Acres and Pains Summary
S. J. Perelman

Acres and Pains Summary

The basic theme in Acres and Pains is that civilized man and rural life are not compatible. In what starts out as a journey back to nature, the author discovers that there are no Rousseauistic noble savages among the locals — who constantly take advantage of his pocketbook, gullibility, and inexperience in a rural environment. The reality of chiggers, dry wells, cracked walls, dying trees, termites, and mosquitoes soon undermines his idealized vision of country life.

(read more from the Short Guide)