Re:Callum Home London-city kids


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Posted by Ed Kiser on May 03, 2007 at 03:12:11 from 205.188.116.198 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Re:Callum Home London posted by John Wilson on May 03, 2007 at 00:45:45:

I did a SCAN for "TOWN" in WH, and found these references to the "town" the D's are from. Ignored here are references to the "Town" of Rio.

---------- WHCH6.TXT
At home, in the town, Dorothea had seen snow more than once, where it
lay for a few hours in the streets, growing grimier from the smoke,
until it was swept into dirty heaps along the gutters.


Nancy has just gotten the message indicating that it will be the D's that are staying in the Fram, and she is delighted, yet somewhat surprised that it is those two.

---------- WHCH20.TXT
But those two town children from Dixon's Farm, sleeping in the
houseboat by themselves. Good for the D.'s. She had not thought
they had it in them. Well done, Dick and Dorothea!

Interesting to note that the first sentence in the above quote is not really a correct sentence as it has no verb. So it is not a sentence. It is but a realization of a factual situation, not expressed as a sentence.


In this next selection, the rescue team of Swallows are fighting the cold and the frustration at not finding the missing D's. Of course they do not realize why the D's left for the North Pole at this time which makes them very critical of their rashness in starting this unauthorized march in such a weather as this.

---------- WHCH27.TXT
"If only they had any sense," said Susan. "But they haven't
got any, not that sort. People oughtn't to be allowed to be
brought up in towns."


The rescue team of Swallows continue in their quest, in spite of their disapproval of the D's jumping the gun in this march to the Pole, realizing that regardless as to why they started early, they are in serious danger from exposure in this storm, so their rescue is very serious business that they are determined to carry out in spite of conditions.

Still in WHCH27:

But, for all he knew, every minute mattered.
He thought of Dorothea, a little town girl, not tough like them-
selves, out all day in that blinding storm.
---------------------

The D's are at some bit of a disadvantage here with the S&A teams. They are the "new kids on the block" and have not established any particular "Value" to the original pack, who are apt to "look down" on these new comers as being limited by their upbringing in towns and so are cripled in their lack of certain skills these old timers consider essential. Roger raises the question, "Haven't you ever been to sea?" as a rather critical observation. The D's are not sailors, totally inexperienced in the matter of dealing with boats and sails. When they first saw the sailing iceboat, Dorothea observed that it was "very pretty" and proptly dismayed the other true sailors in the group. When the D's first joined the others, there was some discussion as to what can they do. What good are they? So he knows constellations of stars, but what can she do? There is a feeling of superiority over these backward, denied of any meaningful experience, unskilled children. They do not know Morse code or semaphore, very basic skills that to the S&A is just second nature. The things that helped get them into the group were Dick's speaking of "Signalling to MARS" as being very imaginative, and then, when they took off skating - that really was a feather in their caps and that earned the admiration and respect of the others, who were relatively awkward on the ice. I was rather surprised at the lack of skating skills on the part of the Amazons, since they had grown up on the lake and should have been experienced with ice skates more than they were, yet perhaps they were not really there enough in the Winter to learn these skills as they may have been away at schools further south where there was no chance to do skating. But the skating skills really earned for the D's their place in the team of Polar Explorers. Then when Dick did the rescue of the trapped sheep, their respect for him really put him in solid with the group. It was the D's that came up with the sheep skins and rabbit skins from Mr. Dixon that got them into that productive project. So the D's began to "grow" on the S&A and to become more in a sense of belonging. Yet this original feeling of "they don't know anything" really came back out when they were so critical of the D's departing for the North Pole for some stupid ignorant reason that did not make sense to the rescuers. There was some very negative feelings towards the D's, even though it was a great joy to finally find the lost explorers, they were still upset that the D's had even tried to start early. It took Nancy taking the blame for their early start to ease that critical feeling against the D's, as it was realized that the were just obeying orders. The Flag at Beckfoot says "go to the Pole" so when they saw the flag, they started out for the Pole, AS ORDERED. It was all just a misunderstanding.

It is interesting to note that their respect for Dick was quite improved when he became the Professor in charge of the technical aspects of gold mining in PP, even if he did not quite get it right in the final analysis.

My own opinion of the D's was somewhat like the S&A's in that they were the new-comers, almost like intruders in this adventure. My first reading of WH had a rather negative impression of these two interlopers into the story. I had to really try to get used to them and to feel more like they were indeed to be members of this group by their own rights. They grew on me, but started in my own opinion from a very negative beginning. At least in CC, they were determined to learn the art and skills of sailing, so at least their hearts were in the right place. The act that really made me feel that these two are ALL RIGHT and deserving of considerable admiration was in PM when they skinned that rabbit. They did something that the others had not done, and perhaps would have had some considerable trouble in acccomlishing had they ever tried. So RIGHT ON, D's ! They did that rabbit. Nancy certainly felt that admiration for that particular accomplishment. The D's started from a rather disadvantaged position relative to the S&A's, yet they managed to climb up and achieve a respected position in the eyes of the others.

One of the wonders of Ransome's work is how he was able to manage a series of stories that had so many principal characters, with unique peersonalities for each one. He let us "know" these people so that we the readers felt that these characters could actually become childhood friends. When one of them did something, that action seemed to match that personality so it made sense for that person to do that thing. In WH when Nancy was out of the picture, we see a bit of shift in that Peggy tries to take on the leadership role vacated by Nancy by using her expressions, yet they still take their leadership from Nancy's ideas to them for their projects. The marvel of the author's skill is how these characters can develop and grow, and with their experiences, grow into new personalities and become more able as learning as well as increaling maturities have their effects on their changing personages.

It is these mental pictures we readers got in our minds of these people that led so many to ask Ransome, "Are they Real?" What a powerful comliment it is to any author to receive.

Thanks for sharing my musings and wanderings through All Things Ransome.

Ed Kiser, Kentucky


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