Posted by Magnus Smith on November 11, 2024 at 08:35:42 user Magnus.
Black and white illustrations in the 12 books do not give clues to hair colour. Flowery prose does not mention eye colour. Once I think we are told the relative heights of some of the children, and there was a brief discussion about birthdays too. What other wealth of physical detail are we missing, that other books have been known to disclose?
I used to think Dot had black hair for years, until someone pointed out the line about "straw-coloured plaits".
There's height, weight, eye colour, hair colour, skin tone, date of birth, disabilities, ethnicity......?
Incidentally, it is often commented that Ransome preferred to have his illustrations show characters facing away, so there was no need to draw faces, and any reader could imagine him/herself in those shoes. Is this a theory, or is there a record of him saying that?
Link below goes to Facebook where somebody asked about eye colour today, and I responded with a challenge (can you guess which human in GN has their eye colour specified, when no other book mentions this, apart from with William?).
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