Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)

even though it is humourus at the set the three men in a boat expressed profound philosiphyical ideas through the narrater jim. Explain ?

even though it is humourus at the set the three men in a boat expressed profound philosiphyical ideas through the narrater jim. Explain ?

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At times Jerome becomes philosophical and interpretive. This passage is a prime example of the flowery, serious style that Jerome adopts when he departs from his comic style, which is faster-paced and more concise. In the nineteenth century and today, the novel's critics take issues with its rapid shifting between styles. In some sections, Jerome affects a serious, Romantic style as a parody, rather than in earnest. In other sections, it is unclear whether he is writing this way ironically or sincerely. However, it is known that Jerome initially intended Three Men in a Boat as a serious travelogue, and so these passages might best be understood as remnants from earlier drafts. Either way, the novel's inconsistent style provides both its greatest strengths and weaknesses. Jerome clearly prized myriad approaches over internal consistency.

"And we sit there, by its margin, while the moon, who loves it too, stoops down to kiss it with a sister’s kiss, and throws her silver arms around it clingingly; and we watch it as it flows, ever singing, ever whispering, out to meet its king, the sea—till our voices die away in silence, and the pipes go out—till we, common-place, everyday young men enough, feel strangely full of thoughts, half sad, half sweet, and do not care or want to speak—till we laugh, and, rising, knock the ashes from our burnt-out pipes, and say 'Good-night,' and, lulled by the lapping water and the rustling trees, we fall asleep beneath the great, still stars, and dream that the world is young again—young and sweet as she used to be ere the centuries of fret and care had furrowed her fair face, ere her children’s sins and follies had made old her loving heart—sweet as she was in those bygone days when, a new-made mother, she nursed us, her children, upon her own deep breast—ere the wiles of painted civilization had lured us away from her fond arms, and the poisoned sneers of artificiality had made us ashamed of the simple life we led with her, and the simple, stately home where mankind was born so many thousands years ago." pg 18

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