character sketch of narrator
J is the narrator of the book. He is a young, single middle-class man living in London, much like the author himself at the time of the publication of the book, and the initial J is possibly meant to suggest that he stands in for Jerome.
J is fond of history and literature and spends much of his time daydreaming about the days when knights roamed the countryside of England. This daydreaming sometimes gets him into trouble when he does not pay suitable attention to what he is doing.
J, like his two friends on the boat trip, is a little vain and conceited, but he realizes it and pokes gentle fun at himself, his friends, and the habits of others like them through his anecdotes, where he and his friends are often the butt of ego-skewering jokes.
J has always been fond of boats, but prefers the old fashioned..
