Posted by Robert Dilley on June 14, 2002 at 17:29:30 from 216.211.68.96 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: Size of Lake posted by RichardG on June 13, 2002 at 18:10:29:
You have to remember that you are comparing perceptions of the lake as well as reality. Captain Flint was an adult and fully familiar with the lake: to him, rowing up and down it was an easy task -- how often had he rowed from the houseboat to Beckfoot? To the Swallows in SA it was all new and they were seeing it with the eyes of children. I think we APs too easily forget how different things look to small(ish) children. Some have argued Peel Island could not be Wild Cat because it is too small. I was there with my children when they were about the Swallows' ages, and it seemed plenty big enough to them. If the lake seems to get smaller in later books, it could be because the children are older and are more familiar with it -- the Ds were quite taken aback when they first encountered it. Even more were the D&Gs in CN. (Maybe some TARS would like to come to Canada and take my course on Behavioural Geography, where we talk about perceptions of distance -- and about landscape in literature, including AR of course!)