Posted by JB on May 13, 2012 at 08:02:34 user JB.
In Reply to: Re: Swallowdale - some thoughts posted by Mike Dennis on May 13, 2012 at 07:38:58:
Daphne du Maurier would have been proud of the mysterious Bob Blackett and the G.A.'s malign psychological hold on Jim and Molly. The story could have been taken to a very dark place - especially if the elderly Miss Turner really had been gathered to God while Titty was conducting her voodoo experiment. As it is, Titty's sleepless night is still the most poignant part of the book.
One could read a lot into the ritual reburying of the brass box at the summit of Kanchenjunga too. The G.A. is literally seen off and Nancy forever binds the Swallows and the Amazons to each other and to the mountain's friendly ghosts. (It is interesting that the latter are represented by the image of the Queen-Empress Victoria - perhaps a little incongruent with the theory that Ransome was a socialist radical.)
Of course all this went completely over my head as a child. Like A.N. Wilson in the link below, I didn't appreciate the gently-paced Swallowdale until much later.