Diary of a Nobody

“Must get the scraper removed, or I shall get into a scrape. I don’t often make jokes.”

Pooter’s lack of awareness about his punning is an example of the thematic exploration of the Discrepancy Between Self-Perception and the Perception of Others. He thinks of himself as serious, yet he constantly makes puns which he laughs at uproariously and then repeats to anyone who will listen. The Grossmiths portray the puns as not funny by themselves. Rather, they are made funny by the degree of his self-amusement and how other characters do or do not react. For instance, the degree to which his wife, Carrie, tolerates Pooter’s behavior on any given day is evident by how she reacts to his puns.

“I restrained my feelings, and quietly remarked that I thought it was possible for a city clerk to be a gentleman.”

Pooter considers himself a gentleman and, as such, constantly tries to draw a line between himself and the tradesmen whom he considers to be his social inferiors, including the butterman. His behavior supports the theme of The Absurdity of Social Aspirations. One after another, the tradesmen reject Pooter’s characterization of them as inferior. Typically, they either deny his claim to be a gentleman or assert their equality. In this argument with the butterman, the tradesman retorts that he has never come across a city clerk who was a gentleman, putting Pooter firmly in his place.

“The grocer’s boy […] for the second time had the impertinence to bring his basket to the hall-door.”

Entrances in the novel symbolize the theme of The Absurdity of Social Aspirations. When Pooter tries to preserve a distinction between the front or hall door, which he tries to reserve for important guests, and the side door, which he wants tradesmen to use, his efforts inevitably backfire. In this instance, the grocer’s boy brings his basket of groceries to the front door, leading to an argument with Pooter that ends in his being late to work.

“To my surprise, in fact disgust, Stillbrook replied, ‘Blackheath,’ and the three were immediately admitted.”

While many of the scenes involving Pooter satirize his pretensions, several display his better qualities, including his honesty. Pubs opened at a certain hour unless one had come from a far locale. Pooter refuses to lie about where he is from, where his friends have no compunction about lying to gain entry to the pub. Positive qualities such as his honesty and his love for Carrie make Pooter a sympathetic character, rather than a flat one, despite his many shortcomings.

“I think it is one of the most perfect and thoughtful sentences I have ever written.”

The authors satirize Victorian traditions of diary-keeping throughout the novel. Pooter follows every contemporary rule for keeping a diary, such as what to include. Recording the letters one sent and received was one of those rules, which Pooter follows faithfully, even copying sentences down word for word. At the same time, he displays his pomposity and tendency to take himself too seriously as he congratulates himself on the perfection of a particular sentence. Ironically, Pooter’s actions reveal him to be cowardly, as he often writes letters instead of confronting those antagonizing him.

“Doesn’t it seem odd that Gowing’s always coming and Cummings’ always going?”

Pooter’s propensity for punning is apparent in this quote, along with his lack of awareness about The Discrepancy Between Self-Perception and the Perception of Others. Not pausing to think that people are sensitive about their names, he makes one of his key puns in the story and deeply offends both friends. Pooter’s question also openly references the novel’s motif of names that describe a character’s nature, directly through word meaning or indirectly through sound.

“I like that—if you, why not me?”

This question, addressed to Pooter by the ironmonger, Mr. Farmerson, at the Mayor’s Ball for Trade and Commerce, gets at the heart of The Absurdity of Social Aspirations. Excited at being invited to the Mayor’s Ball, Pooter is dismayed to see Farmerson there, especially when Farmerson familiarly addresses him. Farmerson refuses to let Pooter put him in his place, believing that he is not only Pooter’s social equal but also his superior through his acquaintance with a member of the aristocracy.

“I retorted by saying that ‘Pa, at all events, was a gentleman,’ whereupon Carrie burst out crying.”

Little is known about Pooter or Carrie’s family except that Pooter’s father had financial trouble of some sort, and Carrie’s family is quite easygoing and lives in the country. Carrie’s tearful reaction to Pooter’s statement that “at all events” his father was a gentleman suggests that her father was not one. When Pooter, usually snobby when associating with people below him, has a wonderful time with Carrie’s family at Christmas, the authors show an egalitarian side he doesn’t often display.

“Imagine my dismay when he replied with a loud guffaw: ‘It’s no use. If you want the good old truth, I’ve got the chuck!’”

Lupin does not regard his father’s traditional middle-class Victorian values, including regular church attendance, steady employment, harmless entertainment, ladylike women, and respect for one’s employers. He meets every one of his father’s hints and reproaches with laughter and disrespect. Lupin is often misguided; he and his father illustrate the theme of Taking Oneself Too Seriously, and his blind spots lead him into trouble at various points in the novel. At the same time, Lupin’s indifference ultimately leads to his success in love and work, proving that a person’s positive qualities can outweigh the negative ones.

“I said, quietly: ‘Pardon me, Lupin, that is a matter of opinion; and as I am master of this house, perhaps you will allow me to take the reins.’”

Pooter twice insists that he is the master of the house, and each time he is met with ridicule. To this pronouncement, Lupin kicks his legs in the air and “roars” with laughter. When he repeats the statement to Mrs. James in Chapter 22, she will mutter something insulting that he can’t quite hear, but that likely contradicts his assertion. Whenever Pooter tries to establish his masculinity in this pompous way, he is deflated, supporting the theme that Taking Oneself Too Seriously is a social transgression.

“I apologized for the foolery, but Mr. Perkupp said: ‘Oh, it seems amusing.’ I could see he was not a bit amused.”

The novel satirizes the more absurd forms of middle-class Victorian entertainment, including singing silly songs, performing parlor games and theatricals, and holding seances. The members of Lupin’s drama club, the Holloway Comedians, are targets for satire as they imitate comic actors of the time with little talent or excessive repetition. The proper Mr. Perkupp’s failure to be amused by an act performed by Lupin and his friend Frank Mutlar shows that it was in poor taste.

“Carrie said I had expressed myself wonderfully well, and that I was quite a philosopher.”

Carrie’s compliment enamors Pooter because he prides himself on expressing his thoughts, verbally and in his diary, with clarity and simplicity—an example of The Discrepancy Between Self-Perception and the Perception of Others. His family thinks his diary is ridiculous, and spoken words often fail him, especially when confronted by someone who contradicts him or is impertinent toward him. He resorts instead to writing reproachful letters that inevitably backfire.

“Daisy is a trump, and will wait for me ten years, if necessary.”

Pooter is not the only character who cannot see the discrepancy between his perception of himself and others. Lupin mistakenly believes Daisy will wait to marry him and at various times says she will wait for him 10 years, 20 years, and 50 years. Aside from the occurrence of holidays, dates don’t matter much in the novel, but in this case, they do. About two weeks pass before the engagement is broken off, about a month later it is on again, and three months after that, Daisy marries the wealthier Murray Posh, showing how little Lupin knows her true, mercenary nature.

“Any relation to ‘Posh’s three-shilling hats’?”

Murray Posh’s family has made its fortune selling hats at a fixed price. By 1900, the shilling would be worth about $6.48 today, meaning the hats sold were relatively inexpensive. Gowing, whose taste in clothing Lupin criticizes, wears one himself and thus associates the young man’s last name with the hat company. Typical of wealthy Victorians who made their money through business, Murray Posh attempts to distance himself from the family business, as if their wealth came from land ownership rather than being in trade.

“We all sat round the fire, and in a bottle of ‘Jackson Frères,’ which Sarah fetched from the grocer’s, drank Lupin’s health.”

The juxtaposition of an everyday British surname, “Jackson,” with the French word Frères (brothers), along with the readiness with which Pooter can purchase the champagne at the grocery store, suggests that the wine brand is an inexpensive one that purports to be more expensive. In this regard, the champagne is much like Pooter himself. Despite his relative lack of means, he aspires to associate with his wealthier acquaintances and conduct himself like them.

“Everything seemed to be done regardless of expense.”

Chapter 18 is filled with humiliations for Pooter that come to a climax when he dines and entertains lavishly at the East Acton Rifle Brigade Ball without knowing that he must pay for the refreshments. In other instances, Pooter’s snobbery seems to merit the inevitable letdown that follows. In this chapter, however, his lack of familiarity with the protocol at the ball invites compassion and portrays him in a sympathetic manner.

“I took the opportunity to say to Mrs. Finsworth that I feared she found Mr. Short occasionally a little embarrassing. To my surprise she said: ‘Oh! He is privileged you know.’”

The dinner party scene at the Finsworths satirizes elites who excuse their behavior on the grounds of privilege. The Finsworths, who allow their dogs to jump on Carrie and lick and snap at Pooter’s boots, and their friend Mr. Short, who arrives late and makes embarrassing observations, behave very badly toward their lower-status guests. Mrs. Finsworth’s pronouncement about privilege shows that Taking Oneself Too Seriously is not limited to middle-class characters like Pooter and Lupin.

“Cummings read a most interesting article on the superiority of the bicycle to the horse.”

Cummings’s only hobby is bicycling—a typical Victorian pastime—and he expects others to be as up-to-date on his favorite magazine, Bicycle News, as he is himself. As a character, he is uninteresting, as Carrie points out to her husband a few chapters later. He is typically kind, however, and serves as a foil to Pooter’s other best friend, Gowing, who takes advantage of Pooter’s hospitality while endlessly criticizing him.

“He continued, with an amazing eloquence that made his unwelcome opinions positively convincing.”

Journalism in both the United States and England was changing toward the end of the 19th century as prices of newsprint dropped and mass circulation widened news coverage. The journalist Hardfur Huttle is a caricature of a hard-bitten American newspaperman. While Pooter describes Huttle’s conversation as brilliant, he is in fact a biting critic of middle-class values who rants about orthodoxy and insults nearly everyone at Franching’s dinner party, including his host and Pooter. His first name, “Hardfur,” signals that his words are as empty and meaningless as the idea of fur that is hard.

“I believe I am happy because I am not ambitious.”

Of all Pooter’s grandiose statements about his own character, this quote shows him at his most delusional. He is almost unfailingly ambitious, both in his job and in society, and his social aspirations nearly always make him deeply unhappy. At the same time, his moments of happiness come when he is not being ambitious: talking quietly with Carrie, for instance, or humbly receiving Mr. Perkupp’s praise. As his actions show, the truth is that he isn’t happy because he isn’t ambitious; rather, he is happy when he isn’t being ambitious.

“Your son, in the course of five minutes’ conversation, displayed more intelligence than your firm has done during the last five years.”

In a case of situational irony, when an expected result turns out to be the opposite, the way Lupin flouts convention by referring the valuable client Mr. Crowbillon to a competitor makes his fortune. And yet Lupin does not do anything that he wouldn’t otherwise have done to earn his engagement with Mr. Crowbillon’s firm. He consistently has shown resistance to the sort of humble loyalty that his father gives to his employer. The authors reward both Lupin and Pooter for their positive qualities by giving them happy endings although neither shows much personal growth. The point is stressed in the novel’s last line, where Lupin signs off as “The same old Lupin” (220).

“We will […] drink good luck to our bit of business.”

Hardfur Huttle’s unexpected favor in referring a wealthy American friend to Pooter’s firm seems to come out of the blue. On closer examination, however, it is logical. Franching, a genuine friend of Pooter’s, is the one who first brought up Pooter’s name. Huttle is, therefore, only acting as a go-between and will undoubtedly profit in some way by making the connection, as his phrase “our bit of business” suggests. In addition, Pooter showed remarkable restraint in the face of Huttle’s onslaught of insults at Franching’s dinner party. By returning rudeness with courtesy, the Grossmiths offer him this bit of luck.

“Addressing me, he said: ‘My faithful servant, I will not dwell on the important service you have done our firm.’”

Pooter and Mr. Perkupp have a power-based relationship throughout the novel. The authors stress Perkupp’s dominance by his use of servant and service in the same sentence. Pooter shows Perkupp almost servile courtesy and finds his employer’s manners “thrilling,” while Perkupp shows a touching faith in his “faithful servant,” Pooter.