Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

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georginahowlett
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Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by georginahowlett »

Hey there everyone!

I'm new to the forums (having just signed up today), but as I'm writing my undergraduate dissertation on Blyton's books, I thought I'd come and see what everyone here thought about the topic I've settled on and whether there's any debate or discussion to be had around it!

In essence, I'm looking at how Blyton presents her child and adult characters in relation to each other. Obviously in the Famous Five/Secret Seven etc for instance, the children go off on their own and solve crimes and mysteries often without any adult supervision or help - and in school narratives like Malory Towers and The Naughtiest Girl, the teachers are either revered or put in the back seat, falling victim to all kinds of tricks and yet still holding ultimate positions of authority.

I was just wondering really what everyone thinks about how Blyton characterises her child protagonists and what you think about the presentation of adults and of adult authority figures? Personally I find it all really interesting and want to investigate what she's trying to achieve here and whether her presentations of both childhood and adulthood were/are realistic.

I hope you're all having a great day!
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Welcome, Georgina! Your dissertation topic sounds fascinating.

Some books/series that spring to mind immediately are:

The Wishing-Chair series - Peter and Mollie spend much of their time in their playroom at the bottom of the garden (when they're not away at boarding school!) Their mother has no idea of the hair-raising magical adventures that befall them and their father is rarely mentioned.

The Very Big Secret - Again, the children in this book (Peter and Penny) spend much of their time in their playroom at the bottom of the garden. They are largely left out of family goings-on and, although they don't have magical adventures, they come to inhabit a rather disturbing fantasy world of their own.

The Faraway Tree series - The mother of Jo, Bessie and Fanny is aware of her children's magical adventures and even gets to meet some of the Little Folk of the wood such as Silky, Moonface and the Saucepan Man. However, she doesn't show a great deal of curiosity and is oddly unconcerned much of the time. She works her children incredibly hard in the house and garden considering their ages and rewards them by letting them go off for the day by themselves.

The Barney Mysteries - We see two very different fathers in this series. Mr. Lynton is stern, formal, impatient and rather distant, whereas Mr. Martin is friendly, relaxed, patient and involved.

The Six Bad Boys - This book looks at families and how children's home life (or lack of it) affects their emotions, behaviour and development. Parents from different families are compared and some are found wanting.

The Six Cousins series - This series contains some of Enid Blyton's most strongly-drawn adult characters. Rose Longfield is particularly interesting.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Courtenay »

Welcome, Georgina! I agree, that's a fascinating topic for a thesis and sounds really interesting to explore.

I can't add much to Anita's great suggestions, but another example I thought of is the Adventure series (The Island of Adventure etc.). This one is fairly unusual for Enid Blyton in that there's an adult character, Bill "Smugs" Cunningham, who plays a much bigger role in the stories than adults in most of her other books. Rather than taking a "back seat", he is directly involved in the adventures alongside the child characters, and his relationship with them grows and develops and becomes a major part of the plot as the series goes on.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Rob Houghton »

I tend to think a lot of Blyton's depictions can be summed up as 'wish-fulfilment' - Blyton knew how children think, and knew what they wanted. Most children crave independence and that's what Blyton gave them. They want adults who allow them freedom, and although there are authority figures in Blyton books, they are generally fairly easy to trick/get around.

Blyton was incredibly good, I think, at depicting children in a realistic way - the hierarchy of children in a peer group compared to children who are seen as outsiders. There is snobbishness there, and some spite against children who are different. This might not be palatable to modern eyes - but it is exactly how most children think and act.

I don't feel that the relationships between the child characters and the adult characters is totally realistic, from an adult point-of-view - but it works from the child's point-of-view - and that is what makes her books so popular today, just as it always has. Blyton realises how children see things - and of how basically children live in an adult-free world (in their imaginations anyway) where adults are (often) looked on as an enemy or an obstacle between getting what they really want. Children are very egocentric in many ways, and Enid exploits this. Her skill at writing from the child's viewpoint is intrinsic to most of her books. Not all authors can do this - but I think Roald Dahl comes pretty close.

Of course, the fact that adult characters are rarely integral to the stories (especially the adventure/fantasy ones) helps a lot. Enid doesn't see things from an adult perspective - she recognises that many of her readers would be restricted, and unable to live lives like her characters so she gives them the ideal version of their lives - escapism - making readers dreams come true. I think that is the most important aspect of her books. So no - the relationship between children and adults isn't realistic at all from an adult perspective but is exactly how children would wish it to be. :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
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(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by timv »

Welcome to the forum, Georgina! This is a particularly interesting topic, and I think it's an important one too as it gives the readers (and those critics who bother to consider it) evidence that Enid was not just writing 'superficial' thriller , mystery and wish-fulfilment stories setting good examples for nicely-brought-up 1940s-50s children. There is depth to some of Enid's portrayals of relationships and others are unusual - though this includes mostly books outside her best-known series so a lot of people are unaware of it.

Some of the most vivid instances of this for you to consider:
Come To The Circus. The relationship between Aunt Lou and Fenny; the withdrawn and morose Lou has never really got over losing her daughter Carol a few years before, and seems to be blaming herself for this tragedy (apparently Carol caught pneumonia swimming, which in the 1940s was more dangerous as modern drugs were not developed or were rare). She does not seem to be able to give F the affection and support she needs after F goes to live with her. She snaps at her and doesn't thank her for her help, while her husband 'Uncle Ursie' has retreated to the company of his bears. Eventually Lou 'breaks up' after thinking F has run away due to her harshness and reforms and 'opens up'.

Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm. Sensible and practical farmer's wife Aunt Linnie has a secret passion for poetry, but cant' share this with her children or her down-to-earth husband Peter who aren't interested; she secretly shares it with her sensitive nephew Cyril, who her son Jack initially despises as a 'soft townee' , instead.

Also SCAMF and its successor, Six Cousins Again - the three children (aged c. 11, 14 and 16) of Peter's brother David and his' lazy, selfish wife Rose (one of Enid's most vivid portraits of a 'bad' mother) gradually realise that Rose's treating them as small children and 'pets' not people is bad for them and Linnie's attitude is much more healthy. Even the spoilt youngest, Roderick, grows up and starts to stand up to or ignore his demanding mother - though later her flattery lures his supposedly reformed elder sister Melisande back into being lazy and helping out less.
House at the Corner. Contrast superficial, genteel but ineffective Mrs Farrell's pride in and support of her witty but nastily jokey elder son Tony and her clever and pretty but selfish elder daughter Pam with her ignoring her nicer and more vulnerable younger children - good-natured but plain, would-be author Lizzie (one of my favourite EB characters) and the twins. Both Tony and Pam let the family down. By contrast, Great-Aunt Grace knows who the worthwhile children are and encourages L.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by pete9012S »

I must admit, from the minute I read my very first book, Five On A Treasure Island as a child I never gave the adults in any story a second thought.

They were just people who drove the children to their holiday destination,denied or allowed the children permission to do certain things.

Sometimes,sorry many times they (the adults) forcibly left the stories to care for sick/hurt relatives. Did I care or sympathize their loss? Not really if I'm honest!

Enid's pronouncement that she wrote the books for children aged around twelve years old and not for adults certainly resonated with me.

She wrote for the child from the viewpoint of the child and that is rare in lots of other children's books I have read by many other authors from the same time period.

I do really believe she would have loved to have been a successful adult writer too - but this was never to be.

Her forte was reaching and moving children with her stories so powerfully, that now even as adults (grown ups) , many of those very same children still read and re-read those stories today!
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Rob Houghton »

timv - I agree about the books you've picked out - some of the Family stories (and particularly 'Come To The Circus' and 'Six Cousins') do depict quite realistic relationships between parents and children - but these examples are few and far between - and interestingly they tend to be in her less popular books. Yes - Six Cousins is another brilliant example - but I'm guessing that the two Six Cousins books were less popular amongst her younger readers than Famous Five, Adventure and Secret Seven books, all of which pretty much dispense with parents except at beginning and end. It sort of adds weight to my argument that Enid's biggest strength was her ability to get rid of the adults and give the children the lead. The six Cousins were originally intended for older children, so I guess that's why they depict adult and child relationships more realistically.

Even in the family books, most of the plots revolve around children getting the parents out of a hole - Red Roofs, where the children pull together to save the family from destruction when both parents are taken out of the picture, or House-At-The-Corner where again the children rally round and plan to 'save' the fortunes of their family by hard work (mostly!). In these examples, parents are important only because they are quickly dispensed with so that the children can temporarily 'become adults' and learn a few lessons about life.

Come To The Circus is indeed a definite exception - the adult characters are well written, and the book, more serious in tone than any other Enid Blyton book, deals in some detail with Fenella's relationship with her aunt, and also with her aunt's relationship with her own dead child. Its a book worth reading to see what Enid was capable of when she threw aside the 'wish fulfilment'. I've often thought that 'Come To The Circus' was a good contender for the adult circus-set novel 'The Caravan Goes On' - which Enid wrote but never published - although I know Tony has given reasons why this would not be the case. Either way - Come To The Circus is Enid's most adult novel, in my opinion.

For the most part though I agree with Pete that the strength of Enid's work, and the reason for her popularity, is that the adults aren't present, or are shadowy figures. As a child I never even noticed that the adults didn't feature much. They were annoying inquisitors, or temporary obstacles against the children having fun and solving mysteries - but they were mostly depicted as I saw adults at the time - pretty unimportant beings who fed and clothed you but seemed to delight in telling you to tidy up, go to bed, have a bath, wash your hands, etc. Adults certainly weren't much use in every day life! :lol: That's how children think.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Stephen »

Surely one of the strangest regular adult figures was Mr Goon, the village policeman from the Five Find-Outers series. Even when we first meet him, the children already regard him as this pompous, unlikeable, authoritarian oaf who tells them to "Clear-Orf!" when they get in his way. They don't seem to have any respect for him at all throughout the series, and even often lay false clues for him to mull over as they are solving the crimes themselves. Surely if you behaved like that in real life, you'd find yourself in very serious trouble! But Mr Goon's superior, Inspector Jenks doesn't seem to see any harm in this larking about, and praises the children for their efforts while often berating Goon for his.

It's intriguing to think what Enid was doing here. Presumably, she wanted to create this antagonist whose presence would hinder the children, but it's odd that it was a policeman in a series dedicated to crime fighting. I hope there weren't any copycat incidents from children in the 1940s and 50s!
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by pete9012S »

Interesting points Stephen.
Thank you.

There was a thread about seven or eight years ago entitled:

Mr Goon's Good Points!

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... ood+points" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe after all these years some may be able to come up with other good things about the beleaguered Policeman??
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by georginahowlett »

Thank you all so much for your responses! They've been incredibly useful for me to read. I think ultimately I'll end up discussing either JUST the school stories (Malory Towers/Naughtiest Girl/St Clare's) or else those AND the mystery stories (Famous Five/Secret Seven) and maybe The Six Bad Boys as a vision of alternative adult presence and home life.

I would really love for more people to let me know their thoughts though! I'm always looking for inspiration and ideas for research :)

EDIT: I'd also like to just mention that it is extremely hard to acquire or even find copies of most of the books you're all mentioning! I honestly began by looking at her lesser-known, less serialised works but honestly no libraries near me, nor shops or charity shops, proved any good for finding them. Even The Six Bad Boys I probably couldn't have acquired if I'd tried, as I think it's gone out of print, but luckily it was always my Mum's favourite Blyton book so I've never been without my copy!

I've actually ended up borrowing lots of Blyton's books from my ex-colleague's sister, who has lots of old print editions - I just wish the less popular/known works were much easier to find!
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Wolfgang »

You get a great variety of adults in the Mystery series, the strict Hiltons, the less strict Daykins and the more or less care-free Trottevilles as different sets of parents, quite a lot of different staff members, different types of members of the police force etc.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Stephen »

pete9012S wrote:Interesting points Stephen.
Thank you.
Thanks! :)

I found the teachers to be either enigmatic (Miss Grayling), eccentric (Mam'zelle Dupont) or else rather nondescript - but still generally flawless adults you would expect to find in the teaching profession in the 1940s. The books revolve around the pupils and the teachers are secondary characters to teach, guide, punish, or get in the way of their fun, in the way you would expect teachers to be.

However, I'm sure there's an incident (can't remember if its MT or SC) in which one of the pupils and one of the teachers seem to have a vendetta against each other. The teacher gets the pupils to write a poem of their own, and this girl deliberately writes one by a famous poet (Matthew Arnold?). When it's read out in class, the teacher mocks and scorns it as expected, but the girl then points out she's accidentally handed the wrong poem in, points out it's by this famous poet, sarcastically thanks the teacher for thinking their poetry sounds the same but then wonders what this great poet would have thought if he had heard the criticism of his work just then. And the teacher is properly embarrassed. Afterwards, the other girls say the pupil played a mean trick - but quite frankly the teacher sounded pretty unprofessional as well. I can't remember what became of these characters.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Moonraker »

Georgina, most books are usually to be found on auction sites, such as eBay. Most of the school series are still in print (though probably updated) and should be available in good bookshops and online stores such as Amazon.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

The incident involving the Matthew Arnold poem is in Fifth Formers of St. Clare's, Stephen. The girl is Anne-Marie and the teacher is Miss Willcox. Fifth Formers of St. Clare's is probably my favourite St. Clare's book as it contains some gripping and imaginative plot threads which Enid Blyton weaves together with great skill.

The story of Miss Kennedy in The Twins at St. Clare's is interesting too. The girls view her as weak and enjoy causing mayhem in her classes, leading her to consider resigning from her job. However, something happens that makes her pupils start thinking of her as a person with her own life, rather than simply as their schoolmistress.
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Re: Blyton's presentation of her child and adult characters

Post by Stephen »

Thanks, Anita! I'm not as fluent in St Clare's as Malory Towers (and I haven't read MT for years either), but I seem to remember they were that little bit more dramatic.
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