The Fitz-Boodle Papers

"The Fitz-Boodle Papers" by William Makepeace Thackeray is a comic blend of personal storytelling and made-up tales, probably written in the early 1800s. It's told by George Fitz-Boodle, a gentleman who's lost his spark, and he tells funny stories about his life, his dreams of climbing the social ladder, and his unlucky love life, mainly about his great love for women and smoking. At the beginning, George Fitz-Boodle says he's bored and sad because he lost money playing cards with a talented French player. To pass the time and make some money, he chooses to write articles for a magazine. He thinks about how everyone knows him as a smoker, his rocky relationships with women, and how he doesn't like writers because he thinks they're boring. Fitz-Boodle's likeable honesty about himself and his thoughts on society prepare us for a look into his personality and the strange people around him.