Posted by Ed Kiser on November 16, 2006 at 06:23:49 from 64.12.116.6 user Kisered.
One of the remarkable feats accomplished by Ransome was to manage a story with quite a few characters, yet each seemed to become well known such that when one says or does something, it seems to us that it was a natural reaction for that particular character to do just that. They way they talk, their likes and dislikes, their mannerisms, all help to define the uniqueness of these characters.
There is one place that seems to portray the differences in these characters rather well, and that is in WH, when they are trying to catch the attention of the Doctor as he is driving down the road, to get him to come have a look at Nancy and her aching jaw. The way they yelled was so specially reflective of that character. It is as if we could really know who said what without having the name identified of each individual speaker.
Of course this business of defining these personalities takes place throughout these books, with some characters being more well known that others. There are those that somehow seem a bit interchangable with not really any particular distinguishing characteristics to separate one from another. Perhaps it is because a few characters are very limited in their exposure to us, such as DUM and DEE, being only in SW. The twins, PORT and STARBOARD, other than their left/right handedness, are quite identical in all other ways, and even that particular distinguishing feature never seems to come into play. This pair also has limited exposure, being essentially only in CC. With the D&G trio, BILL and JOE also seem not all that much different, except that JOE has a pet rat.
But as for the SAD characters, these do have very unique personalities. Roger's cheekyness, Dick's need to stop and wipe his glasses at certain moments, Nancy's natural leadership always ready to "stir things up", Susan's being the Native substitute. Titty was imaginative, seeing events as being related to events in stories she read. This attribute of hers is what led her to the experiment with the candle wax version of the GA. Dot seemed to be ready to adapt current events into fantasy tales, that for the most part never got beyond Chapter One, with the exception of "Outlaw of the Broads."
It is the ability of the reader to "get to know them" that helps me to feel a part of what is going on. These people became my childhood friends, and I still feel that closeness even today some 64 years later. It speaks well for the talents of the author to be able to generate in the reader's mind this awareness of the characters and their attributes that make them become so very real.
Perhaps it was his modeling of his characters after real children had something to do with making them real for us, even though those real role models seem to claim to be quite distant from his book characters, and quite distant from the various things the book characters did - "We never did those things."
It is no wonder that Ransome himself tells us that a frequent question he gets is "Are they real?" because he made them become real to us, and to become very dear friends for me to grow up with.
They never age; and I, too, when I am with them, am able to be young again.
This is the blessing of the experience of All Things Ransome.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky