# Three Men in a Boat — Character guide

> Key figures in Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

- [J.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/narrator_j.md): J. is the voice of the trip: a man who diagnoses himself with every ailment in the medical dictionary, then cheerfully prescribes a holiday on the Thames as the cure. His running battle with practical details — packing, 
- [George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/george.md): George is the third of the trio, a bank clerk whose habit of falling asleep at inconvenient hours is matched by occasional flashes of startling practicality — as when he insists they pack only what they cannot do without
- [Harris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/harris.md): Harris — William Samuel Harris to his mother — is the trio's resident expert on everything from camping to making Irish stew, and almost invariably wrong. His confidence collides with reality in set pieces of escalating 
- [Montmorency](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/montmorency.md): Montmorency is the fourth member of the party, a small dog who joins the river trip with the air of a seasoned traveller and a private conviction that everyone else is a fool. He sleeps on Harris's chest, howls at the th
- [Uncle Podger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/uncle_podger.md): Uncle Podger never appears on the river, but he haunts the book as the patron saint of well-meaning incompetence. His epic struggle to hang a picture — summoning the whole household, losing the mark, sitting on the hamme
- [Herr Slossenn Boschen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/herr_slossenn_boschen.md): Herr Slossenn Boschen is a visiting German who performs a song at an inn along the Thames, expecting his audience to grasp its sorrowful climax. J., who does not understand a word, laughs uproariously at what he assumes 
- [Tom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/tom.md): A friend or acquaintance mentioned in anecdotes.
- [Jack](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/jack.md): A friend mentioned in a story about a boat race.
- [Bill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/bill.md): A local man encountered during the river trip.
- [Mr. Goggles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/mr_goggles.md): A man who gives advice on boating.
- [Mrs. P.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/mrs_p.md): A woman mentioned in a story about a ghost.
- [Joe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters/joe.md): A friend mentioned in a story about a practical joke.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/three_men_in_a_boat_se/characters