Posted by Ed Kiser on October 22, 2002 at 14:32:16 from 64.12.96.103 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Sail is the Thing posted by Jon on October 22, 2002 at 13:40:20:
quoted from chapter 1, Swallows and Amazons:
His older brother John had said only that morning
that steamships were just engines in tin boxes. Sail was the thing,
and so, thought it took rather longer, Roger made his way up the
field in broad tacks.
Actually, the statement, "sail was the thing", is an expression
of a belief, yet the authorship of that THOUGHT is not explicitly
that of John, or of Roger, whose thoughts are being described
here. There is no direct quote that says John SAID it. John
is stated here to have said his opinion about steamships, and
whereas I have no doubt that John felt indeed that "sail was the
thing", it does not state here that John actually SAID that, but
this statement here only seems to repeat a belief that is really
a thought of Roger, not necessarily that of John.
The thing that got my attention about all this is that although
I have always felt that John said it, and I'm sure he certainly
believed it, that when one got down to the explicit documented
words, the words themselves were stated by ROGER. Without
actual examination of the text, I would have guessed that it
was John that had said these words, thus my surprise.
Amazing how we can get into a discussion as to what two totally
fictious characters where THINKING. It is as if we really feel
we KNOW these people.
And I think we do. They have been my friends for 60 years, and
continue to be dear to me.
Keep them sailing...
Ed Kiser, South Florida