Posted by Jock on August 24, 2007 at 11:22:31 from 87.105.81.146 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Is it all worth it? Yep, reckon it is (was 'Toff' ruled out (was Amazons Toffs? posted by Peter H on August 24, 2007 at 10:34:32:
Although we have been a bit concerned lately on TarBoard about the social status of AR's characters, I believe that AR intended to give us a rather different message about the various 'native' families and individuals that we meet in the stories.
Surely, the social status of AR's characters cannot be a 'message'? Isn't it simply a description of how people are in the books? Similarly the description of Swallow's sinking nor of the explosion of the firework on the Houseboat roof is not a 'message'. What is interesting is how the various characters react to these events. I find the account of John's, Susan's and CF's coping with the shipwreck is quite illuminating as to how one should behave in such circumstances, and CF's reaction following the firework as illuminating how one should not behave after such an incident. Similarly the way people of different social status interact with each other in a friendly way is quite illuminating as to how things should be and the few exceptions such as the GA and GO serve as warnings as to how things should not be.
How could the social status of AR's creations by itself carry any message?