# Conclusion explained — Nonsense Books

> Chapter companion for Nonsense Books by Edward Lear.

## What happens

The seven couples jump into pickling bottles, die, and are preserved to be displayed in a museum in Tosh for public contemplation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nonsense and Absurdity

The absurd premise of couples pickling themselves and being displayed in a museum epitomizes Lear's nonsensical humor.

### Mortality and Loss

The characters' immediate death and preservation as pickled specimens highlights themes of mortality and the absurdity of legacy.

## Key lines

> And after this they filled the bottles with the ingredients for pickling, and each couple jumped into a separate bottle; by which effort, of course, they all died immediately, and became thoroughly pickled in a few minutes; having previously made their wills (by the assistance of the most eminent lawyers of the district), in which they left strict orders that the stoppers of the seven bottles should be carefully sealed up with the blue sealing-wax they had purchased; and that they themselves, in the bottles, should be presented to the principal museum of the city of Tosh, to be labelled with parchment or any other anti-congenial succedaneum, and to be placed on a marble table with silver-gilt legs, for the daily inspection and contemplation, and for the perpetual benefit, of the pusillanimous public.

After preparing pickling ingredients, each couple jumped into a bottle, died instantly, and became pickled. They had made wills instructing that their sealed bottles be donated to the Tosh museum, labeled appropriately, and displayed on a marble table for public viewing.

_Summarizes the absurd and macabre conclusion of the chapter._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nonsense_books_se/chapters/chapter-xiv-conclusion
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nonsense_books_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nonsense_books_se/chapters