Custody of the Pumpkin

Custody of the Pumpkin

P.G. Wodehouse

NOTES

Introduction

Wodehouse was a prolific British writer of comic prose fiction. His stories are populated by aristocrats like the ninth Earl of Emsworth, and take place in upper class settings. This story was originally published in US and UK magazines in 1924.

The story begins with a loving description of the sunshine alighting on, among other things, the Castle, its ivied walls, its green lawns, wide terraces, noble trees and three characters: the Earl, his son Freddie and Beach, the butler. Readers will note how Lord Emsworth relies on his butler to put his hat on and to take the cap off his new telescope. Much of the story’s humour derives from the dialogue, with even the butler given choice lines. By contrast, the head-gardener is given a comic Scottish accent (‘She’s paying’ me twa poon’ a week’). Students should be encouraged to note dialogue and descriptions they find particularly funny, and explain why.

The comic figure of Lord Emsworth is central to the story. Students should consider the way in which he responds to his son’s courtship and eventual marriage to Aggie Donaldson, and what it reveals about snobbery and class. They might examine, too, how Wodehouse portrays Lord Emsworth’s comic concern for the well-being of his prize pumpkin and also consider why the latter makes its first appearance about a third of the way through the story.

Humour In The Story

He gives orders as an Earl but nobody really listens to him. We see this when Freddie acts confused about the girl he was seen kissing, “Girl? He quavered. Girl, guv’nor?” this brings in the humour as we are shown that the poor Emsworth is not taken seriously. He keeps asking about the girl but Freddie keeps going around in circles, taking his time to answer Emsworth. Though, even after Freddie has explained he still asks who the girl is.

The bathos was shown in, “…no Earl of Emsworth had ever won a first prize for pumpkins…”

The story was built up with a mysterious picture only to find out that the picture was just an “ordinary” pumpkin. The anti climax creates a sort of humour because we’re all waiting to hear about the mysterious picture and then we find that its nothing big just a pumpkin completion.

Lord Emsworth Characterisation

Lord Emsworth’s Character is created in many different ways through hat he says, his thoughts, his actions, his appearance and what others think of him.

Lord Emsworth belongs to the landed gentry and speaks in a very posh, British dialect. By using words like “imbecile” and “dashed thing” we can tell that he is very posh. This manner of speaking was used in early twentieth century Britain. When Emsworth is speaking, he uses many exclamation marks. When he is speaking to Freddie, he jumps to the conclusion that the pumpkin had been harmed. “Frederick! Speak! Tell me!” shows that Emsworth panics very easily and gets distressed when there is no need by assuming things.

We learn a lot about Emsworth from his inner thoughts too.

Elements Of Humour

In his story “The Custody of the Pumpkin,” P. G. Wodehouse creates humour in a variety of ways. The story describes (among other things) Lord Emsworth’s frustration that his ne’er-do-well son, Frederick, has been flirting with the daughter of the estate’s gardener. Early in the story, the following passage, which is typical of the story’s humour, appears:

"Frederick!" bellowed his lordship.

The villain of the piece halted abruptly. Sunk in a roseate trance, he had not observed his father. But such was the sunniness of his mood that even this encounter could not damp him. He gambolled happily up.

"Hullo, guv'nor," said Freddie. He searched in his mind for a pleasant topic of conversation, always a matter of some little difficulty on these occasions.

"Lovely day, what?"

His lordship was not to be diverted into a discussion of the weather. He drew a step nearer, looking like the man who smothered the young princes in the Tower.

The humour of this passage depends on a number of factors, including the following:

•  Use of the very forceful verb “bellowed,” especially when that verb is followed by the words “his lordship.” We don’t usually think of dignified English aristocrats as bellowing, and so this combination of words is funny partly because of the comic incongruity of the verb and the noun. The phrase would be far less amusing if it had been written “bellowed Emsworth” or even “bellowed the lord.” The words “his lordship” are especially cultivated and thus seem out of place when following “bellowed.”

•  The description of Frederic as the “villain of the piece” is also amusing. Frederick is not evil or dangerous or malign. Thus Wodehouse uses comic exaggeration here and elsewhere.

•  There is a comic contrast between the angry Emsworth and the love-smitten Freddie, who is still “[s]unk in a roseate trance.” As the phrase just quoted illustrates, the humour of the story dependence in part on comic overstatement. It would not be nearly so amusing if Wodehouse had written that Freddie was “still thinking of his beloved.” The phrase “roseate trance” is a splendid example of ostentatious hyperbole.

•  Use of comic verbs, as in “gambolled,” which implies a light-heartedness totally in contrast to the mood of Lord Emsworth.

•  Use of comic slang, as when the son of an English aristocrat speaks to his father as if he were a cockney ("Hullo, guv'nor"). Such speech, designed to diminish his father’s anger, is only likely to increase it, thus providing an example of comic irony.

•  Finally, one more aspect of the humour of this passage deserves attention: the use of a comic simile, when Emsworth is described as looking “like the man who smothered the young princes in the Tower.” This phrase is humorous for several reasons: it is exaggerated; it is vivid; it catches us by surprise; and it is highly inventive. (Imagine how different the effect would be if Wodehouse had merely written “like a man full of anger.”)

Wodehouse, then, uses a variety of standard techniques for achieving humour, most of which depend, in one way or another, on incongruity. The contrast between “Frederick” and “Freddie” is just one of many examples of the incongruous in this passage and in the story as a whole.