As Good as a Boy or Better Than a Girl?

[Moonraker]

Georgina wanted to be a boy - she strived to do all the things that boys did (well, I guess almost all the things boys did ). Okay, it was different in the 40s - girls were seen as being pretty weak; prone to catching chills and colds if it rained, and of course could never go out after dark. Boys, however, were tough and could take care of themselves, as well as look after any girl that they had under their charge. Boys could sleep in barns, under hedges and wrapped in newspaper in freshly-dug ditches, whereas girls, being all sugar and spice, had to be wrapped in crisp, white sheets and blankets, lying on a spring-interior mattress.

So, back to Georgina. She seems to be the hero of the four cousins. Defiant, aggressive, selfish, bad-tempered and a cross-dresser. Just like a boy? She also had a lovely side to her when that layer of ice was chipped away. She was steadfastly loyal, brave, kind and generous. If the chips were down, then I would rather have George on my side than against me. One mustn't forget the bonus of having George as a mate - Timmy!

I notice from threads elsewhere on these forums, that George seems to be the favourite character from the Kirrin based books. Julian is pretty much a stuffy prig, Dick is a bit of a clown and Anne, God bless all who sail in her, is a stereo-typical, middle-class, English school-girl of the time. Mind you, she does a great bacon sarnie! So, maybe there isn't much of a competition to be the favourite! Elswhere, mainly over at enidblyton.net, much has been discussed of Georgina's sexual orientation. Poppycock! George was a thoroughly decent kid, who hated the restrictions that were prevalent in the 40s and 50s that restricted girls from doing things just because they were female. She was a great tomboy, who just wanted to rebel a bit in what she rightly thought was sexual discrimination.

George, we are told, was based on the great lady herself - as admitted by Enid, I believe. However, I note that this is published at the front of each FF novel:

The characters in this book are
entirely imaginary and have no
relation to any living person.

Now, if George was meant to have been based on Enid herself, ain't that a bit queer?

[Anita Bensoussane]

[Nigel:] George, we are told, was based on the great lady herself - as admitted by Enid, I believe. However, I note that this is published at the front of each FF novel:

The characters in this book are
entirely imaginary and have no
relation to any living person.

I think the statement about the characters bearing no relation to any living person is just something that some publishers routinely print in a work of fiction.

Barbara Stoney says that Enid Blyton admitted to her agent, Rosica Colin, that George Kirrin was based on herself. By all accounts, Enid was a bit of a tomboy when she was a young girl and resented the fact that she was expected to help with the housework while her brothers were allowed to play. However, although there are undoubtedly aspects of Enid in the character of George, I do sometimes wonder whether Enid might also have had another girl in mind when creating George. In her autobiography, The Story of My Life(1952), she writes:

"George is real, but she is grown-up now. She had a dog, of course, and though he was like Timmy (the dog in the book) in character, the artist has not drawn him quite as he looked - but then, she had never seen him, so how could she?
The real George was short-haired, freckled, sturdy, and snub-nosed. She was bold and daring, hot-tempered and loyal. She was sulky, as George is, too, but she isn't now. We grow out of those failings - or we should! Do you like George? I do."

What mystifies me is the mention of the girl having a dog. Enid Blyton didn't have any pets as a child, although she longed for them. Unless of course she had an imaginary dog, like Francis in The Children at Green Meadows? Also, judging by photos Enid Blyton appears to have had long hair until she was at least in her late teens.

Anita

[Daisy]

Nigel -your tongue-in-cheek comment on the difference between boys and girls in the 1940s is hardly borne out in EB books is it? I seem to recall most of the adventurous types having equal treatment regarding sleeping arrangements - eg. caves, tents, caravans, cellars in derelict houses etc. (except when the plot needed the children to be separated.) Perhaps adults treated the sexes differently except when the children escaped from their supervision - which of course was the great attraction of the books! Another thought occurs to me - Enid's own opinions would have been formed through the 20s and 30s and were probably not modified much over her writing years.

[Petermax]

George was a very radical character for the time. Once World War Two was over, women were expected to return to the status that existed before 1939. But here we have a character who fiercely demanded equal status with her two male cousins, Julian and Dick, plus anyone else unfortunate or foolhardy enough to stand in her way!

I suppose that to an extent a fair amount of licence could be granted, given that George was the daughter of academic who was also inclined to be eccentric. The relatively isolated location of Kirrin was also a factor, although other children did live nearby. George of course kept them very much at a distance.

Georgina Kirrin it seems, is as much an enigma now in the early years of the 21st century, as she was back in 1942. How many authors other than Enid Blyton have created such an enduring character?

[Belly]

Anita - Could Enid have been writing about one of her daughters? Gillian, perhaps? I think she had short hair, sturdy ? and I remember seeing a photo of both her girls with the dog, Laddie (who didn't look much like Timmy). Not sure if Gillian ever had her own personal dog? Sounds to me that she is talking about a girl close to her in the bit you quote.

The growing out of the sulking reminds me of Darrell Rivers character (which is supposed to have elements of Enid in her I think).

I remember the day my Mum told me it was inappropriate to play cricket and climb trees with the boys next door as girls didn't do that sort of thing when they had grown up. I was oh, all of 13.

To me George said it was ok to be a tomboy if a girl at a time when maybe that wasn't widely accepted.

Even now I hate it when at Christmas or something the traditional thing is for men to go off in one room and the women to clear up the table or sit and talk together.

The other thing that bugs me is that in our family anyway it is accepted for men to go to the pub with friends while the 'women prepare the traditional meal at home. I always used to go to the pub too and then got the reputation as a shirker!

Always struck me that the men had far more fun!

[Anita Bensoussane]

We could speculate about who might have inspired George (other than Enid herself) but we're probably never going to know. Imogen was apparently the more "difficult" daughter, but she would only have been about seven when Five on a Treasure Island was published. Enid Blyton could possibly have been talking about a schoolfriend or family friend, etc.

Anita

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

This morning Rosie quoted me a bit from a book about the Ideal Home Exhibition from 1955 which advised women "always remember that your husband's conversation is more important than your own".



It is so easy to forget how much society changed in Blyton's lifetime, and how far we have progressed since!

Viv

[Rob Houghton]

I would hedge my bets and suggest that George was made up of a good bit of Enid, a little of Gillian and some bits and pieces of other children Enid knew when she was at school etc.

I still like to think George was based mainly on Enid. maybe George was the 'inner image' Enid had of herself when growing up - maybe she wanted shorter hair, wished or imagined she had a dog? George is such a well-written character that I feel she had to be based on Enid herself to quite an extent: that is why the character works so well.

It's a bit the same as the little boy Donald in 'The Boy Who Wanted a Dog' - another character who I believe is heavily based on Enid Blyton.

[Lucky Star]

I think when Enid said George was based on her she probably meant that she was based on that subconscious part of her that dreamed of having unlimited freedom. Just as the enormous feasts in the books must have been a wild fantasy for children brought up during the war and the austerity period after it so the character of George Kirrin must have been a tremendous fantasy for girls (and boys too) of a time when social conventions usually, as has been pointed out by others, meant that behaving like George was a no-no.

Blyton was simply writing a wonderful character that she herself could understand and identify with and thus she knew that generations of children would identify and love George too. Trying to read too much into the possible sexuality of a childrens character, even one as enduring in appeal as George, is only ever going to raise more questions than it answers.

[Moonraker]

The other thing that bugs me is that in our family anyway it is accepted for men to go to the pub with friends while the 'women prepare the traditional meal at home.

My dear wife has never allowed that! She maintains that if we go to the pub, then we all go!

[Moonraker]

This morning Rosie quoted me a bit from a book about the Ideal Home Exhibition from 1955 which advised women "always remember that your husband's conversation is more important than your own".



It is so easy to forget how much society changed in Blyton's lifetime, and how far we have progressed since!

Listening to the twaddle that most women talk, are you sure it's progression, Viv?

[manzanita]

This morning Rosie quoted me a bit from a book about the Ideal Home Exhibition from 1955 which advised women "always remember that your husband's conversation is more important than your own".



It is so easy to forget how much society changed in Blyton's lifetime, and how far we have progressed since!

Viv

Stuff like that has me laughing and spitting feathers at the same time! There's some great stuff like that... your husband's needs are more important, look good for your husband because he's had a hard day at work, make sure a bath is run because he'll be tired... oh and when you're done running his bath, made suitable conversation, the perfect dinner (and presumably spoon fed him because he's so tired!), dont' forget conjugal duties, remembering of course, that he is more important and to light his pipe for him after... *quits sarcasm*

Hard life being a male in the 1950s - not!

Manzy

[Lenoir]

Some of my books have a write-up on Enid on the back flap saying this: “in character she is like her books: lively, witty, kind, generous and very approachable.”
So she wasn’t like George in all ways, according to this. I suppose they had some things in common like stubborness, and loyalty and generosity to best friends.

Rosie quoted me a bit from a book about the Ideal Home Exhibition from 1955 which advised women "always remember that your husband's conversation is more important than your own".

I pity the woman who married Sid Goon then.

[Belly]

Manzy, Viv, my mother for one still has these 1950s values, bless her.

Even now she tells me to reapply lipstick and make sure I am sweetly perfumed before my husband arrives home. She tells me how as a baby I was always changed and powdered before being handed over to my father when he arrived home after a 'hard day at the office'.

She also always advises not to tell him any of my stresses or problems of the day until he has eaten and is suitably relaxed.

There is a belief that if men go off with other women or leave then then wife must be culpable in some way. There is that awful expression sometimes whispered 'well she let herself go, you can't blame him' (in other words commited that dreadful crime of putting on a few pounds in middle age).

In my opinion if men are going to go off then off they go whether you are Angelina Jolie or less blessed physically. It isn't all about appearances anyway. It is astounding how many still don't seem to think this is in any way the case. So in some cases these 1950s values are still very much alive and apparent.

[Ming]

(in other words commited that dreadful crime of putting on a few pounds in middle age).

Then how come all Blyton's farmers' wives still had their husbands?!