In his essay “Mr. Lytle,” John Sullivan does not state a certain opinion, important from the social or public perspective, neither tries the author to teach or impose some knowledge to the audience. This particular essay is rather a reflection on the period when Sullivan, still a young man in search for calling, a university dropout, obtains a chance to touch the history of literature – both literally and figuratively. In “Mr. Lytle,” John Sullivan shares his own experience of knowing, communicating with a great figure, a symbol of the entire epoch in the American literature, Andrew Nelson Lytle. The essay sheds light on a period in Sullivan’s life when he has resided at Lytle’s house helping and tending the old man, while learning from him in a variety of ways. It is an autobiographical piece, and its goal is to emphasize on the role that memorable year at Lytle’s has played in a then-young writer’s-to-be life.
As an outstandingly exposed literary work, the essay implements a number of elements, which help the author with getting his point to the audience. Since Sullivan uses the anecdote from his personal experience, the autobiographical narration, he only naturally tells the story from the first person’s perspective: “When I was twenty years old, I became a kind of apprentice to a man named Andrew Lytle…” (Sullivan). Of course, it could have been possible for him to narrate from the third person, for the sake of adding a more artistic shade to the essay, but the story would have lost its realistic, autobiographic essence as a result. Moreover, a reader thus obtains the possibility to realize in a better way what Sullivan as a young disciple of an experienced and cherished master could have felt, experienced and thought: “I tried to apply his criticisms, but they were sophisticated to a degree my efforts couldn’t repay. He was trying to show me how to solve problems I hadn’t learned existed” (Sullivan). It is a deeply personal story, which Sullivan shares with his readers, and through which he helps the audience understand what and who have helped him become the author he has become. However, Sullivan never allows his readers to relax or suppose that his ‘apprenticeship’ and life at Mr. Lytle’s has ever been easy or only full of meaningful conversations between a teacher and his disciple. On the contrary, Mr. Lytle, being a very old person in his early nineties, could have been a true nuisance, at times – very rude, or weak-minded, which proves it has not been always easy or comfortable for Sullivan to reside with the former or to abide him altogether. The episode from the cold winter night and the accidental outpouring of Mr. Lytle’s homoerotic feelings towards Sullivan is another example, and its unveiling is a proof of the writer’s attempt to tell the autobiographical story in its true colors.
The implementation and description of various characters by Sullivan very effectively helps him tell the story of his engagement with Mr. Lytle. Of course, the latter is the main character. He is central in Sullivan’s story, which is the anecdote about the acquaintance with a great man, and about the amusedly discovered possibility to learn from him much more than Sullivan could have thought. Most of the essay is the description of memories, events, and dialogues with Mr. Lytle. However, other, minor characters are also present in the story, and they are incredibly supportive. They help Sullivan tell about Mr. Lytle through the prism of his relations with others. The ways people have felt towards him could have told much about his personality. Many representatives of young generation might have treated him with despise, Smitty being an example, rebellious and controversial in their opinions, calling Lytle ‘fascist’ (Sullivan). Others, who have known the old man for years and respected him, showed their attitudes through their deeds – as Roehm, through producing the finest possible cedar coffin for Mr. Lytle, or the white-haired professor who has helped looking after Mr. Lytle in his last days. Mr. Lytle’s sister Polly could have told many exciting stories about their early life and experiences of dealing with the Twelve Southerns (Sullivan), but has been mostly silent and Sullivan could only have supposed what she has known. There are many supporting characters in this essay, and each of them helps Sullivan describe Mr. Lytle from a certain angle, through their own story connected with the old novelist.
Sullivan implements setting – Mr. Lytle’s ‘ancient’ house – to emphasize the age of his old teacher and host who has lived for almost a century, known and experienced so much, that Sullivan calls this phenomenon a “flaw in time”, which he could not but have exploited – for his own enlightenment. The setting (the house) also helps focus the audience’s attention around the certain location where most of the events have happened. While reading, the audience seems to move from one room to another, from downstairs to upstairs, as if following the movie camera, imagining, perceiving everything Sullivan describes. The depictions of the old house, its rooms, furniture, utensils allow to feel the atmosphere in which Mr. Lytle has lived his life, worked, and written his famous novels. It is the atmosphere Sullivan has absorbed and remembered.
The conflict of the essay, in the researcher’s personal opinion, consists in John Sullivan’s attempt to share how he has doubted himself at that period, and how Mr. Lytle has believed in him. Through the essay, Sullivan tries not only to expose how he has lived with the writer of such a degree through that memorable year, how he has learned from him, or how he has witnessed his decline. Supposedly, Sullivan tries to show that his dropping out of university, his attempts to reside in Ireland, far from home, have been a kind of personal crisis, a true conflict, when he has not been sure of what he should have done in his life, and whether he should have continued writing at all. However, Mr. Lytle seems to have become Sullivan’s ‘tutelary genius’, his mentor and the one who has seen the talent in him, for it has been Mr. Lytle who has invited Sullivan to reside (a true honor for those literary students who are familiar with the history of American literature, according to Sullivan). The very persistence of Mr. Lytle in inviting Sullivan to live with him is showcase. Citing Lytle, Sullivan writes, “No man can forestall or evade what lies in wait”, this is how Mr. Lytle has forecasted his future, for he has discerned the talent in the young man.
The meaning of the essay “Mr. Lytle” seems to be two-fold. On one hand, it is an exciting piece of an autobiography, beautifully written, which allows the audience understand how a famous, experienced and respected writer has discovered the talent of a young one, and has inspired him not to give up on his writing. On the other hand, it is a point of view, a story about a famous person, of whom many could have written their memoirs, but this essay tells the personal story of Sullivan’s association with Andrew Lytle, and shares the former’s personal feelings and impressions about the acquaintance.