Mabel the waitress

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Her "understanding" with Jeeves is such a mystery to me. After reading "Jeeves in the Springtime" again, I'm still not sure exactly what was going on. That story sure raises a lot of questions. Do you think Jeeves really had an understanding with her, or did he just make that up, and if so, why?


Apparently we're supposed to conclude that Jeeves was trying to get Mabel to stop going out with Bingo so he could have her for himself. But then why did Jeeves ask only Bingo to buy tickets to the subscription dance? If he wasn't already seeing Mabel, why not ask Bertie to buy tickets as well? His asking Bingo alone makes me think he wanted to unload her like he did Miss Watson and hoped she'd hit it off with Bingo (which she did), and he didn't want to risk Bertie falling for her too.

Was Jeeves really trying to help Bingo with the scheme for him to read to his uncle? Or was he trying to sabotage Bingo's chances with Mabel? His plans aren't always successful the first time around, and Mr Little Sr. was certainly wealthy enough both to afford a wife and to raise Bingo's allowance, so I don't know what to think there.

Assuming that the understanding with Mabel was real, why does nothing ever come of it? Bertie mentions her a few times in later stories, but always in connection with Bingo - he never refers to her as "Jeeves's former fiancée" or anything like that. Did he learn that her engagement to Jeeves was a ruse?

Oh, and what about that horseshoe tie? Did Jeeves have Mabel give it to Bingo to try to scare him off with her bad taste, or was that gift entirely her own idea?

Comments

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Just generally speaking, I think there was never any "understanding" at all. I think it might have been a flopped plan and a regrouping.

If there was, for some reason, a real attempt at a relationship there, maybe she realized that Jeeves was a little too enamored of Bertie and wouldn't ever actually end up going through with the whole getting married thing? We have, after all, seen Jeeves do some interesting things to stay in Bertie's employ, or in his orbit, even when he's attempted to leave.

I haven't read that particular story in a while. Maybe I would be of a different opinion if I re-read it. Then again, my slash brain might fight off any and all canon facts despite my best efforts. ;)

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

"We have, after all, seen Jeeves do some interesting things to stay in Bertie's employ, or in his orbit, even when he's attempted to leave."

That's how I see it, too — Jeeves knows a good thing when he has it, and it's his intention all along to remain with Bertie. Bertie has no real interest in getting married (that momentary infatuation with Bobbie W. notwithstanding), and neither does Jeeves. Why not remain together, keeping each other comfortable, for the rest of their lives? Their relationship works because Jeeves always knows when to yield the battle in an effort to win the war. Sometimes the battles necessarily involve women (who could easily manipulate Bertie but can't get anything past Jeeves), but they're really only pawns in Jeeves' grand schemes.

I, too, haven't read "Jeeves in the Springtime" in a long while, but it's probably time for a re-read. Just let me get these … slash … goggles … off.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Certianly he intends to remain with Bertie, but that wouldn't necessarily rule out any chance of marriage for himself, would it? Bertie raises no objections to his engagements, and if Jeeves had married he might have taken on Mrs Jeeves as a cook or something.

I wonder if he'd originally planned to marry one day, either because he wanted to or because he considered it some sort of social duty, but an increasing attraction to Bertie made him change his mind.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I could see that. Or maybe another man who had the same social status as Bingo (and more money than him or Jeeves) came along and stole her away? She sounds like an attractive, charming girl who'd have lots of admirers.

It's not one of the more overtly slashy stories, but I don't think there's anything in it to completely contradict a slashy interpretation, especially since it's still pretty early in their association.

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

My Slash brain says she, and the cook before her, were beards. Jeeves is smart and always planning, so he'd make it look like he had an interest in women, just in case the authorities asked.

Even my, much smaller, non-slash brain says there was a reason behind it, not love. Like she was being pursued by unlikable candidates, like Claude and Eustace, so she asked J. for help. Pretend fiance, unsuitable go away. Maybe she was reluctant to let J out of this arraignment, so he was looking for someone else to take her and now my slash brain is warming up the plot bunny breeding pen...

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I do like the idea of them both being beards. Miss Watson especially sounds like she could be one, but I wonder about Mabel. Surely there was some other equally pleasant girl who'd be easier to get. Or maybe he picked her because he knew she fancied more than one man and wouldn't be too likely to marry him? (But then why take her from Bingo?)

*encourages your bunnies*

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

*Why take her from Bingo

J knows enough about Bertie and his friends to know that if the Drones are unhappy, Bertie gets the short end of the stick, and Jeeves has to fix things. So by making sure the Drones are happily partnered off, less crisis to fix, more time with Bertie. I mean, improving books;p

Those slash goggles don't come off easy, do they?

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Reg, do help me out with this tosser," does seem like a potential reason as well. ;)

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

From the way the other servant class types love Jeeves, i get the feeling he helps them out like he does Bertie. Probably with more serious, angsty problems so working for Bertie is his relaxation. And sleeping with Bertie is his reward for a job well done;)

[imshi.livejournal.com]

if anyone could pull off a xanatos roulette, it'd be jeeves.... although, the order's wrong because he only meets mabel at the dance so he couldn't have invited bingo in order to make him fall in love with her. perhaps, having attended the dance, taken a liking to mabel (i can't believe he fell in love with her), and noticed bingo's infatuation as well, he created the scheme as it stood knowing that a) bingo wouldn't be too affected by his arrangement with mabel falling through and b) bingo's uncle would only need a slight nudge in the right direction, as you say, to fall in love with the cook, thereby breaking off the engagement to jeeves. he may perhaps not have foreseen that bingo's uncle wouldn't give him the allowance to marry mabel, but he could have encouraged mabel to break it off for other reasons anyway, and it just happening that way was good luck...

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Well, we only have Jeeves's word for it that they met at the dance. We also only have his word for it that he even knew her at all, since we never see the two together and Mabel never mentions him.

I think even if Bingo had got that raise in his allowance Mabel would still likely have broken things off with him eventually. Doesn't just about every woman find him to be a huge chump, sooner or later? ;D

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely one of his more byzantine schemes.

I agree that Wodehouse was likely still working out Jeeves's characterization. That's the Doylist explanation, but from within the text it's pretty curious that Jeeves is engaged to two women at once, and after that we never hear of him being involved with another woman ever again. He says he found the ladies in the bathing belles contest he judged "attractive", but that's it.

I could accept any of those slashy interpretations for what Jeeves was doing. I keep wavering between making Bertie jealous, and trying to suppress his burgeoning feelings for Bertie. At the moment I sort of lean toward the latter. I just remembered a short while ago that "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch", where Jeeves insults Bertie's intelligence to the substitute valet within Bertie's hearing, is set not too long after "Jeeves in the Springtime". Perhaps that was another effort of his to put distance between them?

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that trying to convince himself he's not attracted to Bertie has a lot to do with all of this stuff. Obviously, it wasn't working. Poor dear, he was helpless against those gormless baby blues.

[dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com]

I always assume that Jeeves's "understandings" with various females come about the same way that Bertie's do; entirely accidently. And he's less goofy than Bertie, but no less Preux.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

That's true, he is Preux. He says he's seen for some time that he & Miss Watson aren't suited, but he doesn't simply break things off with her. I think the difference between his and Bertie's Preux-ness is just that his is much more proactive. Where Bertie would get Jeeves to come up with a plan to fix things, and otherwise resign himself to his situation, Jeeves arranges for his own fiancée to accept some other man.

It's funny to think of Jeeves getting into understandings accidentally, but I find it very possible. I can't help wondering how he got engaged to Miss Watson in the first place. When he tells Bertie about it, he adds that "'She is a remarkably excellent cook, sir,' said Jeeves, as though he felt called on to give some explanation." He doesn't say that she's attractive or has a great personality or anything, and I doubt he'd propose just because he liked her cooking.

[dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com]

Well sure, Jeeves just figures out a plan for himself, because he's Jeeves. As for the engagement, there was a thing posted here a while back, an Agony Aunt column from the teens or 20's where a young woman wrote in about some chap she liked who seemed to like her but was too shy to speak to her. The columnist advised her to just assume they were engaged to save the guy the trouble of proposing. In Wodehouse world I just take that as standard.

I can easily see Jeeves complimenting this woman on her excellent cooking, and maybe he wasn't very profuse, but he would have been eloquent. He has quite a vocabulary and he is smarter than pretty much everyone. Maybe she just misunderstood his compliment and assumed....

Anyway, that's my head canon, and it can be slashy or not, as you like.

[bnmc2005.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I'm not understanding the era but whenever I hear the word "understanding" when it comes to relationship, it never speaks of any kind of romantic love whatsoever. It speaks to a kind of deal, as in "I'll cover for you and you cover for me".

Same here

[gunitneko.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought. I havent read the books but my impression was that Jeeves and all worked out a deal.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was basically an unofficial engagement, with the couple "understanding" that they intend to marry eventually but haven't made specific plans yet.

[cat-13145.livejournal.com]

Mabel may have simply being practical and looking out for herself.

Remember, not that many careers for women back then, and Jeeves as a valet would have being quite a catch and possibly the offer of promption and longer term employment.

With Bingo there is always the risk of simply being his mistress and never getting anywhere, because they belonged to different classes. We know that Bingo isn't like that, but Mabel wouldn't.

Love may not have entered into it, but practical business sense might have. Plus there's always the possibility that the pair of them could take care of Mr. Wooster and keep him safe from aunts and interfering females. Two heads have to be better than one.

Hope that made some form of sense.

[cat-13145.livejournal.com]

Oh and i think the tie had to be Mabel's idea. Jeeves couldn't look at it without it hurting him.

[dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite moments in the show is when Jeeves sees that tie. It's brilliant and hilarious. Bertie sees it first and tries to shield Jeeves and then Jeeves nearly faints.

[wotwotleigh.livejournal.com]

I think kurage_no_hone has hit the nail on the head. This is an early experiment in establishing Jeeves's personality.

The early Jeeves always struck me as a bit of a loose cannon -- brilliant, of course, but a lot more impulsive and reckless than he would later become as he (and the stories) matured.

In the early stories, Jeeves could be hot-tempered (e.g. angrily chasing Harold the choir boy in "Purity of the Turf" -- not something I can imagine the more mature Jeeves doing), ruthless, mercenary, and even a bit of a player. Why would he hook up with two ladies at once, even if he wasn't that interested in either one of them? Because he could. That's just how early!Jeeves rolls. He had a dastardly streak that lightened up considerably in the later books and stories, but never went away entirely.

My personal head canon is that Bertie and Jeeves both matured considerably during their years together, and that their relationship (whatever that might have been) developed gradually as they became comfortable with each other. In the early days, Jeeves seems fond of Bertie in a distant sort of way, but they eventually grow closer together. They seem to have had a strong positive influence on each other, too. Jeeves eventually becomes more mellow and kind, and Bertie becomes more responsible and, well, smarter.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I agree that Wodehouse was still working out Jeeves's personality when he wrote the story. That's certainly the most obvious explanation for things. But like I said in my comment to kurage_no_hone, I was looking at the story from a Watsonian rather than a Doylist perspective, which makes the story events a bit more puzzling.

I don't quite agree that Jeeves took up with the two women at once just because he could, though. I don't think he could help who he fell for, or that he'd meant from the outset to be unfaithful to his fiancée. It seems to me that he was stuck with the cook and wanted out, and there was another girl he really wanted to pursue but couldn't till Miss Watson got herself another man. In the meantime he and Mabel were just casually dating. Which is still not a good thing to do when he's engaged, but better than seeing two women just because he could.

And it just occurred to me, if they were actually semi-engaged as Jeeves claims, why was Mabel also seeing Bingo? Doesn't an "understanding" imply commitment? Another reason to think he wasn't being forthright about events.

That's my head canon too. :) I think they're pretty fond of each other from the start, but like you say, their closeness is something that develops over time.