The Daughter of time Essay

The police investigation into the crimes done by King Richard 111 is the subject of the 1951 detective book The Daughters of Time by Josphene Tey. This was the final book Tey ever released before she passed away. Inspector Grant was hailed as a hero in the infirmary when he broke his leg in the opening mystery of the book. Even though he was unaware of his identity, Grant made the decision to study the features of historical portraits because he was so bored. He is categorized as a man of integrity and conscience as a consequence. Having being misjudged as one of the most notorious historical murderers, Grant decided to get every information about the original ‘Wicked uncle,’ (Teys 21). Eventually, what he learns make him wonder how the history was wrongly misinterpreted. This poses us with a question, could Richard be innocent even after murdering his nephew?

Grant answers this question by writing from scratch regarding the rumor that merely repeated itself from what others said concerning the death of his nephew. He directly looked at the evidence found in letters, law and account books particularly from the witness who had a testimony that was represented in a chronicle form. This made him compare the fact against what the information said about the murder case. The theory about Richard 111 is that he was a man whose reputation was wronged by the history. His reputation needs to be re-examined from the famous writer Josephine Tey. Although Richard existed since 1920’s, it was Tey’s book that highlighted more ideas concerning how Richard 111 reigned for two years just before he was vilified as a hunch-backed wicked uncle that killed the princess in the Tower. There was an investigation into the truth behind Richard’s last Plantagenet king’s reign and the attempt that made many people believe that injustice was done to him by the Tudor dynasty (Tey 121). I find Tey’s theory to be persuasive because as much as Richard 111 is mistakenly misjudged as a murderer, her novel elaborated more as to why he was guilty because, as much as he reigned in Plantagenet, her nephew died under his hands.

Personal understanding of the historical events from Tey’s book

There is a lot of fascination in the story, and the characters are very likable but what caught my attention and had an impact on me was how the past was portrayed as a puzzle that needed to be solved. As opposed to what people believe about History, not only is it a recitation of places, facts, names, and dates but in a way, but it’s like a scientific discipline that is characterized by a continuous effort of understanding and learning from the truth that was highlighted in the proverb of the ‘daughter of time.’ Tey is very efficient in her efforts to vindicate Richard, but because of all the secondary sources and most especially fiction, demands carefulness in accepting the facts at face and value by the reader (Tey 87). But this is a lesson taught by The Daughter of Time, and it is one that I am happy to adopt in my incursions into history.

How student of history can make them fall into the perpetuating ‘Tonypandy.’

Tonypandy, as mentioned by Grant in chapter 8, meaning that it was the shooting-down by troops that Wales will never forget. A conscientious student of history can counteract the tendency to fall into perpetuating Tonypandy by researching on the history of South Wales and how they believe that in 1910 troops were used by the Government to shoot down Welsh miners who were going on strike because of their rights. The student can also use the belief of the people of South Wales that Winston Churchill the Home Secretary at the time was the one responsible. Additional information from South Wales is the acknowledgment of the Tonypandy as a part of their history that they will never forget. For a history student, the protest and the struggle against injustice throughout the Welsh history should be the primary aspects of their research. It is believed that the efforts of the people of Wales were responsible in shaping our understanding of the true meaning of being Welsh and also defined the identity of our nation.

Tey’s concept of Tonypandy about today’s social media

Today’s media as described by Arthur Herman show that Tonypandy made the British possess and experience a disastrous famine that sparked the occupation of the Japanese in the North eastern area of Bengal (Mukerjee 198). There was also an approximation that three million people died due to Churchill’s action particularly when they were subjected to criticism. Herman also highlights that how the secret to Churchill’s war aroused because he refused to meet the needs of India to export wheat rice, fuel and wheat to enhance the war (Mukerjee 214). This, in other words, was known as the Bengal famine because in 2010 there was a stock pile of grain that was meant to feed the European civilians after they had been liberated. This made India starve because about 170,000 tons of wheat was passed to Australia for storage and not consumption. As a result, Britain’s resources were stretched.

The difference between Tonypandy and the historical truth

‘Tonypandy’ can be described as an actual truth because, anytime it’s mentioned in the ‘daughters of time,’ it shows the past events and what indeed happened. As proof, some documents showed the fiction of the tale of Grant as no one knew whether Grant was innocent as the noble king, or the evil, vicious murderer that killed the princes in the tower. Therefore, when one talks about Tonypandy, it could be a historical event of a person.

The connection between ‘Tonypandy’ and alternative facts

Alternative activities relate to anything that is in reality. It is also known as the truth that has one or two options. So when one talks about the alternative facts, it means the opposite of the truth. Off course, the ‘daughter of time’ is considered as a fiction that uncovered a lot of information in 1952 about the death of Prince (Tey 114). I don’t see any connection between ‘Tonypandy’ and alternative facts because I don’t believe there is ever going to be such evil acts where people will be mercilessly killed. Even if it begs whether the history was correct, none of the events could ever be compared to what happened in the past.

Conclusion

‘The daughter of time’ is a good old fashioned detective book that has a twist of Alan Grant who was a famous Scotland that that was confined to bed after the death of the princess. It is an article that shows the historical events combined with fiction as to how there was no enough evidence about the matter. As discussed in the essay, it is an interesting piece that has a fascinating article that touches about Tonypandy and how it relates to today’s social media.

Works cited

Mukerjee, Madhusree. Churchills's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War I.: ReadHowYouWant.com, 2011. 44-220

Tey, Josephine. The Daughter of Time.: McClelland & Stewart, 2016. 14-158