Installment 3 of 20, in The Pickwick Papers 180th anniversary readalong, hosted by On Bookes, and commencing in May, just as Dickens’ third installment was published.
First, an observation that I should have realized long ago, but failed to until just this month: At the beginning of
Little Women, when the March girls are play acting in the attic, they are
enacting The Pickwick Papers.
Chapter
6: Relatively uneventful. The Pickwickians are welcomed into the home of Mr.
Wardle, where they engage in conversation, dinner, and card games. The reader
is reminded that Tupman fancies himself a lady’s man, and learns, not
surprisingly, that Snodgrass, the poet, also has an eye for the fair sex. The
evening passes without any terribly comic or noteworthy event. a local
clergyman in attendance, recites a poem, at the request of
Snodgrass, who records the poem. A bit later, the singular moment seems to be
when the clergyman at the gathering tells a tale, purportedly a true tale, of a
wayward parishioner.
Chapter
7: Early the next morning Wardle offers to take Pickwick and Winkle, the sportsman, shooting for rooks. Winkle fails his first shot
completely by not properly charging his weapon, and then once his error is
corrected for him, he misses the birds, and wings his companion Tupman. The
injury is very slight but Tupman uses it to advantage in gaining sympathy and
attention of the female members of the household, specifically one spinster
aunt. Winkle is of course embarrassed and contrite, while Pickwick
is openly annoyed with him for impugning the reputation and dignity
of the Pickwickians.
Chapter
8: The host then invites the Pickwickians to attend an important cricket
match between the local team Dingley Dell and their rivals Muggleton. Due to
injury however, Tupman is confined to home and feminine care, but he bears up
considerably well under this restriction. The home team loses 54 - 0, a
lopsided loss that is not unheard of in the game of cricket. The more important
development is the reappearance of the unnamed Stranger from chapter 2, whose
name is finally revealed to the reader and the Pickwickians as Alfred Jingles,
Esq., of No Hall, Nowhere. There is a bit more of course, to include a comic
love triangle, and although the reader senses turmoil ahead, Dickens closes the
chapter with most of the characters in high spirits, happily deluded to the
true nature of their circumstances.
In the first chapter, the reader is told that Mr. Winkle is known for being an
accomplished sportsman. In chapter five, the reader gets a hint that his
distinction may be exaggerated when he is called upon to ride
horseback and does so none too well. In chapter seven,
with the shooting accident, it becomes even more apparent that Winkle is not as
accomplished as his reputation.
In my
review of chapter two, I speculated that the Stranger might be a bit of a
rogue. As his name is now revealed, so is this aspect of his character, though only to the reader at this point. The Pickwickians seem to consider him a bit odd, but a jolly good chap.
A rogue indeed, a dastardly one. Had to laugh a little though. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out...
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