In “Diary of a Nobody” by Grossmith, Pooter the main character and his wife Carrie have two close friends, Cummings and Gowing who were frequent visitors to their London home. Pooter often muses on the frequency of their ‘comings and goings’. There is also a hopeless and feckless son who renames himself ‘Lupin’ who, having been dismissed from his job for idleness, promptly announces his engagement, causing mayhem. This hilarious, fictitious work, although written in 1892, details the aspirations, self importance and ridiculous life of the characters.
The book could have
been written about almost any of us. It could also say something about the recent
and ongoing comings and goings of supposedly important people in America and
London. The book points out with great irony the danger and life-limiting nature
of pride and of taking oneself excessively seriously. Charles Pooter is so
taken with his own success and significance that he doesn’t listen to those
around him – and he never gets the joke. I don’t think that I need to go any
further!
The proverb; ‘pride goeth
before a fall’ comes from the King James Version of the Bible in the book of
Proverbs, the passage continues to warn
us ‘Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility.
For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble”.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in from this time forth for evermore. Psalm 121 :8
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