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Packing, By jerome k jerome, Introduction-, Dear students , good morning to all of you . now we are going to have a class on English literature. The chapter we are going to deal with is Packing written by Jerome K. Jerome., You know for most people going on a trip is always enjoyable as it is a source of recreation. It is a time when we keep ourselves free from all kinds of daily activities and completely focus on enjoyment and relaxation. This is the time when we do not want to burden our mind with any sort of worries . We just want to be happy and enjoy the nature and all other things. To make a trip more memorable and enjoyable there are certain things that we need to follow. The most important thing is to make a plan. Planning can involve selection of the place where we want to go, then estimation of expenses, selection of day and date and lastly packing . The packing is the last thing that we do . but it doesn’t mean it is the least thing. In fact it is the most impotant part of journey. By I mean to say the packing of all the items that will be needed during our trips. Usually it is done just one day before the journey starts. When it is not done in a proper way, it can simply spoil our mood and excitement. According to me packing is an art and many of us are not good at it. Why I say this is because most people have no idea as which things should be packed first and which things should be packed later. Besides this if we are not good at packing then we will forget some things to pack. In such situation we then have to take thing out and again pack them . sometimes this process happens over and over again., The story that we are going to read today gives the same idea that how three friends end up in an awkward situation just because they have no proper knowledge of packing. So before read the chapter let us first have a short glimpse of the author Jerome K. Jerome., About the author-, Jerome Klapka jerome was an English poet. He was born on 2nd May 1859 at Caldmore in England and died on 14th June 1927. Though he was born in a poor family , he was able to attend grammar school. As a young man he tried to earn a living in various occupation. He became a theatre artist. Since he did not have enough money to buy costumes he left the work. Later he became a journalist and started writing essays which were rejected. Then he became a school teacher. Since writing was his passion, he did not stop writing . Finally his work ‘ on the stage- and off’ became a success. It was a comic memoir of his experiences with an acting troupe. With this he earned some name and fame. But he became a well acclaimed writer with his famous novel ‘three man in a boat’ which was published in 1889. It has been adapted into films, TV, radio shows, stage plays etc. it was indeed a huge success., Summary, This is an extract from the novel , ‘Three men in a Boat’ by Jerome K. Jerome, There are five characters in the story. They are George, Harris, Author, the dog- Montmorency and the cat- Tintoretto. In this extract we don’t find any thing mentioned about the cat but it is one the characters of the novel., One day they decided to go on a holiday for regaining health. Before starting the journey they needed some things to carry with them. So they needed to pack all those things which would be required in the journey. Jerome told them that he would do the packing as he considered himself good at this job. He asked them to sit and relax., However the actual intention of Jerome was not to do the packing but to supervise it and give instruction to them. But when those two fellows were sitting relaxed and enjoying a cigar and pipe respectively, he felt irritated because people’s not doing anything irritated him. He hated people doing nothing., Eventually the narrator started the packing. He finished the packing in short time. But Harris reminded him that he had forgotten to put the boots in. He opened the bag and packed the boots in. When he was going to close then suddenly an idea of his toothbrush came to his mind. He was not certain whether he packed the toothbrush or not. So he had to again unpacked the things. After a long search he found it inside a boot. After that he repacked the things again. Thus the process proved to be long and tiring as the things were packed, removed or forgotten. The whole packing was clumsy and haphazard. The two friends now decided to take over the process of packing. Harris and George were not good at packing. So the thing got worsen. They were in confusion. They were not able to decide which item should be packed first. The items which are easily breakable should be kept above all other things. But in their case it was not happening like that . They took every thing out from the bag. The narrator could see piles of plates, cups, kettles, tomatoes etc. As the packing started again, they broke cups accidentally . Tomatoes were squashed and butter spread all over the floor., Seeing this George and Harris got irritated. Now the dog, Montmorency got in. It created a trouble for them as it was sitting down on the things which were to be packed. It started playing with the things. It put his leg into the jam and was playing with lemons as if those were rats., Finally the packing was completed and they retired ., Conclusion-, This story was meant to be humorous. But we don’t find many elements of humour. It is no so funny as it is unable to create unstoppable laughter in the reader. It could be considered more as a satire because the narrator is making fun of himself and his friends. Though they are grown men, they are not in position of doing a simple job effectively. Packing is not a very hard work. But it turned out to be hard for them because they did not have a proper planning.