I’ll just get one last Smuggler Ben in.
pete9012S wrote:The world looked clean and new. "Just as if it has been freshly washed," said Hilary,
Which other characters uttered similar lines and in which books? Can anyone remember any? I keep meaning to do a bit of research on that one.Maybe Anne and Lucy-Anne perhaps??
Anita Bensoussane wrote: Anne definitely said something similar, and perhaps Lucy-Ann too. I don't recall which books though. There's a description of that sort in The Secret Island as well.
Anita, you have a really good memory! You even remembered it was not a character that said it in the Secret Island, but the author. It is one of those memorable lines that you never forget.
Secret Island 10:37 wrote: “Nora, you won’t have time for a dip before breakfast if you don’t come now,” shouted Peggy. So Nora ran out, too. What a lovely morning it was! The thunderstorm had cleared away and left the world looking clean and newly washed. Even the pure blue sky seemed washed, too.
Five on a Treasure Island 8:7-8 wrote: The sun was now shining brightly, though it was still low in the eastern sky. It felt warm already. The sky was so beautifully blue that Anne couldn't help feeling it had been freshly washed! 'It looks just as if it had come back from the laundry,' she told the others.
They squealed with laughter at her. She did say odd things at times. But they knew what she meant. The day had a lovely new feeling about it -- the clouds were so pink in the bright blue sky, and the sea looked so smooth and fresh. It was impossible to imagine that it had been so rough the day before.
Valley of Adventure 20:1-2 wrote: THEY slept very soundly indeed that night, for they were tired out. The rain fell all night long, but towards dawn the clouds cleared away, and the sky, when the sun rose, was a clear pale blue. Lucy-Ann liked it very much when she parted the soaking fern-fronds and looked out.
"Everything's newly-washed and clean, even the sky," she said. "Lovely! Just look!"
It occurs first in the Secret Island, not directly uttered by any character, but associated with Peggy who was the character looking at the morning. It occurs three more times. Two of them have the name “Ann” - Anne and Lucy-Ann. Three of them are blonde, at least depicted so by the illustrators, and one is a redhead. This made me think that all three characters that the above observation is associated with are quite similar in that they are the quieter, sensitive type. It turns out that assumption is wrong.
Frances is the sensitive type - feels an affinity to all creatures as in wanting to experience life as a gull, timid, doesn’t like quarreling, vivid imagination, all characteristics of Anne in the FF.
Hilary likes food, adventure and loses her temper a lot, can row quite well for a girl, things always happen to her, no love of books, love of the outdoors, she is eager to play smuggler, takes the lead in everything, actually seems a bit hyperactive. These are qualities of Dick, but also of George. The love of food and adventure is Dick. The tendency to lose temper, the rowing like a boy, not taking to books, loving the outdoors, is George. The quote we are discussing, selecting the food in the shop, expressing the sentiment that she prefers deserted vacation spots, is Anne.
Hilary’s characteristics cover a rather wide range (compared to the FF characters). She does seem most like George, but I feel reluctant to give her that because in my mind the book already has a George in Smuggler Ben. So since we can fix the George type pretty firmly in Smuggler Ben, the Anne type in Frances, the Julian authority figure in Alec (older, in charge of the girls, natural leader), that leaves Hilary to be the Dick type.
Maybe there is a mechanical way to construct characters after all. The core character type remains fixed, though a few traits can be ‘out of place’. Or maybe there are just a small number of character types: the authority figure, the helper (sidekick), the challenger, and the vulnerable.