Posted by PeterH on September 17, 2006 at 22:17:54 from 86.130.136.18 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: BLAME - was Nancy, was Peggy posted by Ed Kiser on September 17, 2006 at 21:16:11:
Ed - about halfway down your posting, you give this example:
In PP, once again Susan is ready to accuse and blame someone
before she hears what really happened.
Well, 'accusation and blame' is a tad unfair - it was really just irritation with Titty because Susan thought she had made the others late for lunch (or 'dinnertime' as Susan put it). Susan thought, justifiably, that they couldn't go through the fell and was horrified when she found they had. Of course, she never heard the full story . . . Susan's worry is justified in retrospect because Titty, Roger and the Ds could easily have been killed. It is one of the few places in the 'realistic' books where the characters were in literal danger of death - in fact I think it is the only place, except perhaps in GN?
However, as for Ed's general thesis, I agree that misunderstandings are one of an author's best devices for creating instant tension and pushing a story along.