From my reading of the books, I would completely believe that he did have that air. Although he had hard times, he did seem to cope, and didn't seem a tragic or downtrodden character, but really seemed quite happy, and very stable and well-adjusted.Anita Bensoussane wrote:Maybe Barney gave off the same air of confidence and independence, despite being young?
Fortunately I have never lived in any kind of institution, but I'm sure they are all, without exception, far worse than their public image is - and even that isn't always the best. Call me cynical - but I do have an inbuilt tendency to distrust almost any kind of large institution.Anita Bensoussane wrote:And maybe being in care wasn't all it was cracked up to be anyway
I would have absolutely shared that opinion myself. In their position, if I had encountered Barney and got to know how he was coping, there's no way I would have reported him or tried to get him into some kind of home.Anita Bensoussane wrote:Miss Pepper and the others might well have felt that Barney was coping better by himself, doing casual jobs to earn a living, than he would have done if he'd been handed over to an institution which may have been "care" in name only - not in practice.
An institution would either have crushed him, or he would have escaped from it. I don't think Barney is in any way to be compared with the usual image you get of homeless people in the media, or when you meet them in the streets. Maybe I'm just being too romantic about it, though.
Regards, Michael.