For me, The Umbrella Man by Road Dahl is fascinating.

The characters, the setting, and the plot

made the story alive. The 12 year-old character, She makes many humorous yet factual
comments like a typical teenage girl who's talking to her mother. The girl's mother also has a
character who seems wise, but when she's wrong, her daughter always comments back, and
that's what makes this short story funny. And then there's the Umbrella Man, whose character
acted like a gentleman in the start of the story, but in fact he is a drinker who likes to lie, but is
clever.

The message of The Umbrella Man that I get is to never trust someone you just met. Because
even if the person makes good first impression, doesn't mean it's their true personality and
intentions.

The plot of The Umbrellas Man by Roald Dahl is about a mother and her 12 year-old daughter
who are approached by an old man in the rain, and persuaded them to exchange a silk umbrella
he was wearing for taxi fare. However, when they follow him, they discover that he stole an
umbrella from the pubs he went to and spends the money to buy whiskey. The twist is that at
first, they thought this old man was a good person, because he was well-dressed and polite, so
they helped him. However, in the end, they discover that the old man is umbrellas thief from
the pubs he went to, to persuades others to trade his umbrella for "taxi fares", which he
actually spends on whiskey.

If I was a high school teacher, I would use this story in reading class but I will also guide my
students to dig deeper into each character in this short story, so we can understand more
deeply why this story is fascinating and funny.