Essay Questions

What happened to Rev. Robert Lee when he was just a boy?

The book opens with a quick flashback to the childhood of its protagonist, Rev. Lee. When he was a young boy, Robert was diagnosed with a bad case of dyslexia. He was able to overcome the limitations placed upon his speech and learning by this condition through the efforts of teachers at the Dyslexia Institute in London. By the time he was old enough to graduate school, his reading and writing abilities had risen well into the normal range 18-year-olds. This backstory, though presented in just one short page of text, is so comprehensive because the book itself was written to assist the ongoing efforts of the actual Dyslexia Institute.

What unusual form does Robert’s dyslexia take upon its reappearance in adulthood just as he is take over his first assignment as a vicar?

The local doctor diagnoses the strange malady which attacks the Reverend Lee literally in the first days of his very first assignment to a church. The doctor informs him that it is “very rare disease called Back-to-Front Dyslexia.” Unlike normal dyslexia (actual dyslexia often term front-to-back), Robert’s problem is not merely misspelling words by writing them backwards. His is a very singular case in which he pronounces some words backwards, thus leading to confusion in the best of cases and offensive utterances in the worst-case scenario.

In what way does the author increase the dramatic effect of the Reverend’s “Front-to-Back Dyslexia” to carry out the purpose of his narrative?

The dramatic intensity (actually, the comical intensity as well) is heightened as result of the Reverend saying not just confusing things, but offensive things because he—alone—remains unaware of the effects of his newly arisen condition. By introducing into the already complicated concept of saying words backwards the element of Rev. Lee not even being aware he actually is saying anything in a strange or offensive way, the opportunity is broadened for humor which, in this case, is perhaps surprisingly scatological. At the same time, however, this choice also quite dramatically reflects the reality that many people actually suffering from the efforts of genuine dyslexia sometimes pronounce one word as a completely different word that is comprised of the same letters in a different order. Like Rev. Lee, of course, they may remain completely unaware of this until it has been pointed out to them.