“The Woman Question” and Other Short Writings Characters

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King Charles II

King Charles II is one of the most controversial and nefarious figures in the history of the British monarchy. In “A Rehabilitation of Charles II” Leacock singles him out (hyperbolically) as the only historical figure he is aware of who has not undergone a process of reversal of public opinion as a result of new information or reinterpretation of existing knowledge. He then proceeds upon a course of rehabilitative efforts steeped quite deeply in satirical irony, of course.

Mr. Pickwick

The title character from Charles Dickens’ novel The Pickwick Papers comes to life during a dreamy slumber by the narrator of “Fiction and Reality.” He is the first of several different characters from the fiction of Dickens to do so as they play out a debate over a question that was simmering within the literary world at the time: did Dickens create genuine characters reflective of reality or mere caricatures and, if his world is one populated by exaggerated depictions of humanity, can it still be considered a realistic portrayal?

“The Golfomaniac”

The title character of this short satirical tale is one of two strangers on a train. The narrator conveys the situation as one in which he is finally moved to initiate conversation after having noticed they always take the same train. Every single topic the narrator brings up is immediately brought around to the subject of the golf by the other fellow in one of the gentlest satirical prods at the seemingly congenital defect among golfers to become obsessive about the practice of hitting little white balls around lush green lawns.

Melpomenus Jones

“The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones” is a notable story because it commences with one what may well be one of the most honest and sincere expressions of non-ironic truth to be found in the canon of Leacock: “Some people--not you nor I, because we are so awfully self-possessed—.” Leacock’s form of satire is often dependent upon the target of the ironic humor being self-centered to the point of oblivion to all else—the golfomaniac being a perfect example, for instance. The title character of this story gains its humor also from the notion of people being oblivious to anything but their interests, but comes at it from the opposite direction. The tragic fate of young Mr. Jones is that he is one of those people who can’t seem to extricate himself from a conversation if the other person isn’t also ready to do so and, in his case, they never are.

The Man Who Needs a Match

“Borrowing a Match” is a particularly short and unusually rough bit of humor for Leacock. An unnamed narrator relates in the first person how difficult it often is to bum a match off a stranger on the sidewalk. He then launches into his latest effort to do and the result is an exercise in absurd slapstick humor commences an increasingly manic and frustrated search of his person for the match he is sure has somewhere. As he reaches the point where he is about to begin removing articles of clothing, the narrator attempts to stop him and move on. He finally locates it and brings it out, only to reveal it is not a match, but a toothpick. The narrator then proceeds to push him in front of a moving trolley car.

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