Posted by Peter H on April 10, 2002 at -1:04:30 from 213.122.68.253:
In Reply to: Re: Casual Elitism posted by Adam Quinan on April 09, 2002 at 14:21:46:
Yes, I meant the nurse, but where does it say that she is Armenian? Or are you drawing on real life here, Adam? Now obviously this tiny episode is unimportant in the general scheme of things, but it grates with me a bit. Did the nurse sit with the rest, cross-legged round the fire? What did she think of Susan's refreshments? Was she given any? The nurse would presumably be a paid employee, hired either for the holiday or perhaps permanent. I get a distinct feeling that she is 'below the salt' somehow.
I am going to sound impertinent here, but if I had been at Ransome's shoulder as he typed this chapter I would have urged him either to have Mrs Walker bring Vicky over herself, or if he felt that the nurse had to come, to indicate that she was welcomed and made to feel part of things. Surely Susan would have been on the nurse's wavelength?
(Not, of course, that any of this matters much. Ransome may have regarded the nurse's 'welcome' as a 'given' in the circumstances.)