The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

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Belly
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The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Belly »

Just finished it and thoroughly enjoyed it, it was 30 years since my last read! What a fantastic opener to the series. Had a few thoughts I wanted to share:

The innuendo (? at the end: 'Oh Bill! said Phillip's mother, with a little squeal that Kiki promptly imitated'What an enormous flask! I've never seen such a giant. Thank you so much'.

This really struck me as being out of kilter with the rest of the text and not fitting somehow. Is it at all possible Enid was having fun & making mischief here and intended the pun (if that that's the right word)? I've seen it commented on before I think and always thought that adult readers had too vivid an imagination! But reading it again it really does stand out as slightly odd.

Holiday coaching - as both Jack and Phillip's folks/guardians etc are 'poor' how come this was seen as so vital? So what, they'd fallen behind, the funds surely weren't really there for this? School fees alone we are told are a struggle. So what if they had to repeat a term? Would a normal boy and girl living in a terraced house (Jack and Lucy Ann) not be at a state school? Or did their father leave money for school fees? Shouldn't Jack and Phillip be working harder in order to not let families down when they were making such a financial sacrifice etc? They are supposed to be fine, upstanding boys after all.

Chores - don't the girls slack off from helping Aunt Polly in the mornings etc mid way through the book?

Taking Joe's boat - this is cheeky by anyone's standards! Surely 'well brought up' children like these wouldn't contemplate doing this however nice or nasty the adult concerned. I imagine at the time you'd be expelled for less if the school thought you were up to such things in the hols! :D

Hidden cave on the beach - exploring an old tunnel when you could be cut off by the tide by candle light? I'd have stopped my brother doing anything like this! Foolhardy! How many other books have caves hidden by fronds of fern or seaweed (Valley and Five Run Away Together I think spring to mind).

'Your people' - the expression is used by Bill is this book and others to mean your family. My grandmother used to use it (as in 'I know her people') and it has fallen out of use. I wonder when and why this happened? I rather like it, has a quaintly imperious ring to it :D . Was it widely used in the 40s?

Bill - Bill is just gorgeous in this book, manly, twinkly, strong and James Bondesque! Did Enid take a shine to him I wonder? (The man she met at the hotel and based him on I mean).

Also struck me that the general vocabularly used in this book would be fairly challenging for an 8 year old in parts 'discrete' as in to put in different places (not even sure I can fully explain meaning without some thought) and 'artful' spring to mind....
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Hard to tell whether the innuendo is intended or not but I like to think that it might be a case of Enid being playful (though of course she wouldn't expect for one minute that any child readers would pick up on it!) Enid wrote The Island of Adventure when she and Kenneth were newly married so it could well be that "manly, twinkly, strong and James Bondesque" Bill is based partly on her husband. I know the character of Bill was initially inspired by a man that Enid and Kenneth met in Swanage but I doubt Enid "took a shine" to him as she would have been so wrapped up in her relationship with Kenneth.

I think the reason Mrs. Mannering struggles so hard to send Philip and Dinah to private school is that she is determined not to let the death of their father affect their education. Since his death the children haven't had much of a home life and she rarely sees them, but there's a suggestion that this is only a temporary situation and that she is saving up and plans to "make a home for them" as soon as she is able. Mr. Mannering would surely have had a life assurance policy in place but nevertheless Mrs. Mannering has to work long hours and her job forces her to live apart from her children not only during term time, but in the holidays too. The stress of that would be unbearable and we get the impression that, if Bill hadn't come along when he did, she might have been heading for a nervous breakdown. As for Jack and Lucy-Ann, maybe their parents left enough money for the children to be privately educated.

Anita
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Belly
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Belly »

Interesting to read your reply and I hadn't realised that Enid was newly married to Kenneth. Yes, I can see how she might have been influenced in that her feelings for Kenneth would have spilled into her characterisation of Bill. If me and there was a Daniel Craig type in the hotel then first flush of love or not I might have 'taken a shine to him' also :oops: :D ! Just in an admiring glance across the bar at cocktail hour sort of way, of course :D ...

The flask comment really does stand out to me and perhaps Enid told Kenneth one day that she was going to write it in for fun...I like to think she might have had that mischievious streak also.

Were the grammar schools about by then? I think they came a little later but without googling not certain. Although probably a plot device a 'crammer' such as this one, full time, bed and board would be hugely expensive in today's terms but not sure about then. Yes I agree about the hints of a nervous breakdwon, for Polly as well as Allie. State schools didn't seem an option for middle class characters in the books, not sure how it worked back then though.
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Rob Houghton »

I have often supposed that Bill was based quite heavily on Kenneth and the feelings Enid had for him at the start of their relationship (don't know about the flask reference though!! :lol: ). Enid writes about Bill in a very 'sexual' way, really, describing how big and strong and manly he is and you get the impression she is exposing her feelings a little more than usual. His description sort of reminds me of the way Maxim is described by Daphne DuMaurier in 'Rebecca' - very much from a young adolescent point of view: almost like a fantasy male figure, too good to be true!

Though it would be fun to think that Enid was being saucy regarding the flask, I sort of doubt it. I've heard about one of her Noddy stories in which she had Noddy going around Toyland asking folk where it would be best to 'spend a penny', and another story called 'Mr Widdle on the Train'. Both the expressions had to be explained to her, as she had never heard their alternate meanings, so I tend to think she was really very child-like and innocent in her ways.

Then again, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors!! :shock:
'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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Stephen
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Stephen »

As for Bill being this James Bond figure, the whole Adventure series is so much more action packed, gritty and dangerous than, say the Famous Five or Five Find-Outers, and this is certainly clear in this first book. In the FF or the FFO the children might expect at the most to be locked up in a dungeon or tied up for a few hours while the crooks make their getaway. But in 'The Island of Adventure', it's quite clear the baddies are prepared to commit murder in order to succeed. The thought of being trapped under the seabed in a mine while tons of water is pouring in is horrific.

Enid Blyton had quite a dramatic imagination at times!
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Belly »

Agree. I wondered whether it would actually be physically possible to wait for the water level to rise and rise with it in the way they did to the undamaged part of the ladder and so make their escape?

Bill so calm, collected and brave thinking to tie Phillip's copper nugget around his neck (or was it Jacks?) ripping of his vest to do so also struck me as interesting. I'd have flung it away in a mad panic, who needs a heavy object weighing them down around their neck when they are trying to survive a flood?

Would completely agree about the flask comment and say it was taken out of context & innocuous BUT when you read the passage where it appears and indeed the whole last chapter it is completely left field! I really feel it might be deliberate.

For me Bill shines brighter in the Island than any other book, you can almost feel Enid is attracted to him in one sense. He is still an exciting character in the later books but not so vivid for me somehow.
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Belly »

[quote="Robert Houghton"]I have often supposed that Bill was based quite heavily on Kenneth and the feelings Enid had for him at the start of their relationship (don't know about the flask reference though!! :lol: ). Enid writes about Bill in a very 'sexual' way, really, describing how big and strong and manly he is and you get the impression she is exposing her feelings a little more than usual. His description sort of reminds me of the way Maxim is described by Daphne DuMaurier in 'Rebecca' - very much from a young adolescent point of view: almost like a fantasy male figure, too good to be true!

Much as I loved the book I always saw Maxim as a bit aristocratically wet and dull not like our Bill! Sitting about as an expat in dull hotels with the second mousy Mrs De Winter, well that's my abiding memory anyway.

Rebecca was a far more exciting and interesting character more sexually charged than the stuffy cravat wearing Maxim to my mind! :D

Mind you I'd have married Maxim in a flash to live at Manderley! :oops: :D
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Rob Houghton »

Belly wrote:
Robert Houghton wrote: Maxim is described by Daphne DuMaurier in 'Rebecca' - very much from a young adolescent point of view: almost like a fantasy male figure, too good to be true!

Much as I loved the book I always saw Maxim as a bit aristocratically wet and dull not like our Bill! Sitting about as an expat in dull hotels with the second mousy Mrs De Winter, well that's my abiding memory anyway.

Rebecca was a far more exciting and interesting character more sexually charged than the stuffy cravat wearing Maxim to my mind! :D

Mind you I'd have married Maxim in a flash to live at Manderley! :oops: :D
What I really meant was that the way Maxim is described by DuMaurier is similar (Daphne describing the real love she felt for her real-life husband as Enid is describing the love she felt for Kenneth) not actually that Maxim was exciting and virile as such, but just attractive and 'exciting' to the rather gauche central character :D
'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: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Quite a lot is made of Bill's rugged good looks in the 1982 film of The Island of Adventure. At one point, Philip even accuses Dinah of having a crush on him! But Dinah explains that her closeness to Bill stems from the fact that she views him as a father-figure. Interestingly, Bill appears to be having a fling with a woman (Maggie) who runs a hotel in the nearest town to Craggy-Tops. Enid Blyton would never have written anything like that of course (I think she was more aware than the film producers that she was writing for children and didn't feel that romance/sexual relationships were appropriate topics) - a pity in some ways as it means we never get to know anything about Bill's past relationships!
Belly wrote:Mind you I'd have married Maxim in a flash to live at Manderley! :oops: :D
:lol:

But yes, Manderley is rather more attractive than Maxim!

Anita
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by auscatherine »

I haven't read this book but interested in your comment on the challenging language. I actually think this is one of the good things about modern children reading Blyton books, ie, a great way of expanding their vocabulary. I remember having difficulty with some of the language when I was a child too but could usually work it out from the context and this would help me learn new words.
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Belly »

In terms of language many say that EB did not challenge her readers enough (reason why banned at my school for example, or that's the reason they gave).

As per Max De Winter I don't remember how he was described in any detail. It's interesting because my memories of the book are strong and I can even recall the descriptive passages (especially about Manderley and the grounds that ran down to the sea etc).
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Rob Houghton »

I have always believed that the critics were and are wrong about Enid's vocabulary being restricted. Many of the words she uses are 'difficult' words when one considers the age group her books are aimed at.

It amazes me how critics go on about her lack of word-power and yet modernisations of her books have often 'dumbed down' her original words. For example, I was reading 'Five Go Off In A Caravan' the other week, and in the original Dick says 'There's a spire of smoke over yonder,' which, in the 1997 centenary edition has been changed to 'There's a spire of smoke over there.' :roll:

Whilst writing my Adventure articles, I noted the 'difficult' words Enid uses in 'River of Adventure'. In this book she uses words such as 'penitently', 'repast', 'tumultuous', 'interminably', 'tepid', 'covey' and 'stentorian' - surely enough 'difficult' words to blast away the criticisms forever! 8)
'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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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Robert Houghton wrote:I have always believed that the critics were and are wrong about Enid's vocabulary being restricted. Many of the words she uses are 'difficult' words when one considers the age group her books are aimed at.
I don't disagree entirely with the critics but I think they exaggerate. Certain words and phrases turn up again and again in Enid Blyton books, e.g. "at top speed," "gloomily," "queer," and I sometimes wish Enid had revised her work a little more thoroughly, aiming for greater variation and precision. Having said that, Blyton's books do contain some challenging vocabulary as Robert has pointed out. It's not as if she went out of her way to avoid using difficult words - it's simply that she wrote at speed and often seems to have put down the first words that came to mind rather than stopping to think of alternative ways of phrasing things. Besides, her books are challenging in other ways and children learn a great deal from them. Complex moral issues are explored in some stories (particularly the family and school books), ideals like justice, self-responsibility, kindness and courage are promoted, readers' imaginations are stretched and children are encouraged to observe nature and take an interest in the world around them. Many critics have very little to say about these important aspects of Enid Blyton's work.

Anita
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Belly »

Agree with both Robert and Anita's remarks. I think I remember the phrase ' a fusillade of barks' somewhere in a book but could be mistaken? That struck me as tricky for an 8 year old!

I think things have changed so much in terms of vocab etc and maybe even dumbed down since the 1970s/80s that it is hard to comment. I have just got a copy of The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley to read to my young children, I read it when I was very young. My goodness the vocab would be challenging for a young person! I am not sure the age group it was aimed at when published in the early 70s but certainly I read it at about 6 years old. Can't tell you if I understood everything back then ! I planned to take it to read aloud to my daughter's class but decided the language was too complex for the age group.
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Re: The Island Of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Philip Mannering »

Ah yes, a 'fusillade of barks' I read somewhere in a Blyton book. Can't recall where though.

Some of my favourite Blyton long words are: stentorian, ornithologist, coleopterist (not sure about the spelling), ingot, and also some others. Ornithologist is particularly great! :lol:
"A holiday — a mystery — an adventure — and a happy ending for dear old Barney!" said Roger. "What more could anyone want?"
"An ice cream," said Snubby promptly. "Who's coming to buy one?" The Rubadub Mystery
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