Posted by Ed Kiser on August 06, 2008 at 18:51:47 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Great Northern posted by Matthew on August 04, 2008 at 18:11:04:
We speak of GN as being the last of the series ("Coots in..." not havinig made it) with us wanting to know "what happened then." We try to imagine what they would become, as adults, what did they do in the World War Two that would be a part of their lives. Our wanting to know these follow up details just emphasizes how "real" these characters have become, thanks to the writing skills of AR.
It is not in that final text of GN we see the great slow closing curtain on the adventures of these three tribes of fascinating children, but beyond that text, at the end of GN, there is that fading, final image, the closing, not of just the book, but of this set of great stories. It comes as a final drawing, showing one of the Gaels looking from a high point of shoreline through his binoculars at the now distant image of the Sea Bear, as it fades away into the distance, showing our heroes "riding off into the sunset" as a final farewell.
It is there we say "Goodbye" to our childhood friends.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky