83 pages • 2 hours read
Mr. Popper's Penguins
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Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “Troubles with a Penguin”
The following day is eventful at 432 Proudfoot Avenue, which is the address of the Popper’s house. The refrigerator serviceman arrives and observes Mr. Popper, who “had not shaved yet and was not very tidy” (30). The man advises Mr. Popper that it is unnecessary to have ventilation holes drilled into the refrigerator; Mr. Popper does not want to explain his plan for Captain Cook to spend time in the icebox to the serviceman, “who was already staring at Mr. Popper as if he thought Mr. Popper was not quite right in his head” (30). Mr. Popper offers the man a five dollar bill to complete the work, although he guiltily considers the food that this might have provided for his family. After the holes are bored, Mr. Popper requests that an extra handle be affixed to the inside of the icebox door. When the man starts backing out of the house without completing the work, Mr. Popper pays his last five dollar bill to encourage him to fix the handle. Just as the job is completed, Captain Cook enters the kitchen and pecks at the serviceman, who runs out the kitchen door.
The penguin is delighted with his new quarters and masters the art of using the interior handle very quickly. Just as Mr. Popper is teaching the bird how to open the icebox from the outside, a policeman arrives at the back door of the house.
Chapter 6 Summary: “More Troubles”
When the children notice a policeman at the door, Bill wonders if the officer has come to arrest his father. Captain Cook walks to the door to inspect the visitor, who asks if the penguin belongs to Mr. Popper and inquires as to how Mr. Popper is employed. The children explain that their father is an artist and further explain that Captain Cook is their pet penguin. The officer says that the refrigerator serviceman had been so upset that “[he] thought there was a lion loose in here” (38); however, upon observing the bird, the officer sees no danger in the Poppers keeping him as a pet.
Mr. Popper asks whether he could walk Captain Cook on a leash if he obtained a license, and the policeman replies that employees at City Hall could answer that question. Mr. Popper spends a great deal of time trying to have someone help him by phone; however, he is transferred from one worker to another, and no one is able to assist him. Finally, Mr. Popper ends the call when he is transferred to the Automobile License Bureau, and his wife returns from the market with a can of shrimp for Captain Cook.
Chapters 5-6 Analysis
Mr. Popper’s eccentricities and foibles are explored more fully in these chapters. He demonstrates a certain rigidity when he refrains from explaining to the serviceman the reason for his eccentric requests for modifications to the family refrigerator. Consequently, the serviceman considers Mr. Popper to be irrational; he is terrified when Captain Cook, the penguin, makes an unexpected appearance in the kitchen. Mr. Popper, on the other hand, is just starting to develop an awareness of the amount of expenses that will be involved in the care of the penguin. He experiences guilt over the paucity of the family’s food budget when he pays the serviceman with his last five dollar bill. The reader starts to notice a parallel between monetary concerns over the support of a human family and that of the added dependent of a penguin.
In a humorous nod to the frustrations of dealing with government bureaucracies, the authors include a description of Mr. Popper’s annoyance after numerous attempts to secure a license to walk Captain Cook. Normally even-tempered, he ends the phone call in anger when he is transferred to a third department to handle his request for an animal license: the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Captain Cook might well have frightened the refrigerator serviceman were he not prepared for his appearance in the kitchen. Emperor penguins stand about 45 inches tall. They are a hearty species who have evolved to survive brutal Antarctic weather conditions, including temperatures of -60 degrees Celsius and winds over 120 miles per hour.
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