Greenwood’s Little Ripple, whose heroes appear before you today, is an incredibly moving story about a little boy who has experienced many adversities on his way to an honest and happy life.
"I was born in London ..."
The hero of the story "Little Ripple", a summary of which we will present today, appears before the reader as an adult man, serious and self-sufficient. He shares his memories of Freingpen Street, where he lived as a child.
Before the reader's mind's eye, poor London slums appear, not devoid of their charm. And, of course, little Jimmy, living with sister Polly, father and stepmother. Jim describes his neighbors, paying particular attention to Mrs. Winkshim's neighbor and her niece Martha, an ugly but incredibly kind woman.
Jimmy’s childhood was not cloudless. He lost his mother early. Before the second pregnancy, the poor woman was crushed by the poverty and beatings of her father. And after the birth of the sister of our hero, she never recovered.
Immediately after the funeral of Jimmy's mother, a neighbor appeared in her father's life - the widow of Mrs. Burke. The cunning woman very quickly gained the trust of Mr. Baliset. Meanwhile, the woman did not differ in kindness and immediately did not like the stepson. The boy nursed his little sister, often malnourished and suffered beatings of his father because of her slander.
Jim runs away from home
Before you - the second chapter of the story "Little rag", a brief summary of which will tell you about the beginning of the wanderings of Jim Baliset.
Once Jimmy's sister fell down the stairs and the boy, frightened to death by the incident and the anger of his stepmother, ran away from home. He hungry wandered the streets until the good townspeople threw him a few coins. He could have supper on them. The boy even wanted to return home, but when he heard that his father was angry with him, he again went to the market, where he spent most of the day.
On the night streets of London, Jim met two boys somewhat older than him. He introduced himself to them by Jim Smithfield. Together with them, our hero spent his first night as a street child in an old van. As it turned out, his new friends, Mouldy and Ripston, are petty thieves who lived by reselling stolen goods, buying money for this money. Jimmy, lonely and scared, also begins to steal, which, it should be noted, he is very good at it. In addition, the boys earn extra money with various small jobs.
Delirium tremens and workhouse
In the third chapter of the story "Little Ripple", a brief summary of which is described below, Jim falls ill and ends up in a workhouse.
In October, Jim became seriously ill. The boy was tormented by a fever, he raved. His friends tried their best to alleviate Jim's condition. Soon our hero got into the workhouse, where he survived a fever. From there, they planned to send the boy to Stratford as an orphan, but he, too frightened by the tales of this place, escaped from his workhouse right before the departure.
All day Jim was waiting for his friends on the street, freezing under the February wind, but the boys did not appear. And then our hero, completely desperate, decided to return home. But near the tavern he saw his father - drunk, untidy, embittered, who beat his stepmother in the same way as Jimmy's mother used to be. The boy hoped that his father’s anger would soften at the sight of him, but he became even more furious and nearly killed his son. Jim barely managed to escape.
Suffering from the cold, he wandered through the night streets until he ran into two well-dressed gentlemen. Rough, inhuman bourgeoisie robbed the boy, taking from him a decent robe, which he was given in the workhouse. Barefoot, in only trousers and a dirty jacket, he spent the whole night on the street.
Meeting with an old friend
In this chapter of D. Greenwood's short story “The Little Ripple,” which we are briefly reviewing, Jim becomes a chimney sweep.
The whole next day, Jimmy wandered the streets in a strange daze. And only when I heard the boy singing on the street, he decided to earn the same. To his surprise, after the song ended, his arms were drawn to him with pence and half pence. One of the students turned out to be the very Martha - the niece of Jimm's former neighbor. Having fed and dressed the child, the good women decided to give him to study the craft of the chimney sweep.
Mr. Belcher, Mrs. Wickship's son-in-law, was not very happy with the new student, but still took the boy with him. He met Jim with Sam and Spider - chimney sweep workers. Spider - a teenager, tormented by rheumatism, was not able to work due to constant pain. Tobias, the name of the Spider, was an excellent worker, but rheumatism turned him into a disabled person.
The Secret of Mr. Belcher
The next chapter of George Greenwood’s short story is about what secret Mr. Belcher was hiding.
Soon, Sam leaves for Mr. Belcher, and Jim now has to do his job. Before leaving, Sam tells the boy that their regular nightly job is to clean church pipes. But this is prohibited by law and therefore Mr. Belcher carefully preserves his secret.
The real secret was revealed to the reader much later, when the owner, leaving Jimmy to watch the horse, went along with another chimney sweep Ned Perks to the church. They brought tools and a large bag with them. When the men returned with a bag filled, probably not with soot, but with something else, a curious Jim looked inside - and saw the dead man's hand!
The frightened boy escaped, confident that Ned Perks was a murderer, and now he will be killed. The men did not find Jim and were forced to return home, while our hero accidentally stumbled upon a forester. His story greatly excited the man.
Joe and Tom (the name of the second forester) went for a couple of chimney sweeps and soon caught them. As it turned out, the dead man had been buried for a week, Ned and Belcher only dug up the body. However, they must be tried for this crime.
Nevertheless, Mr. Belcher managed to escape, and Ned went with the foresters and Jim to the authorities in Ilford. All the way, Ned intimidated Jim, promising that Belcher would get to him and kill him. In the end, the boy decided not to tell the police and the judge anything else that could make the former owner even more angry. In the morning he, having asked to take a walk, fled from the policemen and reached the London on a wagon.
Now Jimmy felt relatively safe, but he was haunted by fear, he felt lonely and miserable.
Jim becomes a "rich man"
This chapter of Greenwood's Little Little Ripper briefly describes Jim's adventures on the street.
While wandering around the street, our hero witnessed a mute scene: a homeless child, a little older than Jim himself, quietly stole a purse from a rich woman who admired the shop window. Then Jim, overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness, also decided to become a thief. No, this idea somewhat disgusted him, but he convinced himself: this is the only way to survive for him, a lonely and homeless man.
Soon the boy, who was naturally agile, managed to buy new clothes and even rent an apartment. So, stealing wallets from the rich, he lived for two months. Till...
Meeting with Mr. Gapkins
We continue to describe the summary of The Little Ripple by James Greenwood. Jim meets Mr. Gapkinson.
One day, Jim managed to steal a wallet full of gold coins on the street. Rushing to run, he fell right into the hands of a richly dressed gentleman, who took him to his home. George Gapkins, despite his wealth, was not a gentleman. He profited from the labor of petty thieves, taking away the money stolen by them, and in return promised a shelter, food and a trifle for pocket expenses. Jim liked his offer, and he happily agreed.
Having agreed with George, Jim went to spend the money that he gave him. He decided to go to the theater, and there he ran into Ripston - his old buddy thief. From him, Jim learned that now Ripston works and lives honestly. As it turned out, the death of their mutual friend Mouldi so influenced the boy’s worldview. He died a few months after Jim was sent to the workhouse, falling off the roof and breaking his bones.
Tormented by conscience, Jim confesses to Rip that he is still stealing. A friend calls him to work with him, but then Gapkins appears in front of the boys. Ripston, bewildered leaves. And George tells Jimmy all the way how ungrateful and hard honest work is.
At night, the owners of the house begin to quarrel. Jim tries not to pay attention to it, but suddenly Mrs. Gapkins asks him to come down to her. She assures the boy that he needs to run away, otherwise George, having squeezed all the juices out of him, will soon throw him in jail and find the following “fresh hands”, as has happened more than once.
The next morning, Mrs. Gapkins fell ill with a fever and only three weeks later began to recover. Just at that time, George with his friends Tilner and Armitage decided to commit a major theft. The wife warned the boy about this, advising him to run away as soon as possible.
Jim went to Ripston - his only friend. Ripston introduced our hero to his masters, the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Tibbit. Jim told them everything, including the impending crime. Mr. Tibbit immediately went to the police, taking Jim with him.
The police inspector told Jim to take part in the robbery in order to catch Gapkins red-handed. His plan was a success - the police were already waiting for the thieves in the house.
"This is where my story, the story of the little ragman, ends"
Jim said that after the robbery story, he was sent to an institution for juvenile delinquents in Australia. There he learned a lot, matured and even made a fortune. Now, Jim is an honest and happy person and considers the months of the most unfortunate times of his life when he was a little ragged guy. However, an important coal dealer, Mr. Ripston, says that there was nothing wrong with them ...
Conclusion
Incredibly piercing can be called the story "Little Ripple", reading the summary of which, the reader sees how unfair and cruel life. However, the ship does not sink when there is water around it. He drowns when water is in him. So Jim, like a ship, was able to go through all the storms of life and remain an honest, holistic person.
Greenwood's short story "Little Ripple", the main characters of which were able to endure all the hardships of life with honor, is interesting to both young and adult readers.