While hiding out in an unnamed man's house, Peter regales the audience with three retellings of American classic novels (all of which, at one point or another, have been taught in — and sometimes banned from — American high school English classes): The Great Gatsby (with Brian as Jay Gatsby), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (with Peter as Finn and Chris as Tom Sawyer) and Of Mice and Men (with Stewie as George and Chris as Lenny).
This episode contains examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: George, in the original novel, legitimately cared about Lenny, and emotionally struggled with having to Mercy Kill him; in this, George (played by Stewie) has very little sympathy for Lenny, mostly viewing him as a means to fulfill his own goals, and in the end, executes him without much compunction.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Tom Buchanan (played by Peter) is portrayed here as being a bit stuffy and pretentious, and there's an offhanded mention of Domestic Abuse on his part, but we never actually see that part and Tom overall acts like the Only Sane Man pointing out the weird inconsistencies in the plot. All of this is a far cry from the brutish, racist bully he was in the original novel.
- In the novel, Wilson (played by Joe) was also a Domestic Abuser. Here, he shows none of that toward his wife.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Not in the normal sense, but in Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife, played by Meg, is portrayed as a total slut, whereas in the book she was more lonely and upset at Curley, not so much flirting with Lennie as confiding in him before inviting him to stroke her hair.
- Stewie is Ambiguously Gay in both "The Great Gatsby" and "Of Mice and Men"
- Adaptational Wimp: Curley (played by Quagmire) doesn't put up nearly as much of a fight against Lenny (Chris) compared to the original novel. Here, his hand is quickly crushed by a nonchalant Lenny before Curley could even land a hit.
- Adaptation Decay: "Good night, kids. Good luck with those book reports."
- Adapted Out: Nick (Stewie) acknowledges that he and Jordan (Meg) went on a few dates in the book. He then announces that they're going to skip all that.
- Better than a Bare Bulb: Roughly 90% of the episode's dialogue is Lampshade Hanging on the stories' various oddities and inconsistencies.Tom Buchanan: Hey, you know what we should do? We should all drive drunk into Manhattan and get a hotel room and have the exact same conversation we're having here I'm starting to think this isn't a very good book.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the second story, Brian breaks character to protest being killed immediately after getting shot in the pool. In the third story, he insists he not be given to Lenny.
- Call-Back: Way back in the Season 10 episode "Quagmire and Meg" Quagmire wanted to have sex with Meg. He now plays Curley and Meg plays Curley's Wife.
- Composite Character: Slim is the ranch owner in "Of Mice and Men" instead of Curly's father.
- Compressed Adaptation: "Of Mice and Men" happens over the course of seconds, invoking a large amount of Comedic Sociopathy in the process.
- The Con: How the Duke and the King (Joe and Quagmire, respectively) introduce themselves to Huck and Jim:The Duke: Hi, we're fake-selling the Brooklyn Bridge!
The King: Don't call it "fake-selling!"
The Duke: We're REAL-selling the Brooklyn Bridge!
The King: Stop qualifying the selling! - Contrived Coincidence: As Nick (Stewie) points out, it's quite a "weird coincidence" that Gatsby (Brian)'s new friend just so happens to be cousins with the girl Gatsby has been in love with for years.
- Emasculated Cuckold: George Wilson already had it rough with his wife cheating on him, but Tom Buchanan just had to rub it in.Tom: [tossing a wad of money at George] Have fun raising my bastard!
- Her Codename Was Mary Sue: Played with. Peter basically portrays himself as the most attractive and intelligent character in all three stories — not only is he the endearingly boyish lead role in Huckleberry Finn, he's also the affable boss Slim in Of Mice and Men, and Tom Buchanan as he appears in this retelling of Gatsby undergoes a case of Adaptational Nice Guy.
- Hypocrite: Gatsby tells Nick that he's getting a "funny vibe" from him. Nick is quick to point out that Gatsby was the one who invited him to the docks, alone, at night.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Nick (Stewie) goes to Gatsby's party and asks a flapper girl about Gatsby.Nick: Whose party is this?
Flapper: I'm not sure. Women aren't allowed to ask questions yet. (seductively) So, what's your name?
Nick: Madam, you forget yourself! - Insane Troll Logic: Occurs on two occasions in The Great Gatsby. First, Myrtle (played by Bonnie) thinks that the yellow car speeding crazily towards her is driven by Tom, because he was in that same car earlier (it was actually driven by a drunken Lois as Daisy, with Brian as Gatsby beside her). So she steps out and gets run over. The next day, George (played by Joe) shoots and kills Brian/Gatsby simply because he was in the same car that ran down his wife.
- Ironic Nickname: Slim of Of Mice and Men is played by Peter, so George/Stewie points out that his nickname must be ironic (in the book he really was handsome).
- Laser-Guided Karma: After crashing into a house, terrorizing the family who owns it, and raiding their belongings, Peter ends up getting arrested by the police; to top it off, after insulting the police officers, he gets his nose broken. note
- Literal-Minded: Played for Laughs in a conversation between Curley's Wife (Meg) and Lenny (Chris):Curley's Wife: I want you to destroy me.
Lenny: Okay! (breaks her neck) - Misplaced Retribution: This trope's use in Gatsby is lampshaded here:George Wilson: "You were standing earlier in the day next to the car that hit my wife!" *Bang, Bang, BANG*
- Nouveau Riche: The Great Gatsby's use of this trope is mocked here; Old Money Tom Buchanan's mansion is said to be "equally large and fancy yet imperceptibly classier" in comparison to nouveau riche Gatsby's. Tom even explicitly says to Gatsby, "I think you're a trash because you earned your money a little bit more recently than me", showing just how shallow and snobby someone would have to be to care about this sort of thing.
- N-Word Privileges: Poked at twice in Huck Finn:
- When Huck and Jim first meet, Huck asks the slave, "What's one half of your name?" This is based on a common misconception people have about the book, specifically assuming that Jim's name is "N**ger Jim." While the N-word is used a lot in the book (210 times, to be exact), the character's name is only ever given as Jim.
- Later on, Huck asks Jim if it's okay to say the word if you spell it with an "a."
- Obviously Evil: "As you can tell by the 'well-well-well', he's the villain."
- Running Gag: Brian gets killed in all three stories (much to his annoyance), just like Joe getting crippled in all three stories in "The Three Kings". In Brian's case, all the deaths are canon in their respective stories.
- In The Great Gatsby, Brian/Jay was shot by Joe/Wilson in a pool just like in the actual story (minus the Wilson suicide).
- In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Brian is a pig killed by Peter/Finn.
- And in Of Mice and Men, Brian is the puppy who Chris/Lennie accidentally crushes to death.
- Spared by the Adaptation: George Wilson does not commit suicide here like he does in the book.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Nick tells Gatsby that the green light at the end of a dock is from a gay gym called "The Pump House," then nervously explains immediately afterward that he only knows because he saw an ad for it in his magazine subscription.
- Title 1: Parodied when Tom anachronistically refers to World War 1 as such, despite being in The Roaring '20s (during which time the war was just called "The Great War.") Lampshaded immediately afterward.Nick: Why is he calling it that? Is there gonna be ANOTHER big war?
- Too Dumb to Live: In the between segments, Peter hides in the attic from the police, and sees a trunk of clothes, and instead of staying quiet, decides to put on a chef's outfit, and loudly play out a scenario. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
- Wrap Around: Peter presents the stories while in a mansion. He gets locked in a library by the owner after crashing his car into the mansion, tries to hide from police in the attic, and gets arrested.
