Which character's ears would you most like to box?

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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by mynameisdumbnuts »

Rose Longfield for sure. She's so selfish and narcissistic and whiny. Even as a child, I wanted to shake her and yell, "GET A GRIP!"

Junior from "Finniston Farm." Lazy, selfish, entitled, sneaky and generally unpleasant.

Susie from the "Secret Seven." I have mixed feelings about Susie. On the one hand, she's more colourful, developed and interesting than any of the Secret Seven members. On the other, she aggravates them for the sake of it and does some mean things, like plan to kick apart the Seven's bonfire and sneak around the shed so she can disrupt meetings. What's more, Jack and Susie's mother never seems to care that her daughter's primary activity is to make life difficult for her son, but she always seems to come down on Jack when he loses his temper with Susie.

Pip and Peter have their moments, but I wouldn't box their ears. Maybe flick them on the nose.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by centcat »

wow this is interesting.
here are my choices.
First pick is Julian from the famous five. He deserves one good whack for being such a goody goody bossy boots. I never could stand him.
Second place is a tie between Rose Longfield in Mistletoe farm series and Bob's mother in the six bad boys.
Both of them are unfit to be called mothers. They are selfish, brainless and insensitive bufoons who deserve a good whack. I never could understand how Rose Longfield turned over a new leaf in one day though after being a pain in the neck for decades!. Bob's mother (I forgot her name and i am feeling too lazy to check my book) is at fault not because she took a job but because she was disloyal to her son and deserted him when he desperately needed her help.
Third place is shared between Alicia, June and GWen from Malory Towers and Angela from St Clares.
I did consider a few others like Peter (Secret Seven, bossy but not as much as Julian), Binkie (secret seven, too irritating), Pip(FFO, too mean to Bets), Mr Lynton (Barney mystery, Too stiff and acts like a ringmaster) and Quentin (Famous five, why did he marry at all?) but they failed to be given the honours. :twisted:
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

hope189 wrote:Sorry, but I disagree. I would love to box Julian's ears.
     Julian *did* get his ears boxed, actually! It was in "Five Go Down to the Sea", where his ears were boxed by an angry Mrs. Penruthlan, after he suggested that Mr. Penruthlan might have been one of the villains.
     Golly, why all the anti-Julian feeling? Sure, maybe he could be a bit bossy at times - but does he deserve quite *this* much acrimony? He's basically a decent sort - unlike Junior, for instance - or Gwen (maybe - actually, I see her as a tragic character meriting some sympathy), or Angela Favorleigh - or probably lots of others I could think of. Julian is no way anywhere near the league of these people.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by Pippa-Stef »

MJE wrote:
hope189 wrote:Sorry, but I disagree. I would love to box Julian's ears.
     Julian *did* get his ears boxed, actually! It was in "Five Go Down to the Sea", where his ears were boxed by an angry Mrs. Penruthlan, after he suggested that Mr. Penruthlan might have been one of the villains.
     Golly, why all the anti-Julian feeling? Sure, maybe he could be a bit bossy at times - but does he deserve quite *this* much acrimony? He's basically a decent sort - unlike Junior, for instance - or Gwen (maybe - actually, I see her as a tragic character meriting some sympathy), or Angela Favorleigh - or probably lots of others I could think of. Julian is no way anywhere near the league of these people.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

     Here are the ones I can think of now, or that have already been mentioned here, that I'd most like to ear-box. I will omit the obvious villains, since almost all of them would be on the list. The others are relatively few, because I will try to limit it to the ones I could really ear-box with passion - there are plenty of others I could box, but don't quite feel passionate about it, because most of them are also good characters at other times. This includes many that have been nominated on this thread.
     But I could passionately box the ears of: Edgar Stick; Junior Henning; Mr. Goon; and, from the school series: Angela Favorleigh; Belinda Towers (even though a girl, she seems to me to embody that belligerent "macho" attitude to sport I hate so much! - but I think she came good and the twins made their peace with her, didn't they? - been a while since I read about it).
     Most of the ones others have nominated I actually have some sympathy with, see a good side to - or sometimes just feel enormous sympathy for (Rose Longfield - it would be terrible to lose everything in a fire, and I'm sure I'd be like her if it happened to me).

Regards, Michael.
Last edited by MJE on 14 Sep 2011, 19:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

Pippa-Stef wrote:Yay! Julian support'
     I actually like Julian - and George too. (Just look at "Favourite characters" in my personal information by the side of any post I make.) No-one's perfect, and Julian has his moments when he's a bit less attractive. But he's 80 or 90 percent decent, in my opinion - and there's no doubt that all of the Five really do like each other, despite occasional disagreements or pettiness.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

Lucky Star wrote:Rose Longfield. If ever a person could really have done with a good sound box on the ears it was her. And that applies to both of the books she appeared in. She was just one of the most helpless, selfish moaning minnies that I have ever read about. Grrr. :x
     Oh, come on - she *did* suffer what I think would be a terrible thing when her whole life went up in flames. You're being very hard. I think I would be very similar if it happened to me - and I wouldn't get over it nearly as quickly as she did, either.
     I agree with you that, earlier on, she was most unattractive - but can't you have any sympathy for why she was like that? And she may have been a weak character - unfortunately some people just *are* weak, and may well not really be able to help it. I see her as quite tragic, really, and if I had been there and witnessed her spoilt-brat behaviour, I might have been repelled, but instead of wanting to berate or (or even box her ears), I might well have had the chastening thought, "There but for the grace of God go I".
     Given what happened to her, and (apparently) her apparently inherently weak nature, that in a way makes it almost brave and admirable the way she finally rallied and tried to fit in with her new situation and make the best of it. I'm not sure I could have done the same if it had been me. (It may be a valid point that she turned around more quickly than would really be likely. But I suppose it would be conceivable in rare cases, and would show unusual strength of character and will, actually, that for some mysterious reason had hitherto been thoroughly suppressed.)

Regards, Michael.
Last edited by MJE on 14 Sep 2011, 19:20, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by pete9012S »

MJE wrote:
Pippa-Stef wrote:Yay! Julian support'
     I actually like Julian - and George too. (Just look at "Favourite characters" in my personal information by the side of any post I make.) No-one's perfect, and Julian has his moments when he's a bit less attractive. But he's 80 or 90 percent decent, in my opinion - and there's no doubt that all of the Five really do like each other, despite occasional disagreements or pettiness.

Regards, Michael.
I'm totally with you on this one-I like Julian.I admire him.He has qualities and skillsets I really ppreciate.
I'm much more like a Snubby,Dick or Tom out of The Adventurous Four!

However the guy I always struggle with is Peter from The Secret Seven.He's just so bossy and pompous I always feel sorry for Susie & Binkie.(Now they really were a couple of game fun loving girls!)
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

pete9012S wrote:I'm much more like a Snubby,Dick or Tom out of The Adventurous Four!
     Now, Snubby. No, I don't with any passion want to box his ears; but if I spent more than five minutes with him, I'm sure I'd often want to out of exasperation. But at some distance, reading about him, I do sometimes find him very funny - but he would be almost impossible to live with - and his dog too!
     Tom - well, I just don't have much mental picture of him at all. Perhaps it's been too long since I read those; but I don't recall any of those children (except possibly Andy to some extent) really having much personality at all. Someone, tell me I'm wrong, if you disagree.
pete9012S wrote:However the guy I always struggle with is Peter from The Secret Seven.He's just so bossy and pompous I always feel sorry for Susie & Binkie.(Now they really were a couple of game fun loving girls!)
     Hmmm... yes, I do find Peter bossy - in a more petty way than Julian - often while fussing around with badges and passwords, silly stuff like that. Yet I don't find myself wanting to box his ears - I guess he's just not in the league of the others I named previously. Nor are Susie or Binkie. They're a bit like Snubby in a way, doing pranks for humour; but they do seem to irritate the Seven deliberately, whereas Snubby just seems to do it by accident, without thought. And Susie at least may have some reason for persecuting the Seven, and especially Jack, because they do, after all, exclude and ostracize her quite systematically.
     *Why* can't Susie be admitted to the Secret Seven? Oh, because there can only be seven in the Secret *Seven*, silly! (I think Peter said once). A pretty weak reason. Why not allow another, and let them be the Exciting Eight? Yet two more, and they could be the Terrific Ten - and so on. (I can't think of an alliterative title for nine, but I'm sure they could come up with one if they ended up with nine wanting to be members.)
     There is a slightly unpleasant exclusiveness to the Seven, where others, like Susie, just aren't good enough to join - but this exclusiveness is, after all, true to human nature. But they might be slightly more likable group if they were more inclusive, more willing to admit members outside their tight, exclusive little circle.
     But, for all this, I don't particularly feel like boxing the ears of any of them. On the other hand, the characters I earlier named, to my mind, are just really nasty - amongst the nastiest characters (aside from obvious villains) Enid Blyton ever created.

Regards, Michael.
Last edited by MJE on 14 Sep 2011, 22:10, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

centcat wrote:I never could understand how Rose Longfield turned over a new leaf in one day though after being a pain in the neck for decades!.
     Decades? We only see her shortly after the fire which destroyed her home (days later? - weeks at the most), and I don't recall any signs that we saw her being like that for any longer than that period of time. Before the fire - well, I suppose we just aren't told what she was like then. (Or is my memory of the books rusty?)
centcat wrote:Bob's mother (I forgot her name and i am feeling too lazy to check my book)
     I think it was just "Mrs. Kent" - I don't think her first name was ever given.
centcat wrote:Pip(FFO, too mean to Bets),
     Agree - he wasn't very nice to her. Not quite sure he's in the "want to box his ears" category, though.
centcat wrote:Mr Lynton
     Never liked him a lot, and often wondered why he ever bothered having children, since he doesn't seem to like them much. Perhaps in that pre-contraceptive era they were accidents. He's the very caricature of that old stereotyped cold, remote father. Probably overworked at his job, and tired when he gets home and just wants peace and quiet.
centcat wrote:Quentin (Famous five, why did he marry at all?)
     Yes, can't be denied - he can be very impatient, intolerant, and generally quite difficult; and he is hard on George at times, and can be quite unreasonable.
     But oddly, I find I don't dislike him nearly as much as I do Mr. Lynton, and I'm not quite sure why. I suspect (alarmingly) that that might be because, in many ways, I am probably quite like Quentin myself!
     I hope that revelation doesn't make anyone here want to box my own ears.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by Lucky Star »

Perhaps I was a little harsh but really the same thing that happened to Rose also happened to her husband and three children and they managed to recover. Sometimes you just have to rally round and get on with life for the sake of your family and it is Rose's complete failure to do this which annoys me.

Her failures are even more eveident in the second book where her husband is literally working himself into the ground to try to make a success of the farm and her children are going to school and then working afterwards to help and all dear old Rose can do is moan, groan and refuse to put up with even the smallest inconvenience. The way she treats her youngest child when he gets his much longed for pet dog is atrocious as well. It all points to a very selfish and small minded woman who was only concerned with her appearance and her own personal comfort. I simply dislike this type of person in real life and can really find very little in the way of sympathy for Rose Longfield as a fictional character either. If she had even tried it would have helped but I really cant recall that she ever did.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

MJE wrote:
centcat wrote:I never could understand how Rose Longfield turned over a new leaf in one day though after being a pain in the neck for decades!.
     Decades? We only see her shortly after the fire which destroyed her home (days later? - weeks at the most), and I don't recall any signs that we saw her being like that for any longer than that period of time. Before the fire - well, I suppose we just aren't told what she was like then. (Or is my memory of the books rusty?)
Peter Longfield remarks after receiving the telephone call about the fire that Rose "always retires to bed when anything happens to her family" and Dorcas says to Linnie that Rose keeps young-looking "by looking after herself so carefully and lovingly, Mam, that she hasn't time to look after anybody else, not even her own children" so it seems that Rose never has made much of an effort where her family are concerned. Her husband and children were affected by the fire too - particularly Roderick, who suffered from nightmares for some time afterwards and couldn't even bear to hear the word "blaze" used to describe the stripe running down a horse's face - but they tried their best to adapt and pick up the pieces of their lives and could have done with Rose's support as well, whereas she thought only of herself. When she comes on a brief visit to Mistletoe Farm she has clearly put a lot of effort into looking her best, so if she can spend time and energy on her appearance she can surely spend time and energy on her family. In the second book we discover that she is not only selfish and lazy but has a spiteful streak, when she threatens to neglect Roderick's dog and treat it cruelly while he is at school. Her change of heart at the end does seem sudden, but perhaps this time she is truly shocked rather than putting on an act of being in shock - shocked into doing her best for her family and valuing them instead of taking them for granted. Personally I wouldn't want to box her ears when she's behaving badly as I think she is the one who is losing out by her attitude - she is punishing herself more than anyone else although she doesn't realise it.

Edit: Sorry - I've only just seen your post, John (Lucky Star), which is along the same lines.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by black labrador »

Tom from the Adventurous Four books - irresponsible, selfish, food-obsessed little idiot.

Snubby - uttlerly obnoxious - so different to Roger, Diana and Barney.

Dinah and Philip Mannering - although banging their heads together every time they quarrel would probably be more effective!
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by MJE »

Lucky Star wrote:Perhaps I was a little harsh but really the same thing that happened to Rose also happened to her husband and three children and they managed to recover. Sometimes you just have to rally round and get on with life for the sake of your family and it is Rose's complete failure to do this which annoys me.

     People are different. Just because David could recover more quickly it doesn't mean Rose can. As for the children: I don't know if it's true that children bounce back from things like that more easily than adults - I have heard this suggested.
Lucky Star wrote:Her failures are even more eveident in the second book where her husband is literally working himself into the ground to try to make a success of the farm and her children are going to school and then working afterwards to help and all dear old Rose can do is moan, groan and refuse to put up with even the smallest inconvenience.
     I really see this as only the extension of the original situation which started it all.
     I'm not saying that her behaviour is either pleasant or admirable - I guess I'm just saying that some people have a lot to bear in life, and some seem better equipped to bear it than others - and Rose was obviously not one of those.
Lucky Star wrote:The way she treats her youngest child when he gets his much longed for pet dog is atrocious as well.
     Maybe she just didn't like dogs - maybe even had quite an aversion to them. Some people do. In a family situation, should they necessarily have to give way to someone who does want one?
     I don't know. When my niece was a little girl, she wanted a horse. This was totally impractical in the suburban back-yard she lived in, and it was probably little more than a fad. But for a longer time she and her brother wanted a dog, but they never got one: her parents (my brother and his wife) presumably just didn't want a dog in the house, with all that that would entail - I don't know their exact reasons.
     Should they have given way, and got a dog for the sake of the children? I don't know. I think the desire for a dog was more lasting than my niece's wild desire for a horse at one stage - but, never having had charge of a family, I've never known how you resolve things like this when different people want conflicting things.
Lucky Star wrote:If she had even tried it would have helped but I really cant recall that she ever did.
     Well, towards the end of the second book, she did try - and apparently succeeded, too. Granted that there is some debate over whether it came too easily to her, or whether the way it happened is very realistic or not - but does this count for anything in Rose's favour?

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Which character's ears would you most like to box?

Post by Katharine »

It's a while since I read the books, but from what I remember I'd certainly like to have got Rose by the shoulders and given her a good shake. I can accept that maybe she went into some kind of shock or clinical depression which she really couldn't help after the fire, but I got the impression she wasn't much good as a mother even before that. The kind of woman who only has children as pretty little accessories to wheel out at parties rather than be a real parent to.

I don't remember the dog incident, but from the comments posted here I would say that kind of attitude is despicable. I don't like dogs and can't imagine any circumstances where I would agree to my children having one, however if for some reason I did agree, I certainly wouldn't threaten to ill treat or neglect it.

What am I saying - she's only a character in a book :roll: :wink:
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