Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Did the main characters of Three Men in a Boat run into any problems or adventures?

This answer depends on what you consider to be a problem or an adventure. The narrator of this book can create full-blown and major stories from even the smallest incident. Most of the memorable ones related here are tales from the past that he or his friends remember. Truth be told, the events of the river trip itself are fairly tame. And the problems they have are often ones they cause themselves. Harris falls into the hamper at the end of Chapter VII. George and Harris get tangled up when they put up the canvas and hoops tent over the boat in Chapter X. Harris turns out not be able to cook scrambled eggs in Chapter XI. When they stop for lunch in Chapter XII, they can’t open a can of pineapple. Montmorency gets stared down by a cat in Chapter XIII, and the men go shopping for groceries in this chapter, too. Harris gets drunk and supposedly fights off a flock of swans at the end of Chapter XIV. In Chapter XVI, the group is towed by a steam launch owned by some of the narrator’s friends. George and J. have some entertainment involving a large trout on display at an inn in Chapter XVII. Perhaps a key observation comes in Chapter XVIII, when the narrator says: “Little mishaps, that you would hardly notice on dry land, drive you nearly frantic with rage, when they occur on the river.” So too can the most minor encounter seem like a terrific adventure, especially in the telling afterward.

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