cheese 3_men_ina_boat

Cheese Three Men in a Boat

The extract under analysis comes from the novel "Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)" by Jerome K. Jerome (1859 - 1927). He was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue "Three Men in a Boat". Other works include the essay collections "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow" and "Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow"; "Three Men on the Bummel", a sequel to "Three Men in a Boat"; and several other novels.

"Three Men in a Boat", published in 1889, is a humorous account of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.

The extract is written in a humorous tone. The plot of the passage is built around the travelling of the main character with his friend's smelly cheeses. The passage is partially narrative and partially a dialogue.

The humorous effect is achieved by the incongruous combination of the solemn form and insignificant meaning ("I took my ticket, and marched proudly up the platform, with my cheeses, the people falling back respectfully on either side"; "it was disgraceful that a respectable married woman should be harried about in this way"; "he seemed greatly attached to them"). The author lends some stylistic colouring to the description of the character's travelling using the epithets, which also aim at a humorous effect: 'splendid cheeses, ripe and mellow', 'ramshackle affair', 'knock-kneed, broken-winded somnambulist', 'crusty old gentleman', 'a respectable married woman', 'solemn-looking man'. These epithets daze the emotional force they carry. The desired effect is strengthened by the usage of the oxymoron 'all went merry as a funeral bell', which draws the reader's attention. The author enhances the desired effect with the help of the metonymy 'It was a ramshackle affair, dragged along by a <...> somnambulist and the prolonged metaphor "cheeses <...> with a two hundred horse-power scent about them that might have been warranted to carry three miles, and knock a man over at two-hundred yards", where the author also resorts to the antithesis. Here in description of the cheeses he employs, at first, the words of positive connotation 'splendid cheeses, ripe and mellow' and then the metaphoric expressions of negative connotation. All these devices make the description illustrative and vivid.

The syntactic parallelism of the conjunction "and" in the sentences 'And then a stout lady got up, and said it was disgraceful that a respectable married woman should be harried about in this way, and gathered up a bag and eight parcels and went; And then they began sniffing, and, they caught it right on the chest and rose up without another word and went out', which connects the homogeneous parts of the sentences, produces vivid stylistic colouring of the emotional state of the passengers and produces the effect of precipitancy. The author's object in employing these stylistic devices is quite evident.

The syntax of the narrative part of the passage is rather complicated with numerous clauses and homogeneous parts of the sentences and it contributes to the rhythmic unification of the whole story. The syntax of the dialogues is very simple; plenty of elliptical sentences makes the colloquial speech vivid and dynamic 'Oh, with pleasure, dear boy<...>', 'Very close in here', 'Quite oppressive'. Also the writer achieves with the help of the ellipsis the authenticity of fictitious dialogue. The same effect is achieved with the help of the phonetic reduction in the remark of one passenger 'Here y'are, Maria', which contradicts standards of the language.

The starting point of the climax is the utterance "until we turned the corner". It establishes the beginning of the collision. The sentences are so arranged that each of the consecutive sentences is more important, more significant and more emotionally coloured than the preceding one, all of them forming a chain of interdependent elements. The story is of open plot structure as it is not finished. Thus, we can't find the peak of the climax and the denouement.

As the passage has more entertaining value, it's impossible to sum up any significant idea. Nevertheless, it's a humorous piece of writing and its jokes seem to be fresh and witty even today.

By the way of conclusion I'd like to say that the author is certainly a master of style because he achieves the humorous effect by various means and his novel, even written more than one century ago, is still witty and spiritual.