In his classical collection of short stories, "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town", Stephen Leacock had practically immortalized a number of literary characters, each and every one of them an inhabitant of a small provincial Canadian town around the turn of the 20th century, described with both humour and wit. However, there is a slighter, darker side to the town of Mariposa, one that Leacock occasionally would contact, but not dwell on it for too long - not in the short stories, anyways. Instead, around 1917, he wrote a play in four acts, also called "Sunshine in Mariposa", in which he took a more serious tone towards several of his stories, mostly "The Mariposa Bank Mystery" and "The Speculations of Jefferson Thorpe". In this essay, we will compare these - and some other - original short stories from Leacock's collection with the play and see how this comparison will affect our understanding of the ninth story of the collection, "The Mariposa Bank Mystery".
First, what is that story about? It actually serves as the conclusion to the previous two stories, which describe the love and romance of Peter Pupkin and Zena Pepperleigh. Like the other stories in this collection of Leacock, the real and imaginary become closely intertwined, as Pupkin compensates for his lack of real-life direct action (like confronting Zena's father, judge Pepperleigh regarding Zena) by various imagined acts, like committing suicide or fighting foreign invaders in Mariposa. Zena, for her part, is probably flattered by Peter's attention, but is in no hurry to establish a lasting relationship with him either, until he becomes a hero (and tells her that his father is rich, which does not hinder their marriage either). Of course, there is an added problem of Peter not having high enough salary to marry, mentioned on pg. 108, but in truth, it is rather downplayed in the rest of the story, which focuses on more romantic and less real aspects of Peter's interaction with Zena. Conversely, "The Mariposa Bank Mystery" talks about the mysterious robbery of the exchange bank, as seen through the lens of Peter's relationship with Zena.
By contrast, the play "Sunshine in Mariposa" is only loosely related to the story, mainly by the characters of Peter Pupkin and Gillis the janitor, who served largely as a foil to Peter's "heroic" exploits in the story. Romance is present too, but instead of Zena, Peter is in love with Myra, daughter of the barber Jeff Thorpe. Again, the problem of Peter's finances raise an obstacle for his love life, but this time, there is no romantic daydreams to distract Peter, and the bank robbery is quite real, committed by Harstone and Slyde in order to get some money and run, once their Cuban swindle scheme runs sour.
Because of this, the first main difference between the stories and the play is the amount of realism expressed in the latter. In his short story collection, Leacock had slightly idealized the town of Mariposa, ensuring that every story arc ended happily, and everyone managed to reach their goal with hardly doing any real hard work. The only different case is that of Mr. Smith, who is willing and ready to go an extra mile and work hard to reach a goal of his, like the Conservative nomination. Leacock, for his part, does not idealise Smith and his sneaky approach to life too much, but still prefers his decisiveness to the indecisiveness of the rest of the Mariposans, just as he prefers hard and honest work of any kind to such trickery as money investments into the market or land selling schemes.
Therefore, Peter Pupkin, at least in the play, has an opinion that, surprisingly, is shared by Mr. Smith:
[...] It's only the big people, the inside people, that make money from the silver country. [...] Myra, you don't know how awful speculation is. We see it every day in the bank--since the silver boom began. People that had had savings with us for years--ruined--drawing out their last cent, and their hands trembling as they write--to gamble it on silver. It's dreadful. (Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, 208)
[...] There's no money in that Cobalt country. I've seen it all, from the Mattawa clear down to the Bay--just rock and pine and desolation. For a dollar in silver you find in it you lose ten in getting it. Jeff, quit it. (Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, 213-4)
As the focus shifts away from romance to finances, it also shifts from illusion to realism. "The Mariposa Bank Mystery", just like the rest of the short stories in the collection, was written largely in a vein of gentle humour, as the narrator gently joked about Peter Pupkin and his feelings for Zena. At the same time, the story was suggesting slyly all the while that Peter's love sickness was making mountains out of molehills, with the financial obstacle of Peter's courtship of Zena mentioned only briefly on page 108. Now, however, that humour is greatly reduced, as Leacock's play begins to paint a more honest picture of how life in Mariposa was - as well as the life beyond its borders.
Throughout the whole short story collection, Leacock often used the city as a contrast and foil to Mariposa, telling that yes, he knew that things were done differently in the city, but here is how they are done in Mariposa. Now, in the play, he contrasts the city and Mariposa in an indirect way, by juxtaposing visitors from the big city, Harstone and Slyde, against the inhabitants of Mariposa - Gillis, Thorpe, Smith and others. Moreover, while Harstone and Slyde are crooks, it is not their crooked nature that makes them different from such people as Smith or Gillis, but their greed. For the sake of money, they are willing even to assault and kill Gillis and Pupkin, and eventually, for the sake of their stolen money, they die.
By contrast, Mr. Smith, though he is quite willing and ready to make quick cash by some less-than-honest means, never lets money overshadow the other values in his life, like his friendship with Jeff and others in Mariposa. In fact, it is he, who alerts the authorities to Harstone and Slyde's undertakings in Mariposa, and starts the chain of events that leads to the play's resolution.
In that same vein, Gillis may be a bitter man and one who has been dealt a cruel hand, but he tries to keep his basic human dignity and honesty: he refuses to co-operate with Harstone and Slyde in their bank robbery, and is shot for that. Actually, this story refers to his character back in the short story, where he was just a foil to Pupkin's exploit, helping the latter to make his story more real and amazing. Now, however, the robbers from the bank proved real, the wounds of both Pupkin and Gillis are real, and the characters of the two victims are real too.
Therefore, Leacock showed us the improvements of Mariposa - a small town - over a big city, as well as the advantages of realism - like true work - over non-realism, like investment in the market or overseas land property. He also showed the audience of his play the advantage of friendship over greed, as essentially every other native of Mariposa in the play is willing to help or assist Jeff regardless of whether he is rich or poor - the only odd man out is the lawyer, Macartney, who shows a similar interest in money as Harstone and Slyde. However, perhaps this is more of Leacock's humour instead, "[A]fter all, you know, he's only a lawyer" (271).
Therefore, by anteing up the literary stakes in his play, Leacock had achieved what he tried to achieve back in his short story collection. He proved the superiority of honest work (running a hotel, a barber shop, etc) over financial manipulation (or working in law) using Jeff Thorpe (a character from his earlier short story, "The Speculations of Jeff Thorpe") experience the ups-and-downs of both of them, and come out of them not financially richer, but wiser. He proved the moral and social superiority of a smaller town over a big city by having the Mariposans triumph (morally rather than physically) over Harstone and Slyde. In addition, he showed the superiority of moral and humane values like friendship, love and courage triumph over greed and similar vices - something that was closely tied to the abovementioned contrast. These messages were already hinted at in the short story collection, but unlike the play, they were somewhat obscured by Leacock's other goals. In the play, however, they came to the front, in process changing several of his earlier short stories for better emphasis - and that is the main difference between the play and the short stories: Leacock has changed writing style and his goals. I hope that this essay will now make it more clear and understandable, than before.
End.
Bibliography
Leacock, Stephen. "Sunshine in Mariposa: A Play in Four Acts." Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. Ed. Carl Spadoni. Peterborough: Broadview Press Ltd., 2002. 208, 213-214, 271