Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on February 24, 2009 at 09:22:18 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Mrs Barrable posted by Peter Ceresole on February 23, 2009 at 14:52:00:
I think Ransome was writing for a generation that had lost an awful lot of fathers and uncles, and I think that in writing SA he deliberately made Mrs Blackett a widow so as to get on terms with children who had no father. The "fatherlessness" and "consequent wildness" of Nancy and Peggy is a running thread in the GA subplot, and I don't think this is an accident.
Separately, he knows which characters to remove in order to give the plots space to develop. Ted Walker is the classic example - he is a splendid deus ex machina, setting up the eucatastrophe in WDMTGTS and acting as a magic carpet in SW, but his presence kills the adventure stone dead. The elimination of Mrs Walker and Captain Flint and the preoccupation of Mrs Blackett with the decorators sets up PP, whilst the elimination of all the grown ups creates the plot for PM, and so on. I think Port and Starboard are eliminated from BS for this reason - too horribly competent!
Now, looking at the list of missing adults:
Bob Blackett: Casualty of WW1. Timing fits SA, not the others; never mind. Or, like my grandfather, died soon after the war, as a result of it, or perhaps the 'flu.
Billy Lewthwaite's father & Mary Swainson's father: Casualties of WW1
Mr Barrable: As a teacher, she would have been a spinster, so she would have married late (and of course had to give up teaching to do so). Mr Barrable died in WW1; the marriage was quite possibly a wartime marriage, so they would have had little time together. Mrs Barrable never needed to change her habits and retained her spinsterly qualities.
George Owdon's father: Another war casualty. Worth noting that Mr Farland seems to know his uncle socially.
Mr Tyson: I am not quite sure that he is not around; at the time of year he would have been out on the farm all day and would have left the running of the steading to the somewhat domineering Mrs Tyson.
Jim Brading's father: Suspect Brading pere is alive, but does not sail?
Harry Bangate's father: Old age
Mr McGinty: Another casualty of WW1.