To Billy Fisher, Stradhoughton is one long subtopian cliche- a bad Yorkshire joke Thus the dimmer his surroundings become, the more fantastic are his day-dreams in compensation Neither his family nor his employers (undertakers) appreciate his fantasies as dictator soldier, cripple, novelist (successful, of course) and even convict (wronged), and he wades through the day with an ever-increasing stack of lies to bring him down