Chapter - 7, Three Men in a Boat Summary Class 9 Three Men in a Boat

The narrator’s dress sense

The river afforded a good opportunity for dress. Men could reflect their  tastes in colours. The narrator liked a little red in all his things-red and black. His hair was a sort of golden brown. So the dark red matched  with his hair. A light blue necktie went well with it. A pair of Russian-leather shoes and a red silk handkerchief round the waist added charm to his personality.

Harris’ dress sense

Harris kept to shades a mixture of orange or yellow but in his opinion they didn’t suit him well. His complexion was too dark for yellows, but he didn’t pay attention to any suggestion.

George’s dress sense

George had bought some new things for this trip, but the narrator was rather vexed about them. The blazer was gaudy. He did not want George to know about his opinion. The narrator and Harris were worried about it because it would attract attention to the boat.

Girls in a boat

Girls also didn’t  look bad in a boat ,if they were prettily dressed .But he was of the opinion that a boating dress  ought to be a dress that can be worn in a boat’. The narrator once went with  two Ladies of this kind. They were both beautifully dressed. But they were dressed for a photographic studio, not for a river picnic. The first thing that they thought was that the boat was not clean. They thought that a drop of water would ruin their dress. Jim was stroke. He did his best, but could not prevent a few drops of water falling on their clothes. He left his seat and asked another man to row. The ladies felt relieved, but when the man spread more than a pint of water on their dresses, they began to protect themselves with their umbrellas and drew rugs and coats over themselves.

The narrator’s dislike of tombs

Harris wanted to get out at Hampton Court and visit Mrs. Thomas’s tomb. The writer objected to it. He is reminded of his visit to a village church. It was a lovely landscape. Suddenly the narrator looked up and saw an old bald-headed man coming to him. He was carrying a huge bunch of keys in his hand that shook and jingled at every step. He insisted that Jim should see the tomb. Jim protested. The old bald-headed man persisted and requested him to see the memorial windows. He burst into tears and asked Jim to see the skulls at least. Jim had to run away from the scene.

Harris’ liking for old places

Harris who was interested in tombs, graves, epitaphs and monuments revealed that he had joined the trip to see Mrs. Thomas’s Tomb. Jim reminded him that they had to reach Shepperton by five o’clock to meet George. This made Harris angry and he said why George had not taken the day off and joined them at the start. He further remarked that he had never seen him doing any work.

Mishap with Harris

Harris wanted to go to the pub to have a drink. Jim told him that they were miles away from a pub. He told Hams to take out a bottle from the hamper. The bottle was at the bottom of the hamper and seemed difficult to find and he had to lean further and further. In trying to steer at the same time, he pulled the wrong line and sent the boat into the bank. This upset him and he dived down right into the hamper and stood there on his head holding on the sides of the boat. He had to stay there till the narrator got hold of his legs and hauled him back.