Blandings Castle kokkuvõte (3)

Blandings Castle by P.G. Wodehouse
Wodehouse was an acknowledged master of English prose admired both by contemporaries and by modern writers. He has been called "English literature's performing flea", a derogatory description that Wodehouse cherished and adopted as the title of his autobiography. Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories , Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies.
Wodehouse took a modest attitude to his own works . In Over Seventy (1957) he wrote:
"I go in for what is known in the trade as ' light writing' and those who do that – humorists they are sometimes called – are looked down upon by the intelligentsia and sneered at."
Wodehouse's characters are often eccentric, with peculiar attachments, such as to newts (Gussie Fink -Nottle) or socks (Archibald Mulliner). His "mentally negligible" good -natured characters invariably make their lot worse by their half -witted (if that) schemes to improve a bad situation.
Wodehouse's aristocrats, however , embody many of the comic attributes that characterize buffoons created by a genius . In many cases the classic eccentricities of Wodehouse's upperclass give rise to plot complications.
Relatives, especially aunts and uncles, are commonly depicted with an exaggerated power to help or impede marriage or financial prospects, or simply to make life miserable. Friends are often more a trouble than a comfort in Wodehouse stories: the main character is typically being placed in a most painful situation just to please a friend . Antagonists ( particularly rivals in love) are frequently terrifying, and just as often get their come -uppance in a delicious fashion .
Although his plots are on the surface formulaic, Wodehouse's genius lies in the tangled layers of comedic complications that the characters must endure to reach the invariable happy ending . Typically, a relative or friend makes some demand that forces a character into a bizarre situation that seems impossible to recover from, only to resolve itself in a clever and satisfying finale. The layers pile up thickly in the longer works, with a character getting into multiple dangerous situations by mid-story. An outstanding example of this is Code of the Woosters where most of the chapters have an essential plot point reversed in the last sentence, catapulting the characters forward into greater diplomatic disasters.

Stories

6 short stories: each takes place in Blandings Castle and Lord Emsworth is the protagonist in most of those. He’s an old man who lives by the old nobility manners. He has his own view on everything. Also, he is a bit absentminded and that irritates mostly everyone he speaks to. His son, Freddie , also appears a lot in the text. Freddie is a go-getter and is not afraid of almost anything barring old Lord Emsworth himself . Lord Emsworth tries to get him to leave Blandings Castle whenever possible. Another one of the main characters is the gardener Angus McAllister. He is a grumpy Scot , who cares very much about his gardens . He is very moody and at one point has Lord Emsworth under his paw.

The custody of the pumpkin: Main theme in there is the Pumpkin contest, which Lord Emsworth very much wants to win. Also, Freddie, who usually is not in the castle, is there and is flirting with McAllister’s niece from America, without Lord Emsworth knowing it. Lord Emsworth would probably not allow that kind of relationship because due to his beliefs he wants Freddie to marry someone from his own class . At one point Lord Emsworth finds out about it and tells McAllister something like “Either the girl goes or You go,” to which McAllister replies with his resignation. Some time goes by and after a while Lord Emsworth discovers that his biggest pumpkin is not looking so well. He tries all sorts of methods to make it feel better but nothing helps. He writes to McAllister to come but he refuses the offer . So he sets of to London to find a new gardener. In between some interviews he runs into Freddie, whom he had forbid to leave Blandings castle. They have a little chat and then go on in different directions. Later he finds out that Freddie had come to propose the girl from Blandings, Aggie. At one point he goes to the London Gardens and gets into a bit of trouble. There he meets McAllister and they make up with each other . After they have returned to Blandings castle, Lord Emsworth meets with Aggie’s father and finds out that he is a millionaire from America, has his own company, and wants to hire Freddie. Of course Lord Emsworth is rejoiced by this fact and agrees to give the young couple his blessing. A few days later is the pumpkin contest and, as you might guess, Lord Emsworth’s pumpkin wins.

Lord Emsworth act for the best: The second story revolves mostly around Freddie’s and Aggie’s marriage trouble. Freddie arrives at Blandings Castle and is quite devastated. He tells Lord Emsworth the story how he and Aggie got into a fight . It was about a meeting he had had with a female publisher to publish a script he had written. They were having dinner and one of Aggie’s friends saw them and later presented it to Aggie as if they were flirting. Aggie got angry and threatened with a divorce . So Freddie asks Lord Emsworth to explain the whole thing to Aggie, because she does not want to meet Freddie. Lord Emsworth refuses to do that. So, Freddie decides that the only way it would be possible for Aggie to know the real version is if he goes to Aggie disguised as Lord Emsworth. In the meantime, Lord Emsworth changes his mind, because he realizes that when Freddie divorces he will come back to Blandings castle. So, Lord Emsworth goes to London to meet Aggie. In her hotel room he gets into all sorts of problems. Finally , someone punches him to the head with something and he passes out on the couch. During all of this Freddie also arrived there and explained the whole thing to Aggie and they make up. Later at home Lord Emsworth lets his butler to call Freddie and ask how his script ended.

Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey! : This story begins with the pig man at Blandings castle being put to jail . When the pig does not eat anymore because of that then Lord Emsworth starts to worry about it and starts searching for solutions . At the same time a young relative of his, Angela , is brought to the castle by his sister to be kept away from flirting with a lower class man. Also, his sister tells Lord Emsworth to meet with the man and tell him that if they should marry, Angela will not have any money that she inherited for another 4 years . So he goes to London to meet him. While speaking with him, he gets on the subject of pigs and finds out that the man used to be a pig caller. So he teaches Lord Emsworth the universal pig call, which is supposed to call any pig to its manger and make it eat. After hearing it Lord Emsworth rushes out without even speaking a word on the matter he was sent there. During the trip back he falls asleep and forgets the call. When he gets back, his sister calls him all sorts of names but Lord Emsworth notice it, he is trying to remember the call. After a while he remembers it and goes to try it with his butler and Angela. While doing so, the man Angela wanted to marry steps out of the wood . Lord Emsworth tells him that if he can get the pig to eat, they have his blessing on the marriage. So the man takes a deep breath and shouts out Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey. And magically the pig starts to eat.

Company for Gertrude : The fourth story starts out with Freddie arriving to Blandings castle. The reason for that is that he is supposed to start selling his product in England . While arriving there he runs into his old friend Reverent Rupert . They start chatting and soon Freddie finds out that Rupert wants to marry Freddie’s cousin Gertrude. But the problem is that Gertrude has been sent to Blandings, to keep her away from Rupert. Freddie cooks up a plan how Rupert can be with Gertrude without anyone who can recognize him near . He sends Rupert to Blandings as an assistant for Lord Emsworth. In the meantime, Lord Emsworth is growing tired of having Gertrude around. At first he is quite happy that Gertrude has some company so he is pleased. Soon he grows tired of him too. After a certain incident Freddie offers that Lord Emsworth would make Rupert a local vicar. Of course, Lord Emsworth very excited about that idea . It would also able him to revenge his neighbor for stealing his pig man.

The go-getter: This story starts with Freddie going to Blandings Castle with the intentions of selling some dog biscuits to her aunt . When arriving these he sees Gertrude and finds out that he has been seeing a singer lately. He goes on to her aunt. When he meets her, they have a little chat about Gertrude. Then Freddie tries to sell some dog biscuits to her. After seeing that she is not interested, he goes to Rupert to borrow his dog. Back at the castle he manages to create quite a mess . Seeing that, the aunt leaves and Freddie does not manage to sell any dog biscuits. After that Freddie has an argument with Gertrude and mentions that he will show something at that evening . In the evening, when everybody was sitting in the lounge , Freddie decided to show the aunt how well Rupert’s dog catches rats. Of course, he releases the rats in the middle of the room and the dog starts to pursue them, creating a big mess. In the middle of all that, Rupert arrives and stops the dog, charming Gertrude with the act. Gertrude’s aunt, however, is charmed by the dog’s performance and decides to buy dog biscuits from Freddie.

Lord Emsworth and the girl friend: The last story starts out with the description of August Bank Holiday in Blandings. Lord Emsworth is reminded that he has to do a speech later that day. Also, he finds out that the gardener, McAllister wants to make a gravel path to the yew alley and that someone had stolen flowers from the garden . However, he does not think much on these things because he is depressed to have all those people in Blandings. He goes out to judge the flowerbeds in the city. In the final house, the flowers charm him. Upon closer inspection, he finds out that those are the flowers from Blandings castles garden. He meets the girl who lives there and is quite charmed by her. They go back to the castle and have a chat during the trip. Back at the castle they meet again . Lord Emsworth finds out that the girl wanted to take some food for his brother but was caught. He takes the girl to the castle kitchen and gives her some. Outside they notice McAllister, who starts to run towards them because the girl had thrown him with a rock that morning. Lord Emsworth gathers his courage and protects her. Inspired by this act he also declines to do the speech. Instead, he goes to change clothes and to take a walk in the garden with the girl.