Prudence Arnold

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mynameisdumbnuts
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by mynameisdumbnuts »

I haven't read this book in ages, but how much worse does Prudence behave than the O'Sullivan twins when they first arrive at school? The twins were snobby and unpleasant. When they posed as each other to trick Belinda, that was a form of cheating.

I suppose the difference is that the twins were honest enough to own up to their failings, but Prudence isn't. Would she after the kidnapping incident? I'm not sure. Every time Prudence goes up against Carlotta and loses, she hates her more. Knowing she accidentally turned her enemy into a heroine might have made her incandescent.

Interesting too how the twins dislike Prudence, but empathize with Mirabel Unwin just one term later, who is an even more disruptive force....
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rosy_posy
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by rosy_posy »

I suspect that with both the twins and Mirabel, there's an element of straightforwardness that Prudence just doesn't have. You would never know where you were with her; you'd always feel that she was quite capable of doing something nasty behind your back while pretending to be your friend, whereas neither the twins nor Mirabel would ever have done that - they're honest and what you see is what you get with them.
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Poppy »

mynameisdumbnuts wrote:I haven't read this book in ages, but how much worse does Prudence behave than the O'Sullivan twins when they first arrive at school
I agree: Prudence doesn't behave immensely poorer than the twins, themselves when they arrived at the school. But then, there is a big difference between disobedience and stubbornness which the twins had - and spite and selfishness, which Prudence demonstrated. I suppose some of the tricks Pat and Isabel got up to (posing as each other, etc) could be laughed off, especially as they were only in the first form. But Prudence behaved disgracefully and her thoughtlessness was shocking at times. But I do think perhaps the twins could have been a bot more lenient with Prudence, and other badly behaved newcomers, considering their own difficult experience fitting in at the start of their school-life.
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Paul Austin
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Paul Austin »

As I once said in an article for the EBS Journal, that's what irritates me about Enid's treatment of "bad eggs" like Prudence. There are almost no shades of grey and Prudence never gets redeemed or given a chance to stay at St. Clare's. Pamela Cox was so appalled at Enid's treatment of Jo Jones that she gave Jo (as Alice) a redemption arc in her MT continuation books.
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by TheOriginalFive »

I'm curious about whether Prudence's upbringing really did have a role in her uptight ways. She mentions being related to nobility and her dad's a clergyman (Maybe her upper crust relatives are from her dad's side).

She's also an only child, and in a number of short stories, Blyton implies that only children are more likely to be spoilt or socially awkward.

Pity Blyton didn't consider giving her any redeeming traits at all. She was just expelled for "being discordant," as I'd put it. I did find it weird she's the only spiteful/outcast character in St. Clare's to be expelled harshly, as Erica was gently sent away, Elsie was moved up into another form, Eileen decided to leave on her own free will, and Angela Favorleigh stayed on.
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Daisy »

I always had the impression that Prudence was not repentant. Miss Theobald saw through her attempt to sound sorry and could not risk keeping her on beyond the end of term.
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by jstevens1 »

Hmm, I was thinking about Eileen (whom someone classed as one of the bad eggs along with Erica, Elsie, Angie and Prudence and to a lesser degree, Pauline Bingham Jones), who left the school on her own accord over a thieving incident. Eileen ended up being unpopular with the girls as a result of having an overbearing mother (relief matron at St. Clare's) who insisted that Eileen tell tales of her classmates to her with the threat that there would be even nastier consequences if she did not do this.

As for the thieving incident, Eileen stole money so that she could buy stamps to give to her older brother Eddie who was job hunting (he needed to fill in and send out application forms) and trying to be the man of the family after Eileen's dad died.

All in all, I feel that Eileen was the victim of her circumstances rather than a genuine bad egg.

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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by TheOriginalFive »

The other girls were quite harsh on Eileen until they found out WHY she acted that way. Just why Prudence was so unkind is not really explained, but I think it has more to do with social awkwardness and her upbringing to be serious.

She didn't realise that life at school is quite playful. I'm speaking from experience here, I had a hard time fitting in at school (not a boarding school, just a day school) because I was so out of touch with teen culture in my area. I was usually told "No, and no!" whenever I wanted to participate in most events, so I got awkward and didn't feel ready to participate. Now I'm being asked to GO when I already don't feel like going!

Paul Austin, which journal did your article appear in? I'm guessing issue 46 as "Sent home in disgrace!"
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Paul Austin
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Paul Austin »

yes, "Sent Home in Disgrace"
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TheOriginalFive
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by TheOriginalFive »

I really should save up to buy some of the back issues then. Where there any other bad students who were expelled harshly in Blyton's school series? It seems Prudence is the only one who is considered utterly irredeemable by the author.
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Paul Austin
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Paul Austin »

Jo Jones doesn't fare any better in Blyton's world - that's why Pamela Cox gave Jo (as Alice) a redemption arc.

I can't remember if i said it in the article but Blyton - given her own background - has a weird hatred for both the old rich/titled gentry and the "new rich" running through many of her stories - Jo Jones, Gwendoline Lacy, Angela Favorleigh, Prudence Arnold etc. etc.

Maybe she was projecting her pain and resentment at malevolent figures of her childhood onto her story characters?
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by cagebox »

Jo and Prudence both were friends with weaker characters, maybe their school life was an influence in the decision to not give them another chance?

Prudence couldn't be left down to have a fresh start with the new first years as we already know that Pam was too young to move up to the second form. It is doubtful Pam would have made a successful head of first form with Prudence at her side.

The same could be said of Jo. If Jo stayed in the second form another year then when the first years moved up Deirdre and Jo would be in the same form.
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Daisy »

Paul Austin wrote:Jo Jones doesn't fare any better in Blyton's world - that's why Pamela Cox gave Jo (as Alice) a redemption arc.

I can't remember if i said it in the article but Blyton - given her own background - has a weird hatred for both the old rich/titled gentry and the "new rich" running through many of her stories - Jo Jones, Gwendoline Lacy, Angela Favorleigh, Prudence Arnold etc. etc.

Maybe she was projecting her pain and resentment at malevolent figures of her childhood onto her story characters?
I'm not sure that Miss Grayling felt Jo Jones was so bad she couldn't be redeemed, but wasn't it to give her parents - father in particular - a real shake up? If Jo had been allowed to remain, would all the lessons she learned at school not just be undone by her father's attitude once she went home for the holidays?
Also I'm not sure that Pamela Cox thought Jo had been badly or unfairly treated and so wrote her into a later follow on book. My impression is that she just used Jo as a useful character to reintroduce and make an interesting story line in that particular book.
I'm not sure either that one can conclude that Enid's attitude to the titled and nouveau riche was one of "weird hatred" but rather that she was aware how the children of such parents may have particular problems related to their background?
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by TheOriginalFive »

The thing about Jo Jones was that Miss Grayling thought it was mostly her father's fault, and we as readers see this clearly, what with his loud overbearing demeanor at the start of the term and at half term later on.

Miss Theobald also thinks Prudence's parents are at fault but we don't see what they are like, not even at half term. We only have the narration telling and not showing the Arnolds' behaviour in this case. (Did summer terms have half term holidays?)
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Re: Prudence Arnold

Post by Daisy »

TheOriginalFive wrote: Miss Theobald also thinks Prudence's parents are at fault but we don't see what they are like, not even at half term. We only have the narration telling and not showing the Arnolds' behaviour in this case. (Did summer terms have half term holidays?)
Yes, every term had a half term holiday as far as I can remember. Sometimes the half term happenings were integral to the storyline (remember Claudine falling into the swimming pool on purpose to drench Angela Favorleigh's mother?) and in other stories half term passes with hardly a mention.
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