Posted by Peter H on March 13, 2006 at 22:34:00 from 86.130.125.7 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: rheumatoid arthritis (was The study of the old) posted by Jock on March 13, 2006 at 21:33:07:
the fear and deference shown to the GA by the occupiers of Beckfoot could be explained if we postulate the GA being the owner.
This statement encapsulates the huge difference in the way in which people react to AR's stories. For me, the undoubted 'fear and deference' is caused by something far more powerful and insidious than a mere property squabble. It is a superbly crafted example of the way in which one assertive member of a family can exert power over the other members, through sheer force of personality, tradition and a razor-sharp tongue. I have witnessed it, to a degree, in my own family. To attribute the G.A.'s hold over the Blacketts to ownership of a house is, in my opinion, to downgrade AR as a writer. Any old hack can construct a family feud over property - what AR does is to hint at something far more enormous. How is it that the G.A. could reduce Mrs Blackett to tears? Because she owned Beckfoot - no no, it just doesn't add up.
Another thing about Beckfoot. Judging by a lot of the Tarboard posts over the years, Beckfoot is regarded as a sort of 'jewel in the crown', a very desirable property, the ownership of which must indicate that the Blacketts had money. This is late 20th-early 21st century thinking. Round about 1920-30, there were loads of whacking great houses in the Lakes and north of England which no one particularly wanted. Beckfoot would have been miles from anywhere, with no electricity, no gas, and no main drainage. It does not seem to have been a farmhouse, and would have had no profit-yielding land attached. It would, however, have had a big garden which would need looking after. You could probably have bought it, just after World War I, for peanuts. I suggest that if, by some chance, the g.A. owned Beckfoot, she would have regarded it with contempt, and as a white elephant. The AR context indicates that Beckfoot was the matrimonial home of Bob and Molly Blackett. It is unlikely that BB would have agreed to live in a house which belonged to an in-law relative. He probably bought Beckfoot at public auction with maybe a couple of locals half-heartedly bidding against him.