Posted by Rebecca on December 02, 1998 at 00:23:50:
In Reply to: Definitely for Fun posted by John Richardson on December 01, 1998 at 14:49:05:
John, I agree with you that the joke is internal. As to the nonchalant Swallow father, I have a few ideas about that. One is that Taqui Altounyan has described the boats as unsinkable - very heavy, not at all like modern dinghies. Another is that the concepts of always wearing lifejackets on board and children knowing how to swim properly seems relatively recent to me. Roger managed some weird sort of dog paddle which certainly wouldn't have been acceptable to my swimming teacher! Finally, many fathers, particularly frequently absent fathers, are notable for deferring parenting decisions to the mothers. My dad was away a lot when I was a child and my mum made all final decisions. (If we didn't like her decision we'd softalk Dad.) I talked to my dad about this recently and he said this came about because my mum seemed more capable than he at childrearing. I think many fathers feel this way. I could get into a feminist analysis here..!