Violence in the FFO...

[Poppy]

Never having read the Five Find Outers books, I began reading them when my grandad kindly bought me the full boxset (for a nice little treat!) a few weeks ago. I have 20 pages of The Mystery of the Secret Room to go and I am really enjoying it, (although some say it is quite an un popular Blyton novel.) This might be beacuse the mystery begins quite late in the book. I however, think it is a fine book, however I was very surprised to see the violence the enemies used in this book (almost choking poor Fatty.) I have never come across this level of violence in any other Blyton book and I was wondering if you could think of any, or why these enemies used so much violence in this book, than in any other, (if there really is a reason, of course!) Perhaps the enemies are more violent in the FFO series.

[Aurélien]

As I remember it, physical violence was more readily accepted during that era than it is today. Even PC Goon once half-throttled Fatty, and he thought nothing of kicking out at Buster.

'Aurélien Arkadiusz'

[Poppy]

Yes, I know that violence was used more in them days than today, however it was never heard of in the Famous Five to almost choke one of the children. I just wondered why more violence was used in the FFO than FF....??

[Julie2owlsdene]

I think Fatty experience a few acts of violence as you call it Poppy. The Secret Room, which you are reading. Missing Necklace, he was tied up and locked in a cupboard. Strange Bundle when Goon almost choked him thrusting wet clothes down his neck.

I can't think of any others off hand at the moment. But as a child, and even now I don't think of it as violence, but part and parcel of the story.

[Poppy]

Yes, I see what you mean, Julie! The Famous Five have been tied up and locked in rooms and caves for a while but not choked or been offended with wet clothes being thrust down their necks...

I have been missing out on a lot...

[Katharine]

I've noticed violence, or the threat of it used in several Enid Blyton books. The Island of Adventure - the children are left to drown, The Castle of Adventure - Phillip hit on the ear, so that it goes red and swells up, one of the FF books has mention of someone's ears being boxed. I can't remember which one it is, it's the one with Clopper the pantomime horse, and the farmer's wife boxes either Julian or Dick's ears. Although my copy is pre-1980s, so it may well have been edited in later editions.

Even books aimed at younger children had some kind of physical chastisement in them. In think in Amelia Jane she gets spanked with a hair-brush, and then of course there's Dame Slap in the Enchanted Woods books.

I never read the FFO books as a child, but I didn't really notice any violence in any of the other books at the time. Probably because when I was growing up hitting children wasn't that unusual. Teachers would throw chalk across the room at the heads of talking children, on more than one occasion the wooden blackboard cleaner was thrown. I seem to remember boys being pulled out of their seats by their ears, and at primary school a child was tied to his chair by a skipping rope to stop him wandering about the classroom. Then of course there were the 'legal' punishments such as a slipper or drumstick across the hands or a cane on the backside.

[Aurélien]

Sad to remark that, since the more vigorous and colourful teacher responses noted above have been reigned in, schools have actually become more threatening and violent places, only today the aggro is inflicted (on a regular basis) by a small number of children.....go figure!

'Aurélien Arkadiusz'

[Lenoir]

I've noticed violence, or the threat of it used in several Enid Blyton books.

That awful Blyton again.

[Poppy]

Yes, now I come to think of it, I can think of a bit of violence in The Famous Five. There is when Dick gets a piece of coal or something thrown at his face by a wooden legged fellow down by the railway tracks.

Ah yes, and in the Sea of Adventure, at the very start, Bill thinks Philip/Jack (one of the boys) are his enemy and ties him up.

Any in The Secret Seven???

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes. In the first Secret Seven book (The Secret Seven), the criminals shake Peter and Jack, clout them hard and lock them briefly in a cupboard before putting them down in a dark cellar with a mysterious prisoner.

[Deej]

Any in The Secret Seven???

I'm reading through The Secret Seven series at the moment.

As well as Anita's fine example, in Secret Seven Win Through, Colin got a box in the ear off Albert after he sneezed whilst he was trying to listen to his conversation with another man behind a tree about what turned out to be a certain stolen item.

Whilst in Three Cheers, Secret Seven, Jack gets shook very hard by the bad tempered gardener Georgie Grim after he had been found with Peter breaking into Bartlett Lodge to see if the gas fire was still on in the supposedly empty locked up house.

There are probably many other examples. Hope I've been of help to you.

[Sir Terence]

On a slightly different note, I vividly remember the scene in House-At-The-Corner when Mr Walters - whose son was accidentally injured by Tony - was going to ask Tony's father for permission to cane him (and only changed his mind because Tony's father did such a good job as the surgeon on the injured boy's head). I wonder what the reaction would be to such a request nowadays!

[Katharine]

Straight on the phone to Childline or a visit to a solicitor with a view to a court case I should imagine!

It's amazing how attitudes towards children have changed in just a few decades. My daughter came home from infant school this week with a head full of information all about the NSPCC and Childline. She even had a sticker with the helpline number on it, which she wanted to stick to her bedroom wall in case she ever needed it! She's now virtually bullying all family members to fill in her sponsor form to raise funds.

I think it's great that there is a helpline for vulnerable children, I'm just a little worried about how it's been pitched at the children. My daughter was saying how it's there if you are worried about anything, which is good, as long as children don't think that just because they didn't get sweets every day, or had to miss their favourite TV programme that they are being ill treated.

[Stephen]

one of the FF books has mention of someone's ears being boxed. I can't remember which one it is, it's the one with Clopper the pantomime horse, and the farmer's wife boxes either Julian or Dick's ears. Although my copy is pre-1980s, so it may well have been edited in later editions.

Five Go Down To The Sea - Yes, I've cited this on other threads as one of my most upsetting moments in a Blyton because like Mrs Penruthlan, my grandmother was a lovely little old lady from Cornwall, and the thought of her suddenly flaring up in anger and boxing my ears because I told her her husband might have been up to no good was a little too real for me.

Not that my grandfather was a wrecker!

[Lawrie]

I was struck by how violent the crooks were in the Mystery of the Secret Room too, though it's one of my favourite Mysteries. I felt genuinely worried for Fatty, but for me the worst scene in the Blytons I've read is the part Katharine mentions in the Island of Adventure where Jack, Philip and Bill are trapped with the water rising. The Stuart Tresilian illustration really added to this - I thought it was terrifying, and much worse than being thumped or kicked as you'd have all that time of knowing what was going to happen and not being able to stop it. Real psychological suspense!