RainbowJude wrote:I enjoy the stories where Mr Pink-Whistle simply rights an unfair situation most and also am very fond of the stories where Mr Pink-Whistle finds a creative punishment for naughty children, resulting in a change of their behaviour for the better. I like it less when Mr Pink-Whistle gets a bit too spiteful in his punishments and it is at moments like that when I'm not certain the person involved learned their lesson in the end. I guess I don't like them as much because, in moments like those, Mr Pink Whistle seems to become the very thing that he feels is wrong with the world.
That's something that occurred to me when I re-read the stories as an adult, but which I didn't notice as a child. My daughter picked up on it though, admitting to me when she was about seven that she didn't much like Mr. Pink-Whistle. In her opinion he was a smug, self-satisfied man who enjoyed dishing out punishments and seemed to relish inflicting pain upon young miscreants. Although I'm a Pink-Whistle fan myself, I have to concede that he does on occasions lay into some badly-behaved youngsters with a certain amount of glee and gusto, for example in the story 'Mr. Pink-Whistle Goes to School':
...he [George] hit Harry hard on the back. Mr. Pink-Whistle grinned. A fight? Well, he would join in as well. He would repay both George and Harry the smacks and slaps and biffs and thuds that they had many a time dealt out to the younger children.
So, quite invisible, he hopped in and out, dealing a slap here and a smack there, and making the boys yell in pain, and go for each other all the more.
Biff! That was George hitting Harry on the nose. It began to bleed.
Smack! That was Harry hitting George on his right eye. It began to go black at once.
Thud, bang, slap! That was Mr. Pink-Whistle doing his share!
That "Thud, bang, slap!" does suggest a degree of relish, but personally I'm inclined to give Mr. Pink-Whistle the benefit of the doubt. He's a kindly man on the whole and I believe he actually derives his satisfaction from seeing that justice is done, rather than from administering biffs and bashes. After all, he is just as eager to reward those who deserve it as he is to punish those who behave badly. He generally operates by giving thugs and cheats a taste of their own medicine but I don't think it's a case of justice taking the form of revenge - rather, it's that Pink-Whistle deems it necessary for rogues to stand in the shoes of their victims in order to fully understand the implications of their own actions. In 'Mr. Pink-Whistle and the Balloon' he changes Jim's prized collection of marbles into balloons for Susie, as Jim burst Susie's balloon deliberately and made her cry. Jim is heartbroken but Pink-Whistle says to him, "You needed a lesson, my boy, and you've had it. Learn from it and it won't be wasted. You have had to give up something you really loved yourself in order to make up for robbing someone else of something they loved. Remember what it feels like and be kinder in future." It's not merely a question of tit for tat but serves the purpose of making Jim feel the way that Susie felt, hopefully jolting him into thinking seriously about his bullying behaviour and its effect on others. Jim has reaped what he sowed and his punishment is fitting, relating directly to his actions. The same applies to the rewards received by those who act in an especially generous, brave or selfless manner.
It's rare for wrongdoers to be left completely unaware of Mr. Pink-Whistle's intervention. In the vast majority of cases he reveals himself when he feels things have gone far enough and makes sure the people concerned have learnt from their experience. In 'Mr. Pink-Whistle Goes to School' he doesn't simply punish George and Harry, and leave it at that. He invites them to tea at his house, where he bathes their wounds and gives them bread, honey and cake. While they're eating he speaks to them sternly, telling them, "You know, I always think that if mean, unkind people get treated meanly and unkindly themselves sometimes, they learn how horrid it is. Of course - they sometimes need more than one lesson - perhaps two, or four, or even six!" But when the boys promise that they won't require any further lessons Mr. Pink-Whistle says, "Bless us all, you can come again as often as you like - so long as you don't need another lesson from me, but only a nice tea! Now do take another piece of cake each - just to show there's no ill-feeling between us!" George and Harry needed a sharp shock to begin with but ultimately it is Mr. Pink-Whistle's
kindness that most impresses them - his readiness to appeal to their better nature and urge them to start afresh instead of writing them off as no-hopers.
Mercy is an inextricable part of true justice and, in Enid Blyton books, after being suitably punished people are usually given a second chance and encouraged to mend their ways. When the Jones family leave their tabby-cat to starve while they go away on holiday ('A Puzzle for the Jones Family'), Mr. Pink-Whistle ensures they feel what it is like to go hungry by making himself invisible and whisking away their supper, then their breakfast the next morning and then their lunch, distributing the food among poor cottagers. By that time the Joneses are crying with hunger and their cat feels sorry for them, begging, "Please Mr. Pink-Whistle, don't punish my family any more. I can't bear it. They are all so hungry, and I know what it is to be hungry. I thought I would be pleased when I saw them getting as thin and miserable as I got when they were away. But I find that I am not pleased, I am only sorry."
Mr. Pink-Whistle replies, "You are a good and kind little cat. I think you are right. We won't punish them any more. I will get them some food and speak a few words to them." Once people have been taught a sharp lesson, Pink-Whistle is all for showing compassion and allowing them to start anew.
Many of Enid Blyton's non-Pink-Whistle short stories demonstrate similar lessons. Characters get their just deserts - or their "just desserts" in the case of one greedy boy who is spirited away to Treacle-Pudding Town! The best of the stories are the ones which avoid anything too extreme or humiliating, containing apt and imaginative punishments or simply showing the inevitable consequences of behaving in a certain fashion. The thing I
do take issue with in the Pink-Whistle books is that the naughty children, especially the bullies, are almost invariably boys.
RainbowJude wrote:I also found a couple of the stories involving adults in Mr Pink-Whistle Interferes a bit hard going, namely "Mr Pink-Whistle and the Money Box" and "Mr Pink-Whistle and the Eggs", the latter of which I ended up enjoying nonetheless. I think this was because the grown-ups seemed much more real than fantasy adults like Dame Gentle or Mr Mean: because they were realistically depicted members of the community, I found their transgressions all the more shocking and, at times, downright creepy.
Regarding the stories involving grown-ups, I don't think there's much indication in those that the adults have genuinely learnt their lesson and intend to reform. They are left scared, puzzled and publicly humiliated to the point where they stop their criminal behaviour at least for the time being, but are they really sorry? Mr. Smarmy says he is ('Mr. Pink-Whistle and the Eggs') but I'm not convinced. The fact that Mr. Smarmy looks so horribly creepy in Rene Cloke's illustrations probably doesn't help! In
The Put-em-Rights the Tramping Preacher says he preaches to children but not to grown-ups because, "I can't make a better world out of men and women. They're hard to change." And maybe that's why the Pink-Whistle stories revolving around adults are less satisfying (though some are still entertaining) - because the grown-ups are more set in their ways and appear to have less potential to change. Even their names reflect their personalities - Mr. Smarmy, Mr. and Mrs. Twisty, etc...!
