Gentleman Jim

Product Information

Jim Bloggs is dissatisfied with his station in life, and devotes his time to fantasising and imagining a wonderful world beyond his confines. Deciding that he wants to better himself he attempts to get started on various career changes until he fixes upon Highwayman (but only to take from the rich and give to the poor). Raymond Briggs had been a professional illustrator of children’s books since 1958, with a string of successful children’s books behind him. Gentleman Jim maakt al 12 jaar toiletten schoon en droomt van een ander leven, avontuurlijker, een tikje meer uitdaging. We will never knowingly harvest your data beyond the cookies needed for smooth running of the site, and wouldn't dream of passing it anywhere.

Initially his attempts to seek adventure are amusing, but once you realise that he is such a simple man, the story becomes bittersweet: despite the gentle, positive personality of the protagonist, the reader is left feeling crushed on their behalf. It is also a cry of dissent against the disappearance of meaningful work, a tradition of work that had been shaped by the mores and values of a preindustrial world. As reviewed in the TLS, this is "the story of a lavatory attendant who wants to become a highwayman". He’d already produced The Snowman , but it would be several years before the animated version accorded him national treasure status.

Raymond Briggs may have switched his target audience to adults, but it is not apparent from the cover that this is not a children’s picture book. His work has won numerous awards and been adapted for film on several occasions including Ethel and Ernest. For his contribution as a children's illustrator Briggs was a runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1984. Jim’s dream is to be a latter-day Robin Hood, but he is constantly thwarted by red tape and bureaucracy. Jim's childlike understanding of the world that surrounds him is enhanced by Raymond Briggs's subtle and inventive illustrations.

I recently came across my stack of Raymond Briggs' wonderful books for children and adults, and am working my way through them again. He’s a dreamer, who longs for adventure and romance, yearning for just a little spark and taste of freedom. I'm fairly certain that I first found a copy of this graphic novel in my primary school library - exactly where this work could not be properly appreciated. Not paginated [30pp] Illustrated throughout in colour comic type illustrations by Briggs A story about a toilet cleaner who tries to better himself and ends up in prison.It's a bit existential as well as VERY British (I have a feeling anyone who's lived in England will be laughing over the many domestic regulations suffered by Jim!

Later, the author was to feature Jim and Hilda Bloggs again as the main characters in his masterly, very dark book about about nuclear catastrophe, “When The Wind Blows”.There is actually plenty of humour in Gentleman Jim which a child would appreciate, but the story, and the underlying message, is firmly geared towards adults. It seems our protagonist, through a combination of lack of opportunity and lack of talent, is likely to remain a lavatory attendant for another 12 years.

We see by the captions on the strip story, Jim’s painful spelling-out of the unfamiliar words and their context on the page. Jim is one of his most engaging characters - not especially bright, and with only a limited understanding of the world around him, but a romantic idealist who means well despite his behaviour. The characters anchor this story, and it's well worth reading "Gentleman Jim" to get acquainted with them.Gentleman Jim is the story of Jim Bloggs, a lavatory attendant who, dissatisfied with his station in life, devotes his time to envisioning a world beyond it. Jim knows that his lack of education holds him back, but he has imagination - and surely that is enough?