Posted by PeterH on September 04, 2006 at 16:18:22 from 86.130.135.7 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Amazons' class (Was The S&A Films posted by Jock on September 04, 2006 at 11:18:05:
The other main characters seem to me to have a more defined
background.
Yes, I would agree with Jock, but maybe this is connected with the fact that the 'other main characters' are themselves more defined? It has always seemed to me that, paradoxically, Nancy, the best known of all AR's creations, is the one about whom we know least. Have you noticed that in the books we never read what is in Nancy's mind? There are often narrative passages describing Titty's thoughts, and Dorothea's too. We see into John's mind occasionally (eg after Swallow goes down) and there are memorable descriptions of Dick's thought processes (particularly in GN). Even Susan's housewifely instincts are briefly mentioned here and there.
I feel that Nancy is more an 'energy force' than a character. Maybe it is because she is not pinned down exactly that she is such a powerful presence. There is no doubt that whenever she appears, the narrative pulse-rate accelerates. The 'Nancy shot-in-the-arm' had to be administered to a flagging Secret Water. Such a character could hardly emerge from a suburban semi, so AR sketched in a slightly eccentric, one might even say slightly dysfunctional, family background, based in a pleasant but down-at-heel house by the lake. The key factor here is that Nancy lost her father. I wonder how deliberate this decision was for AR? Did he instinctively give Nancy some 'masculine' traits, so that she could be assertive and adventurous, and be regarded as 'wild'? I feel that there would not have been room for Nancy and a father.
Sorry - I could write pages of this stuff. I'll stop now - any thoughts?