Posted by Ed Kiser on March 24, 2001 at 03:18:10 from 64.20.114.18:
There is a concept that seems to run through so many of Ransome's stories,
and that is the concept that some things can, and simply must, last "for
ever". I did a scan on the five lake stories, and was surprised to see
just how many situations were said to last "FOR EVER".
Perhaps we can see these friends of our childhood, and can accept that they
do indeed will "last forever", their youth will "last forever", and our
love for them will also truly "last forever".
The common usage of this expression by so many characters to represent so
many different lengths of time perhaps suggests it is an expression that is
really more the property of the author, and not necessarily any particular
character.
Because the expression, "FOR EVER", is so frequently used, you may think
this collection of observations must also run "FOR EVER." It is a tad
lengthy.
Note: Square brackets, as: [] will be used to frame text taken directly
from the stories. Within these quoted texts, the words "FOR EVER" have
been shifted to ALL CAPS so you can more easily spot the reference. The
original text did not NECESSARILY appear in all caps, although there are
several instances when it was originally in caps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
SA-CH1
The Swallows have seen the island in the distance and are thrilled with the
idea of shifting from the farmhouse to go live on the island. Their
original wish was for the entire family, not just the four elder children,
but that was not practical, for reason of the extreme youth of baby Vicky.
[They had gone back and told their mother of their discovery,
and begged that the whole family would leave the farmhouse
the next day, and camp on the island FOR EVER.]
SA-CH10
The Swallows have finally met the Amazons on the island, with a "war" that
quickly became a parley.
["Anyway, if she hadn't remembered about parleys you would
have been natives too, FOR EVER and ever," said Peggy.]
SA-CH11
As the parley on Wild Cat Island produced the union of the new friends, and
now allies, it was sealed with the most famous phrase of Ransome:
[Really we ought to drink confusion to our enemies..."
"The pirate with the parrot," said Titty.
"The houseboat man," said Captain John.
"Right," said Nancy, "I've got it. Swallows and Amazons FOR
EVER, and death to Captain Flint!"
"Swallows and Amazons FOR EVER," repeated Peggy, "and
death to Uncle Jim!"
"Captain Flint, you chump-headed galoot," said Captain
Nancy.]
It kinda makes me want to cheer, too...
SA-CH11
The allies continue the discussion as to what to do with Captain Flint.
["It'll be best for him to walk the plank," said Able-seaman
Titty. "Then we'll take his treasure and buy a big ship, and
live in her FOR EVER and ever and sail all over the world." ]
SA-CH15
The Swallows had finished their first night on the island. Susan was
pleased to see that her fire in the fireplace had survived the night.
Titty seems to be fascinated by their first campfire, and wishes:
["Let's keep it alight FOR EVER and ever," she said. "We will
keep it burning, all our lives, and then our children, and then
their children."]
SA-CH16
John is fretting about having to deliver the warning message to Captain
Flint. He then takes solace from the environment, its beauty, and its
permanance, that will far outlive the temporary problems of the day.
[But the big hills up the lake helped to make him feel that the houseboat
man did not matter. The hills had been there before Captain Flint. They
would be there FOR EVER. That, somehow, was comforting.]
SA-CH16
Mrs. Walker is meeting with the Swallows on their island, and warns them
that they only have one more week before they have to leave and go back
south.
[The Swallows looked at each other.
"A week's a long time," said mother.
"But we want to stay FOR EVER," said Roger.]
SA-CH17
Leaving Titty in charge of the island, the other Swallows are preparing to
set sail to capture Amazon. John leave her with final instructions.
["Lighthouse soon after dusk, and then
when you hear us make owl calls, light the candle-lanterns on the
harbour marks."
"Aye, aye, sir," said Titty. "Swallows FOR EVER."]
This is the famous cheer, at least, the Swallows' half of it...
SA-CH19
The Amazons have successfully hidden in the reeds by the mouth of the
Amazon River. The Swallows, unspecting, have gone by on up the river.
["Now then, my hearties," she said as she clambered aft.
"Wild Cat Island and Amazons FOR EVER! We've done them fairly
brown."]
This is also the famous cheer, but this time, the Amazon's half of it...
SA-CH24
Nancy comes to Wild Cat Island to tell of the news of the robbery of the
houseboat.
["I say," said John. "Were they burgling the very night of
our war?"
"Of course they were," said Nancy. "I told you. We saw
their light in the houseboat. If we'd only known we could have
captured the lot of them and made Uncle Jim our grateful slave
FOR EVER."]
As it turns out, Uncle Jim did remain grateful, and throughout the stories
in which he participated, many doing favors for the group,
expressing over and over his gratitude for the return of his stolen
"treasures," the big one being getting Swallow repaired in SD, paid for by
funds from his book that Titty saved from being stolen.
SA-CH26
Uncle Jim is rowing to the island to apologize. Nancy seems to be racing
him, rowing Amazon.
["Come on," yelled Peggy. "It's no good putting to sea
to help her. But she'll get here first, and then we can all
stop him from landing. Come on. Swallows and Amazons
FOR EVER!"
"And death to Captain Flint," shouted Titty.]
Again we hear that famous cheer...
SA-CH27
The Amazon and the Swallow are preparing to attack the houseboat. They
commented about his Elephant flag.
["Well, it's coming down in two shakes," said Captain Nancy.
"As soon as ever we get aboard. Down with the Elephant!
Swallows and Amazons FOR EVER!"]
That famous cheer, yet again...
SA-CH27
The houseboat battle is essentially over, with Uncle Jim being swarmed by
the combined forces of the Swallows and the Amazons.
["Yield," shouted Nancy.
"Not while my flag flies," panted Captain Flint. "Elephants,
Elephants, Elephants FOR EVER!"]
A variation of that famous cheer, this time, the houseboat's version...
SA-CH29
Captain Flint is expressing his profound thanks for the return of his
stolen chest.
["If I'd lost this, as I thought I had,
I'd have lost all the diaries of my pirate past, and I've put all
the best of my life into this book. It would have gone FOR EVER
if it hadn't been for you."]
SA-CH31
Mrs. Dixon is saying goodby to the campers, after the storm.
["I've come to be in the way of looking for you. But
perhaps you'll be coming again next year."
"Every year. FOR EVER and ever," said Titty.
"Aye," said Mrs. Dixon, "we all think that when we're
young."]
The hope and exuberance of youth shows here in the words of Titty,
expressing the desire for everything to remain just as it is, in a state of
perceived perfection.
Thomas Wolfe once said, "You can't go home." We remember things as they
were, the happiness of that time, and wish to recapture that feeling, but
things change. What made for that happiness has now moved on.
Many of us feel, as we read these stories, that somehow, there needs to be
more adventures at Wild Cat Island. We wanted that beautiful memory we
have of that first book to be repeated, and give us that same pleasure all
over again. The characters do indeed try to "go home" to Wild Cat in the
book, "Swallowdale," but it did not work out. Those adventures were over,
to be remembered, to be loved in that memory, but now finished, done. Time
to move on, to new locations, to new memories, and new friends. "Wild Cat
Island FOR EVER!" may have been a definite desire, but it never really
happened again, not truly successfully anyway.
This sentiment is expressed by the characters, at the end of the SA story:
["When we've gone," said Titty, "someone else may discover
it. They'll know it's a camp because of the fireplace, but they'll
think the natives made it."
"If anybody takes it, we'll barbecue them," said Nancy
Blackett. "It's our island, yours and ours, and we'll defend it
against anybody."
"We're going to school at the end of the summer," said Peggy.
"So are we," said Susan.
"Well, we shan't be at school FOR EVER," said Nancy. "We'll
be grown up, and then we'll live here all the year round."
"So will we," said Titty, "and in the winter we'll fetch our
food over the ice in sledges."
"I shall be going to sea some day," said John, "and so will
Roger. But we'll always come back here on leave."]
Any yet, they never really did... Or did they? Maybe as adults...
maybe their children were shown the magic of this place... Maybe this
is an adventure that is repeated, in each generation, as it is for us, each
time we re-read these beloved stories...
-----------------------------------------------
SD-CH1
The Swallows have returned to Wild Cat Island, and are waiting for their
reunion with the Amazons...
[Every other minute they had been looking for
the little white sail of the Amazon at the mouth of the Holly Howe
Bay, expecting to hear Captain Nancy's jolly shout of "Swallow
and Amazons FOR EVER!" and to see Mate Peggy hoisting the
Jolly Roger to the masthead. Then the Swallow and the Amazon
would sail down to Wild Cat Island together, calling on their way
at the houseboat to say, "How do you do" to Captain Flint.
Everything would be just as it had been last year.]
At least, they TRIED to go "home" again...
Instead of the Amazons, they find a note on a stack of new driftwood for
use in the fire:
"TO THE SWALLOWS FROM THE AMAZON PIRATES. WELCOME TO
WILD CAT ISLAND. WE'LL COME AS SOON AS EVER WE CAN. NATIVE
TROUBLE. CAPTAIN FLINT IS STUCK TOO. HAS TITTY REMEMBERED THE
GREEN FEATHERS? THESE ARE OUR LAST. SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
FOR EVER!
They got their expected "cheer", but in came in writing, not verbally.
SD-CH4
Titty is eagerly telling the elders of this secret valley that she and
Roger had discovered...
[And Titty told of the moor above the wood, of the waterfall, and of the
little valley above the waterfall, a valley so secret that anybody could
hide in it FOR EVER.]
SD-CH6
The shipwrecked survivors gather in shock at the loss of their ship.
["Can we get her out?" Nancy, Peggy, Titty, Susan and Roger
all asked that question at once. Indeed, looking at the rippled
water, with nothing showing above it but the wicked point of
the Pike Rock, it was difficult to believe that the Swallow had not
disappeared FOR EVER.]
The permanance of their loss was lessened, as John worked the wreck into
more shallow water.
[But under water though she was, even those who
were on the rocks could see that John and Nancy had their hands
on her. It was no longer as if she were out of sight by the
Pike Rock when, even if in no more than eight or nine feet of
water, she had seemed forty fathoms deep and gone FOR EVER.]
Maybe "FOR EVER" wasn't to be "FOR EVER" after all...
SD-CH12
They have discovered the cave at Swallowdale...
["Somebody must have made the cave," said John.
"It may have been here FOR EVER. And anyway it's Peter Duck's
cave."]
(Titty's words...)
["It's much more fun to call a place after a ship.
Let's call the valley after Swallow."
"Does everybody agree?"
Everybody agreed.
"Right," said John. "Swallowdale shall be its name."
"FOR EVER and ever," said Titty.]
Interesting to see how many time, it is Titty that thinks in terms of "for
ever".
SD-CH16
The Swallows have holed up in the cave, awaiting the "attack" by the
Amazons:
[Then there were yells of
"Amazons FOR EVER!" from two different directions, the noise
of stones slipping, the noise of scrambling feet, and then once
more a long silence, broken at last by the voice of Captain Nancy,
quite close to the mouth of the cave.
"Shiver my timbers, but where are they?"]
The famous cheer again, but the abbreviated, AMAZON version...
SD-CH21
In the note that Nancy sends via arrow, with the Parrot helping by chewing
up the arrow, she signs her note by:
[Captain Nancy Blackett
Mate Peggy Blackett
Prisoners of War. But not for long.
Swallows and Amazons FOR EVER!"]
Here is yet another utterance to that famous cheer we have all come to know
and love.
SD-CH22
The Swallows struck their camp, hiding everything in the cave, for their
trek across to the Amazon River.
[The four little cream-coloured tents were
gone. The others had taken down his tent as well as their own,
and the valley did not look like a camp any more. Tents make all
the difference to a place. Now, once more, it was a wild, rocky
valley as it had been when first they came there. It did not look
like anybody's home, and John knew that when they had gone
back to Wild Cat Island, Swallowdale would look as if they had
never been there. The first real flood would wash the dam at the
bathing-pool away FOR EVER. Everything would be as it had been
and their own Swallowdale, with its neat tents and cheerful fire,
would be no more than a memory or something he had read about
in a book. It as a queer thought, not comfortable.]
There is still the hope to return to Wild Cat Island. That place was
really the official camping spot, while this Swallowdale was only a
temporary location. Their presence here was very temporary. They would
not leave any sign of their having been there. They had not made any
difference. They did not matter. No wonder John was "not comfortable."
SD-CH27
That same cheer is used again, in celebration of freedom from the G.A. as:
["Has the great-aunt really gone?" asked Titty.
"She jolly well has," said Nancy. "If we hurry, we ought to be
able to see the smoke of the train that's taking her away. The
quicker the better. Swallows and Amazons FOR EVER. Hurrah for
Wild Cat Island and the Spanish Main. And Swallow's nearly
ready. And Uncle Jim is so sick of being a nephew that he's going
to be a first-rate uncle for a change."]
SD-CH36
The Swallow repaired, they try to return to the REAL camp, Wild Cat Island,
only to find that it is inhabited, or seems to be, much to their dismay.
["They've put up their tents in our very camp," said Titty
bitterly.
"There's nothing else for it," hissed Nancy. "We've got to
drive them out. If we don't it'll never be our island any more.
Are you ready? Swallows and Amazons FOR EVER! Mates, blow
your whistles and COME ON!"]
The rallying cry of the famous cheer is used once again.
SD-CH36
They are back in their REAL camp, back on Wild Cat, but only briefly, as
the holiday is about over, to their regret.
["And now we've got it FOR EVER and ever," said Roger.
"Until you have to go away," said Captain Flint.]
Again is expressed the sentiment for the PERMANANCE of this dream, this
joyful place, this fantasy, this adventure. They never really returned...
Youth has its dreams; the elders are there to remind them of the realities
of life.
--------------------------------------------------------
WH-CH15
Nothing lasts "FOR EVER" - not even tins of sardines.
[That first tin of loganberry jam was followed by
another, and yet another, and it was thought that even in tins
sardines would not keep FOR EVER and that it would be a pity if,
when Captain Flint returned, he should have to throw them away.]
WH-CH24
The D's are just setting out on their trek to the Pole. It is a long way,
and Dick is saying they need to pace themselves so they can last over the
long haul.
["It's no good going too fast," said Dick. "We've got a
tremendous way to go. We must just go ahead at the pace we
know we can keep up FOR EVER. We'll catch them in the end."]
Here, we see that Dick is using the concept of "FOR EVER" to mean, "for
longer than usual", which is by far short of the usual never-ending
concept of "FOR EVER."
-------------------------------------------
PP-CH1
In the train, Roger and Titty are talking about Beckfoot with the farmer's
wife.
["Do you know her?"
"Aye, and her daughters too, and her brother Mr. Turner
that's FOR EVER gallivanting off to foreign parts..."]
This time, it is not Youth that uses the "FOR EVER" expression in an
exaggerated sense, but an adult, even though it means, "frequently".
PP-CH3
They are in the mine, looking for Slater Bob. The mine is complex, with
many corridors branching out to make a very tricky maze, the total length
of which is huge. This depiction of the mine reminds me of "TOM SAWYER"
where they get lost in Jackson's Cave, of which is said, no one KNOWS the
entire cave; it is too large and complex. The largeness of the mine is
stated in a dramatic manner by the use of the expression: "FOR EVER":
["Nearly there now," said Nancy. "Had to wait for you,
just in case Peggy forgot and you went straight on by
mistake."
"I'd remembered all right," said Peggy.
"We might have gone on FOR EVER," said Dorothea.
"Might have been a job to find you," said Nancy.]
PP-CH11
The prospectors are trying to figure out what Squashy Hat is up to.
["Bet he's just gone up there to be able to see where we're
prospecting," said Nancy.
"Well, there's no need to show him," said John.
"He won't stay up there FOR EVER," said Nancy.
But Squashy Hat seemed to be in no hurry.]
Again we see the expression, "FOR EVER", as being a type of
exageration, being used to mean "a long time".
PP-CH15
Titty finally got up her courage and successfully used the dowsing twig.
Nancy is quite delighted, and gives forth the famous cheer, which she
offers in the "Swallows" version, in honor of Titty's success.
["Swallows FOR EVER!" she was shouting. "Titty's done it. All
by herself. She's done it after all..."]
PP-CH16
The pigeon carries this triumphant message to Beckfoot.
["ALL WELL. TITTY FOUND WATER BY THE TOPPS.
SHIFTING CAMP TOMORROW. PLEASE COME AND TALK TO
Mrs. TYSON. AND BRING THE PIGEONS. S's, A's
AND D's FOR EVER."]
Here, the well known cheer is used as a signature, with the addition of the
D's to make up the trio. I may have missed it, but I think this is the
only time the THREE tribes are used in this cheer.
PP-CH16
Here, the concept of "FOR EVER" simply is used to indicate, "for a long
time", possibly even after several generations. To the young, it is hard
to picture any time that is "after we are GONE." Such a time must be so
far away as to be "FOR EVER" distant in time.
["Your well," said Nancy. "Down it goes on the map. If
ever anybody earned a place on a map it's you. Titty's Well.
And people will be jolly grateful FOR EVER. At least they ought
to be. And to us, too, for digging. It's been an awful sweat."]
PP-Ch22
Another example of "FOR EVER" meaning, "a long time":
[Look at the lumps waiting to be crushed, and anybody can
see we could go on mining it FOR EVER."]
PP-CH35
Another example of "FOR EVER" meaning, "a long time", possibly even meaning
"for many generations".
["It's all right about the hedgepig," she said. "He's just
gone hunting, and I've seen him have a drink at the well."
"Good," said Dick.
Dorothea, lying on his other side, had heard. "The animals
and the birds will drink there FOR EVER and ever," she said,
"and if it wasn't for Titty there wouldn't be a well at all."]
In PM, CH 24, it was comforting to read:
[They found Titty's well, with water still bubbling up into it, tidied the
stones round its edge, one or two of which had fallen in.]
That well may not have lasted FOR EVER, but at least it lasted long enough
to still be working in the next book.
------------------------------------- PM-CH15 They are launching the Scarab
for the very first time. Here again we have the famous triumphant shout,
this time, for the ship itself.
["Hurrah! Hurrah!" shouted Nancy and Peggy. "Up with the
flag, Dick. Go on. Hand over hand... Scarab FOR EVER!"]
PM-CH18
Again, we see the expression, "FOR EVER" used to mean "for a long time".
["You can't do a burglary while it's rain-
ing and leave lakes all over the floor to show where you've been.
One day more won't matter. This rain won't go on FOR EVER.
It'll be fine tomorrow.]
PM-CH23
Oh yes, even the Great Aunt has fallen into the practice of using "for
ever" to mean "for all too many times". So the elders can exaggerate, too.
[You know the children I mean. They were FOR EVER making my nieces late
for meals when I was staying at Beckfoot the summer before last.]
-------------------------
And then comes, "Coots for ever!" (another series...)
So you see, this collection of notes did not LAST FOREVER; it just seemed
to be that way...
Ed Kiser