I'm sure this has already been raised but I couldn't find it anywhere...
I'm on an Enid reading spree at the moment,and it really amazes me that in FF and Barney Mysteries in particular,the parents are happy for their children to go off on their own all holidays after they've been away three months at school,sometimes even booking holidays at the same time as the school holidays.
Is there a particular reason for that or is it just a plot thing?
I'm sorry if there's already a topic on this.
Jack clutched at Philip,panic-stricken. "He's right.We're coming to a cataract!A gigantic underground waterfall!" -my favourite moment of the entire Adventure series!
I guess its mainly a plot thing as you put it, but with the FF the earlier books had the Five having adventures round Kirrin, based at George's home and some at least of Barney series and other adventure stories the books begin when the children are unexpectedly unable to return to school at the beginning of term - usually because they either have an illness or are quarantined for one they've been in touch with. I do agree, however, that the parents seem less than overwhelmingly pleased to see their offspring after a term apart! - Got too used to the peace and quiet I suppose.
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.
Its a fantasy / plot thing i'd say. The books would not have been half as exciting if the parents had been there so they had to be removed from the scene somehow. Its also often noted that the children only go away for part of their holiday which I would guess is Blyton's sop to the issue.
Of course in books like The Five Find-Outers and the Circus books the parents are around albeit not seen too much.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero
It is the ultimate plot to appeal to kids, I guess. WHo doesn't long for interfering adults to be out of the way, when they are that age? I would imagine that children DID have rather more freedom back in the forties and fifties but I'd be surprised if it was common to have as much freedom as all that..
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die.
In Bangladeshi villages, it is quite common to have a lot of freedom!! Kids in the city too have freedom, but not half as much as those in the villages - and I get half the freedom a city kid of my age gets - so you can well imagine what it's like in the villages.
Ming wrote:In Bangladeshi villages, it is quite common to have a lot of freedom!! Kids in the city too have freedom, but not half as much as those in the villages - and I get half the freedom a city kid of my age gets - so you can well imagine what it's like in the villages.
If I understood that, I might well reply..... It sounds like a 60s O' level question
I have quite a lot of freedom. Other kids who live around me, of my age, get twice as much of the freedom I get. And the village kids get twice the amount of freedom a city kids gets.
So you can imagine how happy the village children are!
I have quite a lot of freedom. Other kids who live around me, of my age, get twice as much of the freedom I get. And the village kids get twice the amount of freedom a city kids gets.
So you can imagine how happy the village children are!
Geddit?
So, do you get half as much freedom again as a city kid, but only half as much freedom as your village friends?
But it's great to think of all those plucky, adventurous kids in Bangladesh spending their holidays gadding about in caravans and boats, sleeping out under the stars, shadowing suspects, exploring secret passages and rounding up jewel-thieves!
Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
But it's great to think of all those plucky, adventurous kids in Bangladesh spending their holidays gadding about in caravans and boats, sleeping out under the stars, shadowing suspects, exploring secret passages and rounding up jewel-thieves!
