Posted by andyb on August 28, 2007 at 19:48:22 from 86.156.160.144 user beardbiter.
In Reply to: Re: The 'Miss Nancy' enigma posted by Jon on August 28, 2007 at 14:39:15:
Although, as a paid up member of the 'text must be understood in context' brigade, I'm glad that our discussions of the social milleaux of the Turner/Blacketts has brought to light an interesting question about the plot of PP, I really don't buy the tenant farmer hypothesis. I think that if AR wanted the Blacketts to own farms he would have told us about it. Nancy has a vivid interest in Lakeland agricultural matters (remember her talk about hound trails in SD?) and often acts as if she owns the whole Lake District (doesn't she say something about the High Topps which invites her audience to admire them as if she had created them)but she never, in my recollection, refers to 'our farm', 'our land', 'our people'. If AR had intended such a relationship he would have written it in, Nancy as a character, couldn't have resisted all the opportunities for getting her hands dirty, meddling and simply playing farming that being a country landowner would have brought (think Richard Jeffries and Bevis).
Further, I like to think that any real-life Nancy (and if not her, her mother) would have been horrified at the idea of pulling rank and insisting on being a fire-risk. No I think, AR intends Mrs T to be swept away by the torrent of Nancy's enthusiasm and refusal to take 'no' for an answer. In my view, Nancy's the experiences and expectation that come with her class background contribute to giving her this confidence and Mrs T's class position as a tenant farmer may undermine her usual assertiveness but I don't see it as the subservience of a tenant and land-owner's daughter.