UNCLE PODGER BY J K JEROME,,, summary
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about all that Tripp has done with the anecdote in chapter three of Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, detailing the domestic chaos wrought when the narrator's Uncle Podger--all thumbs and bluster--attempts to hang a picture, is to change some verb tenses and, in the illustrations, turn the Victorian gentleman and his family into rabbits. The lovably inept and crotchety pater familias (we know the type from TV comedies) reigns here in suitable period comfort, but there are always those rabbit ears poking through the maid's lace cap or those powder puff tails sticking out through Uncle Podger's plaid pants and through his littlest son's sailor suit as extra reminders of how illusory is his carefully nursed dignity. Well cast.
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Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome
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Provide a character analysis of Uncle Podger in Jerome K. Jerome's book, Three Men in a Boat.
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CORINNE SMITH eNotes educator | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
We hear a story about the narrator’s Uncle Podger in Chapter III of Three Men in a Boat. This is our sole intersection with him, so this is the only incident we can use to analyze his character.
Uncle Podger once undertook a common, simple household task. He wanted to hang a picture on the wall. Unfortunately, he took forever and went through many tools and strategies to do this. He made the act more complex than it needed to be. He yelled at people around him for help, but he didn’t really want them to interfere. And he caused more damage and raised more additional difficulties than he needed to. He was stubborn enough to think that he knew quite well how to do this task. The reality was that he didn’t know how to do it at all. He did such a terrible job that eventually someone else had to intervene in order for the job to get done, hours later. And yet he took pride in his work and thought that he had made a good effort all along.
Uncle Podger is the kind of person who exasperates everyone around him. They all know his capabilities, even if he doesn’t. He may mean well, and he may mean to be helpful, but all he will do is to cause more problems.