore scene hinges on the reader’s lack of knowledge about Mrs. Higgins’s true feelings. Insight into her inner world is revealed later through Alfred. This approach gives the story its powerful and moving conclusion, as the crucial element is not Mrs. Higgins’s mental state itself, but its effect on Alfred when he realizes it for the first time.
Realism
The narrative is part of the literary movement known as realism. Realist writers aim to depict life as it truly is. In contrast, romantic fiction portrays life in a more adventurous or heroic manner. Realism focuses on ordinary characters engaged in everyday activities (such as working in a drugstore) and experiencing events that could happen to anyone. Alfred, his mother, and Mr. Carr are three of the most ordinary, undistinguished characters. Yet, in a manner typical of realist fiction, Alfred’s mother, through significant effort, achieves a level of nobility that, while not entirely heroic, possesses a certain dignity.
Compare and Contrast
1930s: Canadian literature is still in its early stages and lacks distinct characteristics. English-speaking Canadians primarily read British or American fiction, but Callaghan introduces a fresh voice to Canadian literature.
Today: Canadian literature is now at the forefront of global literature. Authors like Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Yann Martel, Alistair MacLeod, and Carol Shields have received international accolades, including Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize and the American Pulitzer Prize.
1930s: The political climate in Europe is rapidly worsening. In 1936, the same year Callaghan’s Now That April’s Here and Other Stories is published, German troops led by Adolf Hitler march into the Rhineland. The Spanish Civil War also begins in 1936. By 1939, World War II starts.
Today: Europe has moved past many of the repercussions from the events of the 1930s and 1940s. Germany is no longer split into East and West. The Iron Curtain no longer separates eastern and western Europe. Spain is now a democracy. The European Community continues to grow, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is gradually expanding to include former members of the communist Soviet bloc.
1930s: The Great Depression causes immense hardship for millions in North America. In 1933, at the peak of the depression in Canada, unemployment reaches 27 percent. Between 1929 and 1933, the Canadian gross national product falls by 43 percent. The depression ends in 1939.
Today: Canada enjoys much greater economic stability and its citizens have more security than in the 1930s. Modern laws regulating a standard work week and minimum wage, as well as programs like Medicare and unemployment insurance, were born out of the depression-era needs. The Bank of Canada, a central bank that manages the money supply and ensures financial stability, also emerged from the Great Depression.
Media Adaptations
‘‘All the Years of Her Life’’ was transformed into a film with the identical title in 1974. Directed by Robert Fortier, the movie features performances by Carl Marotte, Walter Wakefield, and Mary Gay Pinatel.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Sources
Abrams, M. H., Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature, Norton, 1971, pp. 418–27.
Allen, Walter, The Short Story in English, Oxford University Press, 1981, pp. 201–09.
Callaghan, Morley, Now That April’s Here and Other Stories, Random House, 1936, pp. 9–16.
———, ‘‘The Plight of Canadian Fiction,’’ in University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 7, 1938, pp. 152–61.
———, That Summer in Paris: Memories of Tangled Friendships with Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Some Others, Penguin, 1979, pp. 19–22.
Conron, Brandon, Morley Callaghan, Twayne, 1966, pp. 97–108, 168.
Hoar, Victor, Morley Callaghan, Copp Clark Publishing, 1969, p. 21.
Jones, Joseph, and Johanna Jones, Canadian Fiction, Twayne, 1981, pp. 57–61.
Further Reading
Boire, Gary, Morley Callaghan and His Works, Canadian Author Studies series, ECW Press, 1990. This concise seventy-page study includes a brief biography of Callaghan, an overview of the tradition and environment that shaped him, a review of critical responses, an essay on his major works, and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
———, Morley Callaghan: Literary Anarchist, ECW Press, 1994. This biography focuses on Callaghan’s early years up to the 1940s. Boire discusses Edmund Wilson’s claim that Callaghan has been unfairly overlooked. Boire sees Callaghan as a literary anarchist, emphasizing his strong individualism. The book features a timeline of Callaghan’s life but lacks an index.
Cameron, Donald, ‘‘Morley Callaghan,’’ in Conversations with Canadian Novelists, Part 2, Macmillan, 1973, pp. 17–33. This work includes an interview with Callaghan where he discusses the significance of independence for writers, his sources of inspiration, his interest in Christian theology, Canadians' attitudes towards their literature, and other subjects.
Lynch, Gerald, and Angela Arnold Robbeson, eds. Dominant Impressions: Essays on the Canadian Short Story, University of Ottawa Press, 1999. The introduction addresses issues in short-story theory and provides a brief history of Canadian short fiction in English. The essays explore the period before the 1960s, examining the sociological, historical, and cultural dimensions of Canadian short stories from the nineteenth century through the 1940s.
Wilson, Edmund, ‘‘Morley Callaghan of Toronto,’’ in New Yorker, Vol. XXXVI, No. 41, November 26, 1960, p. 224. During a time when Callaghan’s reputation was waning, noted literary critic Wilson contended that Callaghan was the most unjustly neglected novelist in the English-speaking world. Wilson considered Callaghan superior to his more famous contemporaries Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
