His crash course in eloquent expression is recounted at length, without ever becoming more than a flat comedy situation. Even Ben Trotter comes in for some of the same treatment, in a misconceived episode of farce when he is newly a prefect and trying to make a good impression. Strangely, though, the tide can flow the other way, with a minor character taking on an arbitrary depth. So Sean Harding, the school's prankster, turns out to be a devotee of Vaughan Williams, like Ben Trotter, as we learn with equal surprise. Nothing follows this up.
Themes sprout and replace each other like generations of mushrooms and leave as little behind.
Works of literature aren't necessarily undone by mixed emotions and incoherent ideas, but The Rotters' Club is altogether too unsure what to mock and what to mourn.