PACKING

By Jerome K Jerome
Learning Targets

01 02 03
I can analyse and I can cite evidences I can analyze the
infer the themes to formulate text and connect its
brought out through structured answers. theme and events it
the story. to the real world.
PRE READING-ACTIVITY
Procedure:
• The teacher divides the class into groups of four or five and assigns
them the following task:
Your class is going on a camping trip, and you have been given the
responsibility of drafting a list of essential items that students would
need to take along. Remember there are no hotels, no stores and the
next liveable place is 10 kilometres away.
• The teacher instructs them to prepare their list of essential items.
• The list is put up on the board.
• The groups are asked to review each others' list.
• The most comprehensive list is discussed in detail.
THEME
• “Packing” is an extract from Jerome K. Jerome’s novel ‘Three Men in
a Boat’. This is a humorous extract about the confusion and mess
created by people who are inexperienced in the art of packing. It
exposes the utter clumsiness of the three friends – Jerome, George, and
Harris.
• “Packing” is based on the theme that routine tasks are not as easy as
they seem to be. The humorous account amuses the readers with the
chaotic and confusing situations created by the clumsiness of three
friends, all of whom consider packing to be child's play.
SHORT ANSWER
QUESTIONS
1. Why did the narrator (Jerome) volunteer to do the packing?
2. What was Jerome’s real intention when he offered to pack?
3. What did Harris say after the bag was shut and strapped? Why do
you think he waited till then to ask?
4. Where did Jerome finally find the toothbrush?
5. What does Jerome say was Montmorency’s ambition in life? What
do you think of Montmorency and why?
 LONG ANSWER QUESTION
• Do you find this story funny? What are the humorous
elements in it?