Personal Growth and Change

Through Jimmy and Ann, Wodehouse argues that people can change if pushed to do so. Jimmy goes through some self-examination very early in the novel, when he finds out that his fight with Lord Percy Whipple has caused his father problems and impacted on his future happiness. Usually only thinking of himself and his present comfort, Jimmy starts to question himself and how his actions affect others; “he perceived the numbing truth that we human beings are merely as many pieces in a jig-saw puzzle and that our every movement affects the fortunes of some other piece” (29). When he overhears Ann’s opinion of his behavior, describing him as a “worm”, he starts questioning his lifestyle choices. This continues when he arrives in New York and is confronted with his persona, Piccadilly Jim. He begins to see himself as others do and realizes...