History Literature / TheHuntingOfTheSnark

"The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits)" is a NarrativePoem by Creator/LewisCarroll, telling the story of a group of [[NamelessNarrative unnamed]] adventurers as they search for the elusive Snark, a vaguely-described creature which lives on a remote island.

Creator/DouglasAdams gave a ShoutOut to the poem in the original [[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy radio]] version of ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' by titling the episodes "Fit the First" etc.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The Baker and the Butcher perform no baking/butchery during the entirety of the adventure, due to each only being able to bake/kill one thing, which for some reason is unavailable. The {{Bit Character}}s actually mostly manage to avert this- The Bonnet-maker plans "a novel arrangement of bows", the Billiard-marker applies pool chalk to the tip of his nose, and the Boots in mentioned in an introduction written by Carroll for later editions to have undertaken the task of shining the Baker's 3 pairs of boots. The Broker, however, despite having been ostensibly brought "to value their goods", is never mentioned doing anything related to his trade.

* BitCharacter: The Billiard Marker and Bonnet Maker really don't do much during the whole story. One member of the crew, the Boots, could well be TheGhost; he's mentioned ''twice'', but doesn't even appear in any illustrations.

* AuthorAvatar: According to Creator/MartinGardner's ''The Annotated "Hunting of the Snark"'', the Baker is an avatar of Carroll himself. One early line is "A dear uncle of mine, after whom I was named..."; Carroll's full name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, and he had an uncle whose last name was Lutwidge.

* BitCharacter: The Billiard Marker and Bonnet Maker really don't do much during the whole story. One member of the crew, the Boots, could well be TheGhost; he's mentioned ''once'', but doesn't even appear in any illustrations.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Modern viewers are often confused as to what [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing_machine a bathing machine]] (something mentioned briefly in the Alice books) is, seeing as they haven't been used since locker rooms became common.

* AuthorAvatar: According to Creator/MartinGardner's ''The Annotated "Hunting of the Snark"'', the Baker is an avatar of Carroll himself. One early line is "A dear uncle of mine, after whom I was named..."; Carroll's full name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, and he had an uncle whose first name was Luttwidge.

* AuthorAvatar: According to Creator/MartinGardner's ''The Annotated "Hunting of the Snark"'', the Baker is an avatar of Carroll himself. One early line is "A dear uncle of mine, after whom I was named..."; Carroll's full name was Charles Luttwidge Dodgson, and he had an uncle whose first name was Luttwidge.

Creator/DouglasAdams gave a ShoutOut to the poem in the original radio version of ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' by titling the episodes "Fit the First" etc.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The story follows a crew of 9 people (or, rather, 8 people and one Beaver) of vastly different backgrounds and skills.

* DownerEnding: So much so that the first edition included a pamphlet about the meaning of Easter, to serve as a counterpoint.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Most of the characters.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits

---> But especially "Thing-um-a-jig!"
---> His intimate friends called him "Candle-ends,"
----> And his enemies "Toasted-cheese."

--->And repeated in musical tone

--->But the crew would do nothing but groan.

--->As he landed his crew with care;

--->By a finger entwined in his hair.

--->That alone should encourage the crew.

--->What I tell you three times is true."

* FunnyAnimals: The Beaver.

* WeaksauceWeakness: The Snark has several. The complete list is thimbles, care, forks, hope, railway shares, smiles, and soap.

"The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits)" is a NarrativePoem by Creator/LewisCarroll, telling the story of a group of [[NoNameGiven unnamed]] adventurers as they search for the elusive Snark, a vaguely-described creature which lives on a remote island.