Character Sketches
J, the narrator, represents a simple middle-class
Englishman who is hypochondriac. He believes that he is suffering from
innumerable diseases and ailments caused by ‘overwork’.
He is a
man of decent dressing sense with an inclination towards ‘taste in colours.’ J
has a fondness for water and water-related activities like boating, rafting and
rowing. He narrates numerous anecdotes, comic set-pieces and funny incidents
from his memory that add to the humour in the novel. He finds humour even in
the most ordinary and casual things of life.
He has a
great love for history and nature which is reflected in his descriptions of the
scenic beauty and historical significance of the places that they pass through.
He is fond of liveliness and dislikes the ‘dim and chilly’ churchyards and
tombs. He is critical towards what is considered a piece of art. According to
him, the frivolous scraps of today become the antique pieces of tomorrow. He
contemplates on human nature by ridiculing man’s weaknesses. He says “Each
person has what he doesn’t want, and other people have what he does want.”
J
possesses a very funny idea of work. He is a workaholic, as work ‘fascinates’
him. He loves to accumulate work and this has become a passion for him. He
prides himself on his art of preservation of work. Yet, he is fair to himself
and does not ask for more than his proper share.
Harris
Harris’s
character is based on author’s real life friend, Carl Hentschel. Harris is a
carefree man who has a fondness for drinking. He behaves in a weird manner after
drinking too much but has no clue about it the next day.
Harris is
a man who is overconfident about almost everything. However, he
eventually turns out to be a failure with the things he considers himself to be
expert at. Harris’ account of his visit to the Hampton court maze serves as one
of the most humorous one in the book. He claims to be a very good cook but
eventually messes up the dish and even burns himself. Harris loves music and
believes that he is very good at singing comic songs. But the fact is that he
messes them up as he forgets the lyrics and confuses the pianist. However, in
their discussions on whether to camp out or not, it is Harris who makes a
sensible point by counting the difficulties one would face while camping on
rainy and stormy nights. According to him, one faces several difficulties as
the things that one carries get damp.
Like J,
Harris too has an unusual attitude towards work. He has the tendency of taking
the burden of the work on his shoulders and then passing the buck to other
people. Unlike J, Harris takes delight in graves, tombs and monumental
inscriptions. He goes mad to see the Mrs. Thomas’s tomb. He even mentions that
he has come for the trip so that he could get to see Mrs. Thomas’ tomb.
George
The character of George is based on the author’s real life friend,
George Wingrave. George works at a bank. It is he who comes up with the idea of
a boating trip after dismissing the options provided by the other two of taking
up a sea-trip and staying at countryside.
George
joins the other two men on the trip later, up-river at Weybridge. He brings
along a banjo and expresses his desire to learn to play it. Later, when George
plays the instrument and starts, the three get mournful and the dog howls.
George could never get to learn to play a banjo as he was discouraged by his
landlady and his neighbourhood. He was even barred from playing it for six
months.
George is
quite practical in his approach. At every crucial moment, he comes up with a
pragmatic solution. He comes forth as a sensible person as he suggests not
carrying unnecessary items on the boat as it only overloads the boat. Also, he
recommends not taking cheese along. But, he is considered to be quite lazy by
Harris. According to Harris, George fools about all day and wastes time sitting
‘behind a bit of glass’ in the bank.
Later in
the novel, when the weather conditions become worse, George does not consider
it to be wise to stay back in the boat and offers a sensible solution of
boarding a train from Pangbourne.
Montmorency
Unlike the
three human characters that are taken from real life, Montmorency is entirely
fictional. He represents ‘inner consciousnesses’. According to J, he is an
angel too good for this world but is somehow kept back from the mankind.
Montmorency
is J’s pet dog. He is of a fox-terrier breed and this makes it nearly
impossible to train him to be gentler. He is generally of violent nature and is
fond of noise and action. He does not take delight in ‘romantic solitude’. It
is only he who is not happy with the idea of the boating trip. He feels that
there is nothing to do for him on a boat trip as he neither cares for scenery
nor smoking. He believes the idea of boating to be a ‘bally foolishness.’
Montmorency
is keen on being a ‘perfect nuisance’ and to make people go mad at him. His
ambition in life is to be ‘sworn at’ and be cursed. He feels proud after
achieving such ambitions. He spoils the task of packing as he creates mess by
putting his leg into the jam, worrying teaspoons and playing with the lemons.
His
encounter with the cat named Tom is one of the most amusing episodes in the
novel. He could not act violently and surrendered to the gentleness of the cat.
Another amusing incident is related to the kettle about which has been curious
throughout the trip. But on burning his nose, he regarded it with a mixture of
awe, suspicion, and hate.
Mrs.
Poppets
Mrs. Poppets is J’s housekeeper. George,
Harris and the narrator decide to wake up at half-past six in the morning to
get ready for the trip. But nobody is able to wake up on time. It is Mrs.
Poppets who wakes them up at 9.00 a.m. without which they would have got late
in leaving for Waterloo.
Uncle
Podger
A funny
character carved out by the author, Uncle Podger is J’s uncle. J believes that
the habits of Harris and his uncle are quite similar.
Uncle
Podger is a messy and forgetful being. Like Harris, Uncle Podger too takes
charge of a task only to delegate it to people around him and later blame its
failure on them. Uncle Podger engages everyone present in the house to get him
things he required to hang a picture on the wall. He asks them to hold the
chair, lift the picture, search for his coat etc. Though everybody runs from
one corner to the other and follow his instructions, he still taunts them and
shouts at them. Even for nailing a nail in the wall, he would take hours and
still mess things up. Thus, his account in the book is highly amusing and one
of the most memorable one. The description of commotion that he creates in the
house in order to get a trivial task done is really funny.
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