Posted by Claire on October 19, 2005 at 16:34:57 from 24.13.223.25 user Claire_Morgan.
In Reply to: Re: Women on TarBoard (Was: Re: Questions about Nancy) - bit of a meta discussion sorry posted by Robert Dilley on October 19, 2005 at 01:47:34:
Even though I read it several times a week, I only post occasionally to Tarboard. I think that I am often content to just follow the discussions, or someone else has already made the point that I would have made had I seen a post earlier. I have never felt that Tarboard was male dominated - they just post more, which is a different thing altogether!
I find Nancy to be a wonderful creation. She adds an element of excitement and risk, (that balances John and Susan quite nicely), without the improbable nonsense that many children's writers resort to. And of course, we have all noticed the equality among Ransome's characters. If you count, you'll find that both genders are represented about equally in the stories. (Though it gets tricky to decide who to include - Dum and Dee in SW hardly count, for example).
Other posts have pointed out Nancy point of view segments, like in WH and PM. That reminded me of the scene that I wish we could have "overheard" in SW, when Nancy and Daisy are together in a boat. I get the feeling that each of them finally found a kindred spirit. Ransome implies that too, with John's thought that neither of them seemed upset at getting stuck by the tide. (I am out of town and can't look up that passage).
I find it enjoyable and amazing that there is still so much to learn about Ransome and his characters after all these years. Thanks to Ian and his TarBard, for making our discussions and shared discoveries possible.
Claire