Posted by Ed Kiser on March 29, 2000 at 21:33:06 from MIAMB312-05.splitrock.net:
One of the literary skills that has made Ransome such a beloved author is
his ability to give his characters distinct personalities. When a
character has a reaction or comment, it seems to "fit" the reader's image
of that character. When one says, "I'm feeling Rogerish," this carries a
definite description that we all understand.
However, the personality development applies to the major characters, but
the minor players are more difficult to get to know.
It seems that the lesser known characters appear in pairs, with the result
being that there is little to distinguish one of the pair from its pardner.
Let us consider certain "pairs" and see just how distinguishable these
individuals are.
Port and Starboard - in Coot Club. The distinguisable characteristic is
that Port is left handed and Starboard is right handed. However, this
feature seems to have no meaning or usage that would distinguish one twin
from the other. Although sometimes one of these two did something by
herself, such as dropping feathers into the canal and making a big
production of picking them back up to attract the attention of the
Hullabaloos to keep them from looking the other way and seeing the object
of their search, it really does not matter which twin it was that did it.
Dum and Dee - in Secret Water. With Daisy, these three made up the group
known as the Eels. The problem with these two is that there is nothing
that comes to mind that distinguishes one from the other. If one of these
two do something, the other name could have been substituted just as well.
In fact, all three Eels are not all distinguisable from each other, except
that Daisy is identified as being the girl, and whose only attribute
belonging to her is her inability to utter the password without getting two
syllables reversed. Which is no big deal, as I never could even get that
close myself. That so-called password became one of those words one just
looked at, and then just went on with my reading. It took me the longest
time to see just in what manner Daisy's version was slightly different from
the way the others said it. But Dum and Dee, like Port and Starboard,
become interchangable characters.
Joe and Bill - Coot Club and Big Six. Pete was the third member of the
"Death and Glory" group, but he had characteristics that served to
distinguish him from the other two. Pete was the one to handle the tiller
while Joe and Bill rowed, which is probably the result of his being the
youngest and therefore not as strong on the oars as Joe and Bill would be.
So with the two stronger boys being "engines," that left the smallest one
to handle the rudder. Pete also was the one with the loose tooth. He was
the one that actually operated the camera and took that all-important
photo. It was Pete that fished for the bait to sell to the unnamed owner
of the Catchalot. The problem I have with Joe and Bill is that whatever
one did, the other could have done just as well. Joe had a pet white rat
was about the only real thing that gave him any distinction. Even though
the Death and Glories played a rather major part in two books (two and a
half, if you count "Coots in the North" - unfinished...sigh... how I wish
it were otherwise...) these two still are a pair of characters that have
no real distinguishing personalities to separate them.
There were other minor characters that came as a "single", such as Don (the
Mastadon), Tom Dugeon, Peter Duck, Missee Lee, each of which seemed to have
a pattern, a personality, a set of characteristics for the role each
played.
Personality development was very strong in the other characters. We felt
we got to "know" these people. When they did or said something, it was
somewhat expected as being "in character". The lesser ones seemed to come
in pairs, with little to separate one from the other. I never felt I could
say that I "knew" these people that came in pairs.
Now, in considering the various personalities, there seems to be a
particular feature that started out in one character, but that feature got
shifted to another character. I am referring to the fantasy imagination,
the desire to be a story-teller, that was the property of Titty. She was
alone on Wild Cat, so became Robinson Crusoe. She was the one to fantasize
about Peter Duck in Swallowdale; she is the one that named the cave after
that fantasy character. She was the one to get involved in "Voodoo" with
the wax doll of the GA. Then comes Dorothea, and she seemed to take over
this characteristic, with her "Outlaw of the Broads". Once Dorothea took
this feature, Titty never seemed to mention any such literary fantasies
again. Interesting to see how this personality trait migrated from one
character to another. How unusual to take a feature of one character and
hand it over to a newer character. Titty had it; she lost it somehow.
All in all, they are all greatly loved...
Ed Kiser South Florida