The Enid Blyton Society

Yes, we quite often see a character who has faults and who does a good thing to help someone and put right their 'wrongs' or faults, and then changes for the better. It's very uplifting and refreshing I think, and gives you a good feeling about things and that bad things can become good things!

Deej wrote:(about Yan) ... just needed some children to play with and a little looking after at times.

That's why I felt the Five were a bit mean to Yan really - he was a simple, friendly child who was curious about the children and who had only ever known his Grandad and the sheep and the countryside, and yet Julian shouts at him and says "What are you following us around for, you little idiot?" which I think is rather harsh!

Carlotta King wrote:and yet Julian shouts at him and says "What are you following us around for, you little idiot?" which I think is rather harsh!

Indeed, very harsh.

Quite uncharacteristic of the children!

Yes, the children are usually so nice and kind, it was very unlike them to be so mean, especially to Yan's face!

Perhaps , it made them feel uneasy-- Yan following them , find of furtively--- I remember Julian or was it Dick saying that Yan following stealthily gave him the jitters

Yes, they weren't happy with Yan following them. Julian says that it makes him shiver down his back whenever he sees Yan peeping at them.
I just don't understand the reason for such hostility - in other books the children have been annoyed by other irritating kids (I'm thinking of Richard Kent, Wilfrid and Jo as an example) but they have never been as obviously unkind to any of those as they were to Yan, calling him names, threatening to 'teach him a lesson' etc etc, even leaving him down in the cove when the tide was coming in. It just seemed very out of character for the Five, who were usually very nice children with good manners and morals about things.

Funny, at the time I always sympathised with Ju and the rest. I felt like shoving the little wretch over the cliff. However, in my twilight years I have more sympathy with Yan.

I can't really remember exactly what I thought of Yan when I read it as a child but I do remember thinking that the Five seemed unusually angry with him when he hadn't really done anything horrendous.

I thought he was a bit of a pain, actually. It only annoyed me how he always seemed to be spying on the five and I think they were well within their rights to scold him for this. Otherwise he seemed "alright".