Posted by Hil on April 04, 2000 at 13:40:12 from cbr2-56k-082.tpgi.com.au:
In Reply to: c.s. lewis posted by emily chapman on April 04, 2000 at 01:11:39:
I'm a bit hazy on Lewis, but I guess the similarities you mention are not so unusual in kids stories. Going off by themselves is kind of handy - it frees the kids up to do exciting things, and the joys and difficulties of independence are attractive and important things for kids to contemplate. I wonder if the fact that the Ransome kids are inventing their own adventures in their own world, as opposed to Lewis's kids dealing with things in a magical/fantasy world, makes their 'independence' more attractive to kids in some ways?
The nativeness of the Susans (!) can be explained by the need to have someone looking after the domestic needs of the group, in the absence of parents, and it falling to the elder girl by default because of gender conventions of the time. But in a way the four children can be seen as a group functioning as an ideal family of the time. Nancy is a nice antidote to the convention.