# LIII explained — Roughing It

> Chapter companion for Roughing It by Mark Twain.

## What happens

The narrator finally gets Jim Blaine drunk enough to tell the story of his grandfather's old ram, but Blaine's rambling digressions about various townspeople and their peculiarities prevent him from ever reaching the actual story before he falls asleep, leaving the narrator feeling 'sold.'

## Themes in this chapter

### Humor and Exaggeration

The entire chapter is a masterful example of the tall tale, where Blaine's digressions become increasingly absurd and the promised story never materializes.

### The Absurdity of Pretension

Blaine's rambling, pseudo-profound commentary on providence and accidents mocks any attempt at serious moralizing.

## Character check-ins

### The Narrator

Eagerly anticipates and finally witnesses Jim Blaine's drunken storytelling, only to realize he has been tricked.

### Jim Blaine

The storyteller who, when sufficiently drunk, begins the tale of his grandfather's old ram but digresses endlessly until he falls asleep.

### Miss Wagner

Mentioned in Blaine's digression as a woman who borrows a glass eye and a wig, and has trouble with her prosthetic eye.

### Old Robbins

Mentioned in Blaine's story as a man who feigns death to sue the coffin-peddler Jacops.

## Key lines

> I never watched a man’s condition with such absorbing interest, such anxious solicitude; I never so pined to see a man uncompromisingly drunk before.

The narrator obsessively monitored Blaine's drunkenness, desperately hoping he would become drunk enough to tell his story.

_Highlights the narrator's comedic desperation and the social ritual of drinking._

> What the thing was that happened to him and his grandfather’s old ram is a dark mystery to this day, for nobody has ever yet found out.

The actual story of the ram remains unknown because Blaine always falls asleep before telling it.

_Emphasizes the anti-climax and the joke played on the narrator and reader._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters/liii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/roughing_it_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters