I will await your effort with baited breath. You get such a nice level of polish on things. It's quite inspiring.
I quit my job and therefore have some time on my hands so I have been reading these lately out of interest.
Bertie had a rather lively history before Jeeves, what with dropping blancmanges on people, stealing biscuits and policeman's helmets, and riding around in the altogether singing comic songs. I think he just has a sort of flexible sense of honesty--which also allows him not to hurt the feelings of all those women who make his skin crawl.
I must confess that I have a more romantic notion of Jeeves...loved the dead employer like a father and was deeply wounded at the loss, totally unable to deal with the anger and nastiness of the Craye household (maybe Florence had a crush on him?), tried very hard to keep the other, stubborn employer out of chokey (Ring for Jeeves has a theme like this), and thereafter vowed only to work for not-terribly-bright and rather pretty men like Bertie and Bill (Ring for Jeeves). I personally like to think that Jeeves managed to make Lord Worplesdon think that he dismissed Jeeves just to keep the door open as it were. It just seemed weird that they did not invite Bertie to get Jeeves, which makes me wonder if Lord Worplesdon even knows whether Jeeves works for Bertie. (Or maybe all Jeeves's whining about fishing was a ploy because Lord Worplesdon had been asking him to come out and help and offered Bertie the cottage because he did not want him in the house with Florence after their failed engagement.) The only employer Jeeves does not seem to want to leave a door open to is Mr. Stoker.
I think Agatha might just be sick and tired of molding Wooster men. She clearly did a lot of work on Uncle Henry and Uncle George (and Uncle Willoughby) and put a lot of effort into managing Cyril Bassington-Bassington and Claude and Eustace. Only problem for her with Bertie is that he knows he does not want to be molded and is smart enough to avoid her obvious machinations. And let's face it, Bertie is her Jeeves--fixing all that stuff up behind the scenes for her with the help of the real Jeeves (just like Bertie fixes things for Aunt Dahlia).
Hmm... my personal impression of Jeeves is that he does not bother getting irked (luxury item he cannot afford), but rather just sets his mind to 'tact' and uses all resources at his disposal (including Bertie in the resource pile). On the Biffy front, he was totally pipped because he thought Biffy was a cad and a bounder--his very first try at reunion was 100% on, though.
Another thing I've thought for a while is that class division has never really entirely faded out (just read Maeve Binchy or Rosamunde Pilcher). But Bertie actually describes Jeevs as the Mussolini of the home in Thank-you Jeeves. It's a really interesting thing to think about, I think. And being American, it's really especially fascinating because we're so tuned out of our own class system.
No apologies for slowness--this is totally the bomb. Have fun with your campus activities. I'm currently studenting online which is convenient but lacks social qualities.
no subject
I quit my job and therefore have some time on my hands so I have been reading these lately out of interest.
Bertie had a rather lively history before Jeeves, what with dropping blancmanges on people, stealing biscuits and policeman's helmets, and riding around in the altogether singing comic songs. I think he just has a sort of flexible sense of honesty--which also allows him not to hurt the feelings of all those women who make his skin crawl.
I must confess that I have a more romantic notion of Jeeves...loved the dead employer like a father and was deeply wounded at the loss, totally unable to deal with the anger and nastiness of the Craye household (maybe Florence had a crush on him?), tried very hard to keep the other, stubborn employer out of chokey (Ring for Jeeves has a theme like this), and thereafter vowed only to work for not-terribly-bright and rather pretty men like Bertie and Bill (Ring for Jeeves). I personally like to think that Jeeves managed to make Lord Worplesdon think that he dismissed Jeeves just to keep the door open as it were. It just seemed weird that they did not invite Bertie to get Jeeves, which makes me wonder if Lord Worplesdon even knows whether Jeeves works for Bertie. (Or maybe all Jeeves's whining about fishing was a ploy because Lord Worplesdon had been asking him to come out and help and offered Bertie the cottage because he did not want him in the house with Florence after their failed engagement.) The only employer Jeeves does not seem to want to leave a door open to is Mr. Stoker.
I think Agatha might just be sick and tired of molding Wooster men. She clearly did a lot of work on Uncle Henry and Uncle George (and Uncle Willoughby) and put a lot of effort into managing Cyril Bassington-Bassington and Claude and Eustace. Only problem for her with Bertie is that he knows he does not want to be molded and is smart enough to avoid her obvious machinations. And let's face it, Bertie is her Jeeves--fixing all that stuff up behind the scenes for her with the help of the real Jeeves (just like Bertie fixes things for Aunt Dahlia).
Hmm... my personal impression of Jeeves is that he does not bother getting irked (luxury item he cannot afford), but rather just sets his mind to 'tact' and uses all resources at his disposal (including Bertie in the resource pile). On the Biffy front, he was totally pipped because he thought Biffy was a cad and a bounder--his very first try at reunion was 100% on, though.
Another thing I've thought for a while is that class division has never really entirely faded out (just read Maeve Binchy or Rosamunde Pilcher). But Bertie actually describes Jeevs as the Mussolini of the home in Thank-you Jeeves. It's a really interesting thing to think about, I think. And being American, it's really especially fascinating because we're so tuned out of our own class system.
No apologies for slowness--this is totally the bomb. Have fun with your campus activities. I'm currently studenting online which is convenient but lacks social qualities.