# IX explained — The History of Mr. Polly

> Chapter companion for The History of Mr. Polly by H. G. Wells.

## What happens

Mr. Polly prepares for Uncle Jim's return at the Potwell Inn, devising defensive strategies. Three campers arrive and inadvertently thwart Uncle Jim's attack, ducking him. After the campers leave, Uncle Jim returns drunk and aggressive during a busy afternoon, causing a chaotic scene that disrupts the tea service and frightens customers.

## Themes in this chapter

### Class and Economic Trap

The contrast between the genteel tea service and Uncle Jim's violent intrusion highlights the precariousness of Mr. Polly's new life and the threat of lower-class chaos.

### Heroism and Self-Discovery

Mr. Polly's strategic preparations and his confrontation with Uncle Jim show his growth from a passive dreamer to an active defender of his new home.

### Nature and Freedom

The idyllic riverside setting of the Potwell Inn, with bees, boats, and lawn teas, contrasts with the violence of Uncle Jim, emphasizing the fragility of peace.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Polly

Busy preparing defenses against Uncle Jim, including a weighted stocking and cellar trap schemes; later confronts Uncle Jim's return with a poker.

### Uncle Jim

Returns drunk and aggressive, mistakes a camper for Mr. Polly and attacks him, then later disrupts the tea service with a dead eel.

### The Young Lady

One of the girls in the party of young people, shrieks during Uncle Jim's attack.

## Key lines

> He prepared a club with a stocking and a bottle inside upon the best East End model. He swung it round his head once, broke an outhouse window with a flying fragment of glass, and ruined the stocking beyond all darning.

Mr. Polly made a makeshift weapon by putting a bottle inside a stocking, but testing it broke a window and destroyed the stocking.

_Shows Mr. Polly's amateurish but earnest attempt at self-defense._

> Uncle Jim, realising his error, fled blaspheming into the arms of the other two campers, who were returning from the village with butcher's meat and groceries. They caught him, they smacked his face with steak and punched him with a bursting parcel of lump sugar, they held him though he bit them, and their idea of punishment was to duck him.

The campers captured Uncle Jim after his mistaken attack, hitting him with steak and sugar before ducking him in the river.

_Illustrates the campers' rough humor and Uncle Jim's humiliation._

> For suddenly Uncle Jim's arms and legs flew out like springs released. Mr. Polly was tumbled backwards and fell over the broken teapot and into the arms of the father in mourning.

Uncle Jim feigned collapse, then explosively broke free, knocking Mr. Polly over a teapot and into a customer.

_Highlights Uncle Jim's cunning and the chaos of the confrontation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_history_of_mr_polly_se/chapters/ix
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_history_of_mr_polly_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_history_of_mr_polly_se/chapters