Character Sketch of Bill Bramble, Mrs. Bramble, Harold, Percy Stokes and Jerry Fisher from class 9 Communicative English Chapter 4 Keeping It From Harold
Character Sketch of Bill Bramble
Bill Bramble is the father of Harold, and a professional boxer, who fights under the name Young Porky. He enjoyed his reputation as an unpredictable fighter with a powerful left hook. Despite his violent vocation, Bill is “the mildest and most obliging of men” in his personal life. He lets his wife name their son and thinks of Harold as being a league above himself. But when Harold started growing up, both his parents were amazed to see his extraordinary skills and his overall development. Bill started having a complex due to this and finally decided to have his last fight and then retire. Although he fears the subsequent wrath of his wife and his trainer, Jerry. After retirement, he plans to become a boxing instructor for boys’ schools or colleges, where his record of respectability and sobriety could be rewarded with a cushy, well-regarded position.
As a father, he is very conscious of his son’s well being and makes any sacrifice for him, even his profession as a boxer, which he was very much proud of.
Keeping It From Harold Overview – The story is a humorosus one. Harold is a genius and an exception in his family. His parents, uncle, grandparents, priest at the church and in fact everyone who meets the family is concerned that the parents must hide the truth of Harold’s father’s profession from him. Everyone thinks that the fact that his father Bill Bramble is a professional boxer will have a bad effect on Harold and so they insist on telling him that he is a sales representative. Finally, the truth is disclosed to Harold by Bill’s friend and trainer Jerry Fisher. Everyone is amazed to know that Harold likes the sport and follows it keenly. He asks his father to go ahead with the fight fixed for the coming week.
Related: Keeping It From Harold Summary, Explanation
Some Questions on Character Sketch of Bill Bramble
Q1. Bill Bramble was a professional boxer. Why was it a trouble for both Jane Bramble and Bill Bramble?
Character Sketch of Mrs Bramble
Jane Bramble is Harold’s mother and Bill’s wife. She was a loving and caring woman who took good care of her husband and her son. She is also exceptionally proud of and utterly devoted to her son. Jane wants to give Harold “a better start in life” than she or Bill ever had, and as such is self-conscious about her husband’s allegedly uncivilized profession as a boxer—even as she understands that this profession allows her to live in comfort with servants doing most of the domestic labor, and to provide her child with “as good education as any duke ever had”. She did not mind when her husband and she decided to hide the actual profession of being a boxer from their son. However, she has a strong wish that Bill should win his last bout and then start his career as a boxing instructor at a school.
Some Questions on Character Sketch of Mrs Bramble
Q1. What was a constant source of amazement to Mrs Bramble?
Q2. Why was Mrs Bramble not happy to see her husband’s retirement from boxing?
Character Sketch of Harold Bramble
Harold Bramble is a precocious ten-year-old boy whom his parents call “a model of goodness and intelligence.” He has won prizes for his spelling and dictation as well as his Sunday school lessons, and he spends his afternoons memorizing poetry and scripture verses. His father Bill considers Harold “a little gentleman” and believes the boy “would die of shame” if he knew his father boxed for a living. Luckily for Bill, Harold is a “self-centred child” who doesn’t question his parents’ fiction that Bill is a salesman. However, Bill is proven wrong in believing that Harold would “die of disgrace” at having a professional boxer for a father. In fact, the boy shocks his parents by declaring that he has “made a study” of the sport since a young age and is betting on his father as “Young Porky” to win his upcoming bout with Jimmy Murphy. If anything, Harold is dying for Bill to give him a signed picture so that he can impress all his friends and shed the nickname “Goggles.”
Some Questions on Character Sketch of Harold Bramble
Q1. How was Harold different from other children?
Q2. Why was Harold called a prodigy?
Q3. What was extraordinary about Harold?
Character Sketch of Percy Stokes
Major Percy Stokes was the brother of Mrs Bramble. He was a troublemaker who did not seem to be involved in any constructive work. He is a laughable preacher who does no real good for the cause. He attempts to persuade his brother-in-law, Bill, to quit boxing.
Some Question on Character Sketch of Percy Stokes
Q1. Who was Major Percy Stokes? What kind of a man was he?
Q2. How did the Percy instigate Mr. Bramble to give up boxing?
Character Sketch of Jerry Fisher
Jerry Fisher is Bill Bramble’s hot-tempered boxing trainer at the White Hart club. He calls Bill “a pleasure to train” and is shocked when the boxer decides to quit right before a big match. He tries to punch Major Percy Stokes for leading his trainee astray, before his fiery anger lands on Bill. Feeling quite “badly treated” by the boxer, of whom he had formerly been so “fond and proud,” he avenges himself on Bill’s son Harold, telling him the truth about Bill’s secret career as a boxer. He calls Harold “Tommy,” a British nickname for young men. When Harold reveals that he is an enormous fan of boxing, Jerry triumphantly brings Bill back to the White Hart to resume training for the match.
Some Question on Character Sketch of Jerry Fisher
Q1. Who was Jerry Fisher? What did he say to try and convince Bill to change his mind?