Posted by Adam Quinan on May 26, 2012 at 17:57:18 user Adam.
I have been thinking about the various antagonists faced by the S, A and Ds in the various books and have broken them down in my analysis into three broad categories, not including the Great Aunt who has already been recently discussed on TarBoard.
There are a couple of books with no real human antagonists. In both Winter Holiday and WDMTGTS, if there is any antagonist, it is mumps or the weather and sea. In Secret Water, the apparent antagonism of the Eels is quickly resolved, partly by their prior friendship with the Mastodon but also with realisation that they were marooned. The alliance of Nancy and Daisy to have a war rather than complete the Swallows’ plan of mapping the archipelago does introduce an element of antagonism from within the group rather than from an external source.
I call my first category
Not so antagonistic enemies (S&A, PP, BS and GN?)
Captain Flint, Timothy, Constable Tedder and the Gaels
In Swallows and Amazons, Jim Turner does not initially appear as the friendly deus ex machina that he becomes in later stories. He appears as a somewhat typical grown-up, concerned with his own affairs and not liking the apparent annoying children. His main fault is his unwarranted assumption that the Swallows are somehow the villains in the firework incident and then later the burglary. Why he believes that his sweet piratical nieces are innocent, given his previous experience with the wild cats is not explained. Just seeing Swallow sail by hardly gives grounds for such suspicion and his refusal to listen and insults to John is not becoming in an adult. But in many places Captain Flint does not come across as a mature adult in the books, when this childish streak is helping the Swallows and Amazons in their adventures, this is endearing, but sometimes he seems rather petty. At least in S&A he does realise his errors and comes round to being the proper adult companion.
Timothy Steading might be described as the unwitting antagonist. He does not actually do anything bad to earn the suspicion of the Swallows and Amazons, but he becomes the hated Squashy Hat, claim jumper and rival, without even realising it. Again once his true nature is understood, he becomes a friendly native although he does not help as much in their adventures as Captain Flint. In PM, Timothy becomes a source of adult strength and assistance in time of trouble.
Constable Tedder undergoes a reverse path from Captain Flint in S&A, after being a friendly ally in CC, he becomes the enforcer of George Owdon’s malice in BS. He overlooks his former understanding of the character and honesty of the Death and Glories and adopts the Owdon opinion despite it. His only saving grace is that he is not beyond redemption is that he accepts the incontrovertible evidence of the photograph and recognises he was duped.
The Dogmudgeon and the Gaels, the Laird and the Young Prince also start off as antagonists. They have a reasonable cause to be against the crew of the Sea Bear. Gangs of children disturbing the deer, invading the picthouse and generally being an annoying nuisance, are cause enough to be antagonistic. However, once there is an explanation for the sailors’ behaviour, they quickly become allies and help save the divers from the real villain.
To be continued