Comedy of the Custom House by Agnes Repplier
"Comedy of the Custom House" by Agnes Repplier is a humorous essay that explores the human nature and social dynamics at play during the customs inspection process at the New York docks. The narrative focuses on the interactions between travelers returning from abroad and the customs officers tasked with inspecting their luggage. Repplier highlights the anxiety and pretense of travelers who attempt to smuggle goods past customs, particularly focusing on the character of a young girl named Maisie and her mother. Maisie is portrayed as a clever and mischievous traveler who enjoys the challenge of evading customs duties, while her mother is more anxious and fretful about the process. The essay humorously depicts the customs officers as serious and diligent in their duties, contrasting with the travelers' attempts to appear innocent and indifferent. Repplier uses the interactions between Maisie, her mother, and the customs inspector to illustrate the absurdity and comedy inherent in the situation. The narrative captures the tension and humor of the customs inspection, as Maisie skillfully navigates the questions and suspicions of the inspector, while her mother frets over the disarray of their belongings. Repplier's essay ultimately reflects on the broader themes of human nature, societal norms, and the playful defiance of authority. Through witty observations and character interactions, "Comedy of the Custom House" offers a lighthearted critique of the customs process and the lengths to which individuals will go to circumvent it.
By Agnes Repplier · First published 1904 · Genre: Satire, Humorous Fiction, Social Commentary · 3,644 words
First lines
There is no place in the world where human nature is so thoroughly human or so purely natural as on the New York docks, when a great steamer load of returning travelers are being put through the _peine forte et dure_ of the United States custom house. Everybody is striving to play a part, to assume an air of indifference which he does not feel, and of innocence which he knows to be fallacious; and, like Mrs. Browning's Masker, everybody betrays too plainly in his "smiling face" and "jesting bold" the anxiety that preys upon his vitals. Packed snugly away in that wilderness of trunks and boxes are hundreds, nay, thousands, of pretty trifles, which it is the painful duty of every man, and the proud ambition of every woman, to carry in unscathed and undetected. The frank, shameless delight which a woman takes in smuggling has long puzzled the male moralist, who, following the intricacies of the feminine conscience, can find no satisfactory explanation of this by-path. He cannot bring her to understand why, when she has purchased and paid for an article, it should not be hers to take where she likes, to deal with as she pleases; and a dozen discourses on political economy and the laws of nations leave her unshaken in this simple and primitive conception. As the English are said to argue best in platoons, so a woman argues best in action; and, while her husband or brother is proving to her in the clearest possible fashion that a high protective tariff is a blessing to the land, she is assiduously storing away embroidered table covers, and silk stockings, and silver spoons, and tortoise-shell combs, and tiny jeweled pins, and bits of frail Venetian glass, wherever her practiced eye tells her they will best escape detection. In the abstract, of course, dear Edwin is right-he always is-but she is far too busy with her task to enter into abstractions just now.
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Comedy of the Custom House is listed on Textopian as an essay by Agnes Repplier, dated 1904 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Essay
- Author: Agnes Repplier
- Date: 1904 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Satire, Humorous Fiction, Social Commentary, Comedy of Manners, Farce
- Length: 3,644 words
- Structure: 1 section, 32 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Comedy of the Custom House by Agnes Repplier
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Satire — The work uses biting irony to expose and critique the absurdities of bureaucratic procedures and social pretensions.
- Humorous Fiction — The narrative employs witty dialogue and exaggerated scenarios to entertain while highlighting human foibles.
- Social Commentary — Observations on class distinctions, societal norms, and the inefficiencies of institutional practices underpin the narrative.
- Comedy of Manners — The story humorously examines the behavioral conventions of its characters, revealing the quirks and contradictions of social etiquette.
Tags
humor · satire · essays · bureaucracy · government · observational · irony · customs · social commentary · American literature · culture · witty