Three men in a boat questions answers for class 9 cbse part 1
Answers
Answer:
The story is a travelogue which starts with three friends George, Harris and Jerome and their dog, Montmorency. They all were smoking in the room and suffering from health issues. They decided to go for a trip to River Thames between Kingston and Oxford on Saturday. The story is a humorous compilation of the incidents that occur to them on their trip. The story also includes the related incidents told by the author and his friends. They hired a boat for their journey. They decided to camp outside in fine weather and inside during bad weather. They did a lot of mishaps during their journey of the boat which was quite funny. The characters present their views on different aspects of life. We get to know of Uncle Rodger, the Hampton Court Maze and the unreliability of barometers. Jerome also tells about how girls tow their boat and other related funny stories.
Question 1:
Sketch the character of the narrator, Jerome K. Jerome.
Answer:
Jerome K. Jerome is the main character of his classical comic novel ‘Three Men in a Boat’. He is the narrator and the novel is a ‘first person’ description of the river journey from Kingston to Oxford. Like both of his real life-friends Harris and George, Jerome is also a hypochondriac who is all the time concerned with his health. He finds symptoms of all diseases: typhoid, Bright’s disease, cholera and diphtheria in him. The only malady that perhaps he doesn’t possess is ‘housemaid’s knee’.
Jerome is not a vocal and boisterous character like his other life-friends, Harris and George. He rarely takes any initiative. Slowly but silently he makes his presence felt in all the decisions and operations that are associated with the river journey. Jerome has a long association with the Thames. He has undertaken many trips to the river with his friends and family. Actually, he spent his honeymoon with his new bride on the Thames before writing ‘Three Men in a Boat’. Jerome is full of anecdotes. His stories are associated with the social, cultural and historical life of the people and places on the river. These comical anecdotes or digressions make the novel a classic in comic English literature.
The narrator doesn’t forget to laugh at himself, too. On many occasions he contradicts himself. On one hand, he says that he takes a great pride in his work. But in the same breath he complains that it always seems to him that he is doing more work than he should do.
The narrator has an eye for beauty and romance. His description of the river and the villages and towns on it is graphic and fascinating. He displays a deep knowledge about the social practices, culture, history, costumes, food, drinks that the people and places of the Thames’s region are associated with.
He sees that Harris will grow as another Uncle Podger. However, Jerome forgets that he too can act funny and ridiculous on certain occasions. He prides on his packing but forgets to pack his toothbrush so often. He behaves like his Uncle Podger himself. To sum up, Jerome has all those qualities that are generally associated with a professional traveller. He has the knowledge, attitude and patience which are the traits of a good travel guide and writer.
Question 2:
Describe the role of the dog, Montmorency, in the novel ‘Three Men in a Boat’.
Or
Attempt a character sketch of Montmorency.
Answer:
Montmorency plays an important role in the story-line of ‘Three Men in a Boat’. He is gifted with a sharp understanding of men, matters and situations which is rarely found in the breed of animals like him. But Montmorency is a fox-terrier. And as Jerome finds that fox-terriers are ‘born with about four times as much original sin’ in them as other dogs are. So, Montmorency, does share some of these characteristics. Jerome gives a human face to the dog. He records his agreement or disagreement on certain things and in certain decisions. Montmorency was against the decision of going on a river-holiday. He shares all the experiences with his three human friends. When George prepares the Irish stew, Montmorency doesn’t forget to bring his contribution to be added to the stew. He brings a dead water rat as his contribution. When his stomach is full after a good supper, she shows his contentment by spreading put his legs and lying down leisurely near them.
Montmorency is after all a dog and a fox-terrier. He has different opinion about cats than Jerome. He gives a cry of joy when he sees the black cat Tom. He pounces on him threateningly. But Montmorency is not reckless and he can be cautious and practical. Tom was more than a match for Montmorency. His ugly and ferocious looks chilled his heart and he never dared to touch cats again. Montmorency can be wild and resort to funny antics. He considers the tea-kettle as his rival. Whenever he sees steam coming out of the kettle, Montmorency feels as if he is being challenged. Foolishly he pounces upon the spout of the kettle and bums his nose. From that moment, he never goes near the kettle.
Montmorency has the blood of fox-terrier in his veins. He never leaves a dog unchallanged. He finds Oxford, the most ideal and suitable place, a ‘heaven’ for him. He fights 11 battles on the very first day and 14 battles on the second day with dogs of different kinds.
To sum up, Montmorency is an inseparable part of the river journey that three life-friends undertake to escape from overwork. He is more than a dog. But all said and done, he is a dog and on the top of it, a fox-terrier.