Mr. Grumble

## Books

***Mr. Grumble*** is the forty-first book in the *Mr. Men* series by Roger Hargreaves. He represents the character trait of constant complaining and never being satisfied.

## Fiction

Mr. Grumble is a character who is never satisfied and constantly complaints. He does seemingly long for companionship and acknowledgement and is in that sense much more social than for example Mr. Grumpy.

### Classic

In Mr. Grumble, Mr. Grumble moans and groans and snorts the whole day through when, by magic, a wizard appears before him. Mr. Grumble comments that this specific occasion is something he hates and the wizard replies in return that he dislikes people who constantly complain and proceeds to turn him into a pig. As the magic wears off Mr. Grumble is invited by Miss Fun at her party. As he starts to complain the wizard appears to turn him into a pig a second time, only larger. Swearing he won't moan or groan ever again, it wears off, and then he proceeds to snort, causing the Wizard to turn him into a pig for the third time, even larger. Turned back to his normal state after promising one last time he will not complain, he heads home and goes straight to bed. And while he does not moan, groan or snort, nothing stops him to snore.

A unique faction of humor to his original book is that he proclaims to hate the unlikely events he comes across. For example, when Miss Fun jumps on a table and pretends to be a clown, he claims to hate when people jump on tables and pretend to be clowns. This very simple format of 'I hate X' is never used again in coming fiction.

### Mr Happy Helps Out / Mr. Happy Finds a Hobby

In "Mr Happy Helps Out" and "Mr. Happy Finds a Hobby", Mr Happy tries to help Mr Grumble find a hobby, which he humorously wants to obtain. Happy being the person he is naturally helps out and they spend their day visiting other Mr Men and Little Miss to ask them about their hobbies and doing what they do. Nothing seems to work out for Mr Grumble.

In the audiotape version "Mr Happy Helps Out", Mr Happy reads the newspaper the next day and comes across the section of send-in letters, which always consists of complaints. Mr Happy figures as collecting is a very common hobby and that Mr Grumble likes complaining that Mr Grumble will perhaps enjoy collecting other people's complaints. And he does.

In the book version ""Mr. Happy Finds a Hobby"', Mr Happy notices the one thing Grumble does is grumbling, and they both realize this is also a thing Grumble likes to do and makes him happy. Thus, his hobby would be what he is always doing, just like all the Mr Men and Little Misses they visited do.

The change of the story is not explained but can have several reasons of general story telling editing to a simplification of the story.

### Mr. Men go Camping

Mr. Strong had planned a camping trip together with Mr. Jelly, Little Miss Splendid, Mr. Forgetful, Mr. Bump, Little Miss Bossy and Mr. Grumble.

Miss Splendid happened to have packed fashion and comfort "necessities" and after Mr. Strong repacking it Mr. Grumble still felt the need to point out he does not understand why Strong asked her along for the trip.

After some more grumbling over the weight of his own backpack, Mr. Strong offered to carry it, which he accepted, and soon the rest of everyone's backpack followed.
When setting up tents, he pointed out to Little Miss Splendid that he finds he circus-sized tent ridiculous. She does not comment and seems to pride herself.

Later on, when it starts pouring, Mr. Strong used Splendid's tent to make a huge umbrella for all of them. Mr. Grumble comes back on his words and admits it to be fortunate that Splendid came along. He even agrees with everyone else that it had been a good trip.

## Description Mr.Men.com

Moan ♦ Groan ♦ Grumpy

He hates laughter, he hates singing and he hates, well, most things. Grumble grumble grumble!

Did You Know?

His favourite word is “BAH”

Gets along very well with Mr. Grumpy

A wizard turned him into a pig, twice!

## Relationships

* Mr. Grumpy - datefriend
* Little Miss Giggles - friend
* Mr. Bump - has been saved numerous times by Grumble, causing Bump to feel save around him and wanting to be with him.
* Mr. Forgetful - actor Grumble is frustrated by
* Mr. Happy - friend
* Little Miss Splendid - he can be annoyed by her but also admits she's good to have around

## Design

Grumble is oval shaped and purple with his only accessory being a turquoise fedora.

Alike all 1990-created characters, he was designed by either illustrator Colette David or concept creator Viviane Cohen. His initial design gave him a mono-brow; a trait he shares with Little Miss Stubborn. In the Mr. Men and Little Miss cartoon, he was re-visioned and given his signature squiggly mouth. Whenever shown in art made by Adam Hargreaves, he is given a regular mouth and only has eyebrows appear for expression.

## Notes and citations

**References**

**Notes**