5.1 About the story
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| author | Stephen Leacock, Canadian humorist |
| collection | Behind the Beyond (1913) |
| narrator | first person ("I"), a man of about forty |
| setting | a photographer's studio |
| time spent waiting | one hour |
| magazines read | a ladies' magazine (1912), a girls' magazine (1902), an infants' journal (1888) |
| narrator's age | about forty ("I've lived with it for forty years") |
| day the proof is shown | Saturday |
| process for new eyebrows | the "Delphide" |
| process for removing ears | the "Sulphide" |
| only feature that looked like him | the ears |
| how the story ends | the narrator bursts into tears and leaves |
5.2 Key events in order
- The narrator asks for a photograph and is told to sit and wait.
- He waits an hour, reading old magazines.
- In the studio, the photographer adjusts the light and hides under the black cloth.
- "The face is quite wrong." — "I know; I have always known it."
- The "three-quarters full" misunderstanding; the head is twisted.
- The stream of instructions — mouth, ears, eyes, lungs, neck, waist, hip.
- The narrator protests: "This face is my face."
- Snick! The photograph is taken "in a moment of animation".
- On Saturday, the proof: "Is it me?" — "Yes, it is you."
- Eyes retouched, eyebrows removed, hair and brow changed, mouth adjusted; the ears to be removed by the Sulphide.
- The narrator's scornful speech; he breaks into tears and leaves.
5.3 Who said it?
| Line | Speaker | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| "Sit there, and wait." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "The face is quite wrong." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "I know; I have always known it." | the narrator | the photographer |
| "I think the face would be better three-quarters full." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "I don't like the head." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "The ears are bad; droop them a little more." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "This face is my face. It is not yours, it is mine." | the narrator | the photographer |
| "I caught the features just in a moment of animation." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "Is it me?" | the narrator | the photographer |
| "Yes, it is you." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "I've retouched them." | the photographer | the narrator |
| "To me it is but a worthless bauble." | the narrator | the photographer |