Posted by Jock on August 15, 2007 at 16:27:32 from 87.105.81.146 user Jock.
In Reply to: Do Bohemians play tennis? posted by andyb on August 15, 2007 at 10:39:38:
Jock, whilst promoting the 'Hobbsian hypothesis', seems to follow a trail of inference from the position of Beckfoot on the map and Pull Wood House on the ground, to the Crossley family and the argument that the Blacketts are in some way ‘like’ the Crossleys in terms of wealth, hobbies and behaviour. Further, I have seen it suggested that as the Blacketts don’t seem to have the grand life-style we might associate with the super-rich Crossleys, the family must be in some sort of decline.
I am very interested in several aspects of the manner in which AR has portrayed the Blacketts. He seems to have cast the Amazons in complete opposition to the Swallows.
| Swallows | Amazons | |
|---|---|---|
| Leader | male | female |
| Boat | loaned | owned |
| Home | South | North |
| Father | alive | dead |
| Attitude | deferrential | authoritarian |
| Wealth | earned | inherited |
And yet there is a inconsistency here, the kindly Mrs Blackett and the informal Beckfoot household seems comparable to Mrs Walker and her relations with the Swallows. Did AR at some point have a change of heart regarding the Amazons? Or is it part of his brilliance that he did not go 'all the way' in contrasting the two families.
I do not promote the strong Hobbsian Hypothisis - Blacketts are 100% Crossleys, but am an advocate of its weaker relation - Crossleys are an important source for the Blackets. That is why Hobbs's Beckfoot Found! on If Not Duffers... is followed by AndyB's The Cairn on Kanchenjunga.
The HH helps me understand where AR might have mined some of the Amazon's traits from. I do not use it to 'read between the lines' of the text that AR wrote.