Monkey Island (Bray)
Island in the Thames at Bray, below Maidenhead. In Three Men in a Boat the friends lunch just below it and wage war on a tin of pineapple with no opener.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three Men in a Boat | Jerome K. Jerome | setting | Lunch below Monkey Island: no mustard, then a tin of pineapple they batter with the mast and fling into the river. |
Three Men in a Boat — Jerome K. Jerome (1889)
Source: Exploration of Three Men in a Boat · Three Men in a Boat · Original · Readwise highlight
nothing exciting happened, and we tugged steadily on to a little below Monkey Island, where we drew up and lunched.
- Role: setting
- In the book: The three tow up to a little below Monkey Island and stop for lunch, discover they have forgotten the mustard, and then fail to open a tin of pineapple without a tin-opener, attacking it with knives, a stone and the mast before throwing it into the river.
- Why it matters: The tin-of-pineapple episode is one of the book’s famous gags; the island is just where it happens, so it could be set anywhere on the river.