Astoundingly, although Bertie’s monocle is
constantly referred to (at least in the first few books he was in), there is no
clue as to which eye the monocle was
placed in. Was it even the same eye, or did he alternate eyes at times?
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| Bertie Image from nerfherder.fateback.com/ |
The business of the monocle has puzzled on
so many fronts. First of all, how would one wear it? It looks to me like a
piece of glass attached to a chain, with nothing to hold it in place when it’s
in the eye. No wonder Bertie’s often fell out in moments of stress!
Secondly, we know from Spitfire Parade that
Bertie flew with (or should that be “in”) a monocle. Wouldn’t that be awkward
when he had to stare into the sun for signs of enemy planes? Wouldn’t the
monocle work like a magnifying glass and set fire to his eye?
Is Bertie even short-sighted enough to need
a monocle, anyway? He’s constantly mentioned to be a good marksman, which I
always thought had to be people with fairly good vision in both eyes. Does he
take the monocle off when he goes huntin’ with Gimlet? And if not, which eye
does he sight with? The monocled one or the non-monocled one?
A great question, SC. given that pilots need perfect vision. I imagine it's an affectation which became a habit. Illustrations in 'Sweeps the Desert' and 'the Plane that Disappeared' shows Bertie with his monocle in his right eye. Also in 'the Plane that Disappeared' when asked if he had to wear his monocle his answer was'
ReplyDelete"not really, but it saves me having to look for a pair of spectacles, or grope in my pocket for them, when I want to look at something very small."
"Such as?"
"Threading a fresh fly on a gut cast".
I think I read in one of the books that he screwed his monocle into his right eye, but not sure of that. If I come across the reference I'll let you know.
Please do let me know--I'm very curious.
ReplyDeleteRegards the "looking at something very small", surely he can't have to look at small things very often? I would imagine that it would be better to grope in one's pocket every once in a while rather than see the whole world in an Alice in Wonderland fashion and having to polish/pick up/find one's monocle all the time.
One would have thought so. I wonder if WEJ but that in because people were asking the same question you've just asked? It's the only reference I can find that explains it. Perhaps it is a habit, we all know he's always polishing his eyeglass, sometimes absent-mindedly and over the years he has become so used to it he would be lost without it. I am also leaning towards the monocle in the right eye theory on the grounds that Bertie is more than likely right-handed and therefore that would be the most natural thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have been there when he first started wearing the monocle and maybe forgot about it and dropped it and did things like that before he got used to it.
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