Although some readers might consider Dahl's characters stereotypical, such universal personalities as exhibited by Claud, Rummins, and Bert appear hilarious in their specific individual meanderings.

Claud's thinking skills are revealed as less than perfect through his involvement in a sequence of get-rich-quick schemes.

Unable to recognize the difference between faulty and accurate information, Claud is easily led astray. As he and the rest of the Rummins family begin to believe Boggis in "Parson's Pleasure," Claud becomes increasingly fascinated with the valuable tidbits of information the parson offers. As the narrator tells us, "Any information of this nature was valuable, in his opinion. One never knew when it might come in handy." Although Claud is not Dahl's main focus in this story, he is pivotal in highlighting the distinctions between the other characters and in providing the necessary irony. At the first hint of the story's greatest irony&mdash...