History YMMV / TheWindInTheWillows

** During Toad's trial at the Bench of Magistrates for theft, dangerous driving, and cheeking the police, the Clerk says that Toad's gravest offence is stealing the motor car, while cheeking the police deserves the most severe penalty. Nowadays, this comes off as SkewedPriorities; most people would cite dangerous driving as the worst one, given that it can actually, you know, [[LethallyStupid seriously injure or even]] ''[[LethallyStupid kill]]'' [[LethallyStupid drivers and pedestrians alike]]. In 1908, automobiles were still in their infancy and were a luxury, meaning that roads were unimpeded and dangerous driving was less [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dangerous]] then than it is now (though still a really bad idea). In modern times, the working class can save enough money to afford cars, roads are much busier, and correspondingly there are many historical examples of injuries and deaths caused by reckless drivers.

* ValuesDissonance:

** During Toad's trial at the Bench of Magistrates for theft, dangerous driving, and cheeking the police, the Clerk says that Toad's gravest offence is stealing the motor car, while cheeking the police deserves the most severe penalty. Nowadays, this comes off as SkewedPriorities; most people would cite dangerous driving as the worst one, given that it can actually, you know, seriously injure or even ''kill'' drivers and pedestrians alike. In 1908, automobiles were still in their infancy and were a luxury, meaning that roads were unimpeded and dangerous driving was less [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dangerous]] then than it is now (though still a really bad idea). In modern times, the working class can save enough money to afford cars, roads are much busier, and correspondingly there are many historical examples of injuries and deaths caused by reckless drivers.

** In an attempt to wean Toad off motor cars, Badger, Ratty and Mole lock him in his bedroom and stand guard over him. In 1908, this would have been considered a perfectly normal method. Over a century later, the trio would have been in serious trouble for imprisonment.

** In an attempt to wean Toad off motor cars, Badger, Ratty and Mole lock him in his bedroom and stand guard over him. In 1908, this would have been considered a perfectly normal method. Over a century later, the trio would have been in serious trouble for imprisonment.

** During Toad's trial at the Bench of Magistrates for theft, dangerous driving, and cheeking the police, the Clerk says that Toad's gravest offence is stealing the motor car, while cheeking the police deserves the most severe penalty. Nowadays, this comes off as SkewedPriorities; most people would cite dangerous driving as the worst one, given that it can actually, you know, seriously injure or even ''kill'' drivers and pedestrians alike. In 1908, automobiles were still in their infancy and were a luxury, meaning that roads were unimpeded and dangerous driving was less [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dangerous]] then than it is now (though still a really bad idea). Nowadays, the working class can save enough money to afford cars, roads are much busier, and correspondingly there are many historical examples of injuries and deaths caused by idiot drivers.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: '''Toad'''. He's by far the most popular character and tends to get top billing in just about every adaptation there is.
** Summed up by later episodes of the Creator/CosgroveHall TV series devoting the end credits to Toad's song (with the lyrics taken directly from the book).

* WhatAnIdiot: Really, half the fun in reading about Toad's misadventures comes from laughing at his making one mistake after another. The biggest one is probably when he boasts about stealing a motor car and breaking out of prison within earshot of ''the very people whose motor car he stole'', and he has to drive the car into a pond to escape amidst the pandemonium.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldItWouldFail: The manuscript was rejected by quite a few publishers. It's now considered one of the greatest works of English literature.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Creator/AAMilne, who adapted the book for the stage, believed that the main animals are faeries and so are able to do whatever they want.

* HoYay: Mole and Water Rat show shades of this. Living together is possibly the least intimate gesture that passes between them. Creator/TerryPratchett commented that "the Mole and the Rat's domestic arrangements are probably acceptable, but only if they come out and talk frankly about them". The Alan Bennett stage version turns the whole scene of Mole's first meeting with Badger into a joke about Rat and Badger both competing to homoerotically hit on Mole, who is too innocent to notice.

** The Weasels of the Wild Wood are lower-class and therefore bad, while the Riverbankers are middle- and upper-class and therefore good. Indeed the final passage states how Toad, Mole, Badger, and Rat enjoy summer walks in the now "tamed" Wild Wood and are greeted with respectful deference by the inhabitants -- in other words the lower-classes know their place and wouldn't dare rebel against their "betters", ever again.

** During Toad's trial at the Bench of Magistrates for theft, dangerous driving, and cheeking the police, the Clerk says that Toad's gravest offence is stealing the motor car, while cheeking the police deserves the most severe penalty. Nowadays, this comes off as SkewedPriorities; most people would cite dangerous driving as the worst one, given that it can actually, you know, seriously injure or even ''kill'' drivers and pedestrians alike. In 1908, automobiles were still in their infancy; nowadays, there are many more historical examples of injuries and deaths caused by idiot drivers.