Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), Chapter 12 summary

What happens

1. After washing up, the companions visit Magna Carta Island, and nearby historical sites prompt the narrator’s thoughts about courting couples.
2. Passing Datchet prompts a memory of rejected hotels, exhausted searching, and shelter supplied by a boy’s mother.
3. Below Monkey Island, lunch suffers from missing mustard before a pineapple tin raises everyone’s spirits.
4. Without an opener, the companions injure themselves attacking the tin, which Harris finally throws into the river.
5. They pass Maidenhead, admire Cliveden Woods, take tea near Cookham, and sail with a favorable evening wind.
6. The narrator steers into a fishing punt; George takes over and brings them to Marlow for the night.

In this chapter

What to notice

The collision punctures the narrator’s dreamlike account of sailing. It also exposes the practical failure beneath his repeated reminders that he is steering.

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