Born in the midst of the First World War on the third of October during the year 1916, James Herriot was directly affected by the current events of his time s he grew older to maturity. He started his life in England in Sunderland. His first career was a veterinarian.
His family life began when the year 1941 came around. He married Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury.Through all the years of hi life, he anted so much to write a book of his own. However, because of his profession, he was not able to spare some time to create the fine books he ought to finish.
He and his wife transferred from one place to another and had many experiences along the way.Their life has been so much full of surprises considering that they have lived most of their days having been able to hear news from around the globe with regards the war as well as the post war situations on areas affected by the said worldwide man-made disasters. (Sternlicht, 54)It was the year 1966 when James was finally challenged by her wife to pursue the writing career he always wanted. Since that time, he had placed his ideas of stories into writing and has been greatly influential to the people who were able to read his writings. He has mostly tried to write basing from his experiences.
He wrote about everything and anything that could be obviously observed by his readers (Brunsdale, 14). He was not noted to be among the traditional novel writers. Since his idea of characterization is in a first person perspective wherein he is the one narrating the whole story, the readers had greater chances of relating to his written works.One of his most famous works was the book entitled “All Things Wise and Wonderful”. It was set in the midst of the Second World War when everything seems to be out of order.
Everyone who was not allied to the governments has been greatly oppressed and women were less regarded as the gender requiring greater sense of respect.James Herriot died at the age of 78 in Thirlby on February 23, 1995. He has been diagnosed to have prostate cancer that made him weak and later on passed away. Although he had to die in an illness that kept him longing for more years of life, it could be noted that he has had a well-lived life, as he was able to remain alive in the minds of his readers through his works.Time and CharactersAs mentioned earlier, most of the written works of James were based upon his own life experiences and his views of the current events happening back then. His opinion on the major treatment that ordinary people received from government authorities before have been directly influential to the state of personality of the characters in his stories.
In this regard, it could be noted that his way of writing has been more shifted on the idea of seeing the brighter things beyond the hideous situations of the human society. His way of bringing the readers back to the farms and clearly describing the life in the said place have been much an ease to most of his readers (Sternlicht, 85).His experiences as a veterinarian has equipped him with the skill of feeling attached with nature, which in turn enables him to recreate the personality even of the things that are present in the natural environment surrounding the human society.Being indirectly affected by the war situation on other lands, James had a better view of life.
Although he saw the results of war through written or broadcasted news, his life was much more affected by the less war-like situation in England, his homeland.This is the reason why behind all the negativity of the human society, James was able to bring out the best possible positive outlook there is for people to move on with their lives amidst the ongoing war situations. (Grayshon, 17)
