The major recurring theme of the novel is English history. Many of the places that the three travellers encounter on their journey along the Thames, the old villages and inns and so on, are simply steeped in historical fact and legend. The narrator, Jerome, or J, seldom loses an opportunity to muse upon days and scenes gone by (it seems he is fitted by nature to do so in any case, being a self-confessed daydreamer and idler). He also nostalgically envisages the past as being a time of less fret and haste and anxiety than his own world of the late nineteenth century. He certainly has a vivid imagination as he conjures up historical events and personages.
Very often Jerome's historical musings are worked into the comedy of the book, especially when juxtaposed with events and characters of his own day. For instance, on noting how many public houses Queen Elizabeth I ('Queen Bess') is supposed to have frequented along the river, he falls to speculating how people of the future might come to see and wonder over the pubs that his fellow-traveller Harris, a noted drinker, did not visit. He also notes how the present time needs someone like Julius Caesar of old to exercise strong-arm tactics against those people whom Jerome sees as spoiling the enjoyment of the river for others by demanding money from sightseers, and so on.
However, on other occasions Jerome's imaginative excursions into England's past take on a wholly romantic and indeed sentimental glow, as for instance when he grandly envisions the signing of the Magna Charta, concluding as follows:
And King John has stepped upon the shore, and we wait in breathless silence till a great shout cleaves the air, and the great cornerstone in England's temple of liberty has, now we know, been firmly laid.
Two themes that stand out to me are the themes of happiness and where happiness can be found.
The initial reason that the men decide to go on their boat trip is that they are feeling sick, restless, and unhappy. What is great about the story in general is that it doesn't provide readers with a "key" to happiness. The men are unhappy with their lives in London, and they are unhappy and constantly bicker while on the boat ride. This story doesn't send readers the message that happiness is found away from the city, or on vacation, or out with friends. Instead the story gives readers the idea that happiness is more of a mindset. If you can be content with your current situation and appreciate all that is around you, happiness will follow.
The other theme is a theme that contrasts country life and city life. Various forms of media tend to portray country life as so much more wholesome, happy, and simple than city life. Currier and Ives paintings portray this notion nicely as do paintings from Thomas Kinkade. What's great about Three Men in a Boat is that it does not perpetuate this myth. The men in the story believe that a boat trip away from the stresses of the city will bring them happiness and relief; however, over the course of their trip, they discover that country living is every bit as stressful, demanding, and difficult as city life.
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