aka "Cuck Tales"
Present day Americans' scolding censure of these characters is the purest, tritest provincialism. Focusing on the "rot," the hypocrisy and comeuppance, the moral turpitude of infidelity for fuck's sake, betrays a simplemindedness bordering on incompetence. You should not be allowed outside.
Ashburnham is Dowell's id, his erotic avatar.
Doleful sybarite
