Analysis “Three men in a boat”

Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) is a well known Eng.writer whose novels “Three men in a
boat”, “The idle thoughts of an idle fellow”, “Novels notes” and “Three men on the Bummel”
have enjoyed great popularity. Jerome K. Jerome, is a famous for his art of story-telling, his
vivid style and his humour, which is generally expressed in provoking situations often based on
misunderstanding. With sparkling humour he cricicized the weak sides of human nature.
I have read a chapter from Jerome’s book “Three men in a boat”. It represents an episode
from the journey of the 3 heroes. The friends roamed about Sonning and decided to put up at
one of the Shiplake islands for the night. The rest of the evening was spent in cooking an Irish
stew. They had their own duties. The friends put all the odds and ends and the remnants there
such as a couple of cracked eggs, a tin of potted salmon, half pork of pie, a cabbage, about half
of peas and a dozen potatoes, so the result was unbelievable. The text has an introduction (their
roaming about Sonning), then follows the chain of events, the actions which describe the
process of cooking “a really slap-up supper”, the climax of this short story is the discussion
about Montmorency’s contribution to the dinner; and the conclusion (the heroes enjoyed their
Irish stew; it was a great success; “the gravy was a poem, a little too rich perhaps for a weak
stomach, but nutritious”). The theme of the text is cooking, it can be proved by thematic words
and phrases such as: “a slap-up supper, vegetables, scrap and peel the potatoes, cabbage, peas,
meal, dish, dinner and so on”
The author’s purpose was to create a piece of humorous prose, to make the readers laugh at
the characters, to give the readers entertainment, pleasure and rest.
The whole story is told in the 1st person singular. The author’s tone is absolutely
impassionate, enthusiastic and bright, it contributes to the humour of the situation.
a) As to functional style of the story, it is important to note that the story represents the
speech of educated people, all the words are bookish and literary: fairy-like, to be smothered,
dainty splendor, veritable picture, undertaking, to try experiments, nutritious. So the text is
marked by bookish words and by the absence of vulgarisms, slang;
b) The Past Simple Tense is mostly used in the text, because it represents the style of
narration and description. The first 3 paragraphs are homogeneous whole, here we have only the
author’s narration and description; the other paragraphs are made of 2 parts: the author’s
narration and a dialogue. The sentences are well-built, some of them are complex with
subordination. Snatches of dialogues are marked by contracted forms: Oh, that won’t do! You’re
wasting them!
c) At the beginning of the text the author describes an old village where the heroes got out.
He uses plenty of epithets: a fairy-like little nook, dainty splendor, quaint rooms, latticed
windows, sweet Sonning. This charming landscape helps the author to take his readers away
from the daily routine. To show the irony of the situation the author uses such stylistic devices
as hyperbola and irony «the biggest thing of its kind», simile «the size of pea-nut», pun
«scraping ourselves», hyperbola «half-smothered». It helps to imagine a full picture of
situation. In this part, the author wanted to show how the characters are not adapted to such
simple things like cooking and cleaning potatoes and how awkwardly they do it.
Its characters are presented by the teller through their actions and conversations. George is
rather a stout young man who is fond of good eating. He prefers to give the commands rather
than do something. He is rather conservative and always “seeks to be on the safe side”. Harris
and the narrator are 2 young men, incapable of doing many simple things of everyday life.
Harris represents himself as a supporter of progress: he stands for the water rat being put into
the stew. Even their dog with a royal name is characterized as a human being, as a real friend
who takes an active part in cooking.
 So all the elements of the composition create a brilliant entertaining humorous story which
gives a real pleasure and enjoyment.