50 pages 1 hour read

P. G. Wodehouse

The Code of the Woosters

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1938

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Essay Topics

1.

Wooster is nominally Jeeves’s master, but his dependency on his valet, and the fact that he always loses his “clashes” with Jeeves, suggests that the servant may wield the real power. Discuss how Jeeves, in The Code of the Woosters, may possess more autonomy than Wooster, who often seems to lack control over his own life. Cite the text in your argument.

2.

In the novel, Jeeves reveals that members of his private club entertain themselves with written accounts of their rich employers’ foibles and tomfoolery. How does this deepen the class satire of P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories and develop Jeeves’s (often inscrutable) character? Cite the text in your argument.

3.

Bertie Wooster, though mostly frivolous in his tastes and opinions, observes a basic code of honor. This includes chivalry toward women, pride in the “Wooster clan,” generosity toward friends, and a sort of noble obligation. Cite examples from the text of Wooster’s higher principles and how they may undercut his own desires or comfort.