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2. Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Great Automatic Grammatizator, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Deception, Manipulation, and Power
Greed
Illusion vs. Reality
Autonomy and Control
Revenge and Justice
Summary
Analysis
After making their first million, Mr. George Cleaver and his wife purchase a home in London and set their sights on climbing the social ladder. To impress their wealthy guests, they hire a butler, Tibbs, and a French chef, Monsieur Estragon, and host lavish dinner parties. Despite the impeccable food and service, Mr. Cleaver notices that his gatherings feel lackluster. Tibbs suggests that the “odious Spanish red” wine Mr. Cleaver serves is to blame, as it clashes with the food. Determined to fix this, Mr. Cleaver orders Tibbs to buy only the finest vintage wines, no matter the cost.
Mr. Cleaver believes wealth and status alone can buy refinement, and he remains oblivious to the true source of his guests’ indifference. His reliance on Tibbs to dictate matters of taste highlights his lack of experience in this “elite” world, making his attempts at culture seem performative rather than authentic. It’s also an early indicator that Tibbs has more power than Mr. Cleaver might suspect—Mr. Cleaver himself solicits and defers to Tibbs’s expertise.
Active
Themes
Over time, Tibbs teaches Mr. Cleaver how to distinguish cheap wines from expensive ones and how to discuss them knowledgeably. Still, Mr. Cleaver finds his guests are consistently underwhelmed. Tibbs suggests this could be due to the excessive vinegar that Mr. Cleaver has instructed Monsieur Estragon to use in the salad dressing, which may be throwing off the taste of the wine. But Mr. Cleaver dismisses this idea as “hogwash,” insisting that his palate remains unaffected.
Mr. Cleaver relies on Tibbs’s advice alone to improve his dinner parties, but his guests remain largely unimpressed—an indication that something isn’t quite adding up. His arrogance is especially evident when he dismisses Tibbs’s recommendation about the vinegar in the dressing, convinced he knows better than his experienced butler.
Active
Themes
One night, as Mr. Cleaver raves to his guests about the Château Lafite ’45 Tibbs has served them with dinner, Tibbs reveals the truth: the wine is not a Lafite ’45 but the same “odious” Spanish red he has always served at the Cleavers’. In fact, Mr. Cleaver’s expensive vintages have never once been poured at his parties—Tibbs and Monsieur Estragon have enjoyed them together instead. Good wine, Tibbs declares, should be appreciated, not drowned out by excessive vinegar or dulled by pre-dinner cocktails. He then leaves the Cleavers’ home, joining Monsieur Estragon as they load their suitcases into a car.
Active
Themes
