8. Summary

The poem 'The Grumble Family' by L.M Montgomery talks about people who are not satisfied with anything in life and choose to grumble about all the minor problems. The poet brings out this theme in a sarcastic way by attributing a family to such a negative attitude of complaining. The grumble family lives in the complaining street, with the river of discontent running aside them. They live in the city of 'Never- satisfied'. They growl at everything that is happening around them. Even if the brightest and the greatest situation is laid in front of them, they will search for that minor inconvenience caused and crib about it. The entire family is known by the name 'Grumble' because of this. They complain about both summer and winter. It is either too cold or too hot for them. They complain for the sake of complaining. If everything goes right, they would complain about not having anything to grumble about. If anyone stays too close to them, the grumblers impact them as well, and by the time one realises that they too have turned into grumblers, it would be too late. One has to be very careful from wandering too far into the grumbling lane. The poet wants everyone to retain their smile even if things go wrong sometimes.