Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham Analysis

Mr Gumpy’s Outing is a picture book for young readers who are still learning English — a variety of verbs are introduced in a way that will help toddlers to remember them.

SETTING OF MR GUMPY’S OUTING

This is a very enticing setting — a lot of picture book characters live on farms or in middle class suburbs but not many live so close to a river, in an emerald green rustic cottage such as this:

Another heavily green book is the wordless More! by Peter Schossow

STORY STRUCTURE OF MR GUMPY’S OUTING

SHORTCOMING

This is Mr Gumpy.

Mr Gumpy owned a boat and his house was by a river.

We’re told nothing about this man’s shortcoming at the beginning of the story — we are left to see what that is for ourselves.

We learn that his shortcoming is that he’s a pushover. He shouldn’t have let all of those animals onto the boat if the aim was not to get wet!

DESIRE

Mr Gumpy (presumably) wants a nice day out on the river in his boat.

OPPONENT

The opponents are all the creatures who want to join him, despite their tendency to engage in behaviours that lead to the sinking of small boats.

PLAN

Mr Gumpy will let the animals and children onto the boat but if he warns them to behave well, everything will be all right.

Mr Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham London Travel poster
Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham London Travel poster

BIG STRUGGLE

ANAGNORISIS

There hasn’t necessarily been any revelation or learning taking place in this carnivalesque story; it in fact seems that Mr Gumpy knew exactly what would happen from the start, since each creature on the boat behaved exactly as he’d warned them not to!

Picture books are particularly well-suited to this kind of story, since they are read over and over again. The young reader can imagine that each reading is another separate incident which happens time and time again. This is partly what makes it funny.

NEW SITUATION

There are no hard feelings; no consequences.

Then they all sit down to tea. I’m heartened to see that there’s no housewife at home who has prepared all of this for them while they’ve been away (and who will presumably wash all their clothes!) Or perhaps she’s presently in the kitchen…

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Who Sank The Boat? by Pamela Allen

Pamela Allen’s tale has a definite Aesop quality to it, which tends to happen when you combine an idiomatic expression such as ‘the straw that breaks the camel’s back‘ with the characterisation from tales of old, in which the mouse is a tiny but noble creature who has more influence upon outcome than initially expected. As in Mr Gumpy’s outing, we have a group of animals who all get into a boat, and they all end up in the water (but from overloading rather than from misbehaviour).

There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly

This is another tale with an emphasis on the sequencing of animals, resulting in an explosive climax. This cumulative structure comes straight from folktale, from stories such as The Musicians of Bremen, The Enormous Turnip and Chicken Licken.

CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)

On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.

Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:

1. Get a pet dog

2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.

PAPERBACK

KINDLE EBOOK

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