Spotlight On Uncle Quentin In The Books

[pete9012S]

In book one as has been mentioned we read:

You see, Daddy doesn't make much money with the learned books he writes, and he's always wanting to give mother and me things he can't afford. So that makes him bad-tempered. He wants to send me away to a good school but he hasn't got the money.

So, he is an earnest, hard working man who cannot through his work provide quite enough for his family.
It is clearly indicated this is a prime reason for his impatience and general moody demeanour.

But, with the discovery of 'hundreds of Kirrin gold ingots', all that is behind him and he can now become a new relaxed, successful man.
He is free to follow his scientific bent, released from any financial concerns. In fact he is ready to become the life and soul of the Kirrin party.

Want to bring your stray dog back into Kirrin Cottage after it has been banished - feel free, Quentin now goes with the flow...

Or does he? We read as early as book two set in the winter after the Five's incredible life changing summer adventure:

George's father was a scientist, a very clever man, but rather frightening. He had little patience
with children, and the four of them had felt very much afraid of him at times in the summer.

Sounds like the thrill of the gold, financial security and the ability to pursue the scientific work of his dreams hasn't really changed his basic temperament.

What about this precious book he was battling to write and promote in book one?
He's still battling away at it apparently:

'Oh, your uncle is still working very hard at his book,' said Aunt Fanny. 'You know, he has been working out a secret theory - a secret idea - and putting it all into his book. He says that once it is all explained and finished, he is to take it to some high authority, and then his idea will be used for the good of the country.'
'Oh, Aunt Fanny - it does sound exciting,' said Anne. 'What's the secret?'
'I can't tell you that, silly child,' said her aunt, laughing. 'Why, even I myself don't know it.

We see in this paragraph that now Quentin has become a 'secret scientist', with ideas that could excite those in authority.

The book isn't written, Quentin has tons of cash. What about his general personality in book two? Any improvements there?

The girls went into the house. 'Quentin!' called George's mother. 'Quentin! The girls are here.'
Uncle Quentin came out of his study at the other side of the house. Anne thought he looked taller and darker than ever. 'And frownier!' she said to herself. Uncle Quentin might be very clever, but Anne preferred someone jolly and smiling like her own father.

Definitely still not a gag a minute guy, our dear old Uncle Q! Nice background from Anne about her own father being 'jolly and smiling'.
Perhaps with such wildly differing personalities this is why Quentin Kirrin and Anne Kirrin's Pa have not interacted much with other over the years..

Surely Quentin must have lightened up a bit though - he must be a multi-millionaire for goodness sake?

Both girls were glad when George's father had gone back into his study.
'Your father has been working far too hard lately,' said George's mother to her. 'He is tired out.

Thank goodness his book is nearly finished. He had hoped to finish it by Christmas so that he could join in the fun and games - but now he says he can't.'
'What a pity,' said Anne, politely, though secretly she thought it was a good thing. It wouldn't be much fun having Uncle Quentin to play charades and things like that!

So George hasn't seen her father for how long whilst away at boarding school, but after a polite hello, she and Anne were glad to see him get back to work.
Uncle Quentin - fun, games,charades....Hmmmm can't quite see that. Anne certainly didn't want to see it either!

to be continued...

[Stephen]

Books one and two are among my favourites of the Famous Five, but even as a small child I noticed the obvious difference in style between them. Treasure Island is an action packed adventure, while Adventuring Again is much more claustrophobic, and is pretty dark and psychological in places. I've never been a huge fan of George, but the fact that it's her and Tim against the rest of the disbelieving world is strong stuff.

Ironically, one common theme between the two books is the fact that Uncle Quentin is stern and unapproachable which seems to contradict the feelgood end of Treasure Island. But it never really jarred with me at the time. So he might now be rich and have discovered a new respect for George, but he's still a 1940s parent and have certain ideas about how children are expected to behave. Maybe he simply doesn't know how to be a "charades man". And when his daughter takes an apparently irrational dislike to his choice of tutor for them, of course he's going to take umbrage.

[Silky moon]

I was born in the mid 60’s. My dad was pretty strict and wouldn’t tolerate disrespect . He had a short temper like Uncle Quentin as well. He found it difficult to deal with stroppy teenagers ( which I was!). In his eye, the husband earned the money and did the practical things around the house and garden and the wife stayed at home, bought up the kids and did the domestic stuff. Not so different from Uncle Quentin, but he was far more practical!

[Debbie]

I can relate with what Silky says, and I'm a child of the 80s.

I adored my father. I loved to sit by him and watch as he did woodwork, sketch or garden. However he had very strict ideas of how we should behave and wasn't afraid to express it. I don't recall him hitting us-he was very strong and may have been afraid he would do more damage than he meant to, but he was very strict on behaviour.
I was fairly good at approaching him on some things, much better than my siblings who tended to go in with "I need this and you won't let me have it and it's not fair" attitude, but would almost always have chosen mum if I was upset, even though I normally could get away with what I wanted from him.
He was very much into his work. Often he didn't arrive home until 8pm, then had to have dinner, so often we'd be ready for bed by the time he arrived home. But actually him being into his work was at least partially that he wanted to provide for us the things he hadn't had in his childhood. That was one way he showed his love to us.
Even in Treasure Island when Quentin thinks he's got a bit of money his first thought is he can get George the shrimping nets she really wanted. That was him trying to show that he cared. He wanted to get things for her that she wanted, but just couldn't afford to.

Possibly because of that, I can see that he does truly love George, but finds it difficult to express it. In particular he finds it difficult to express it perhaps because of how she is. I think he'd have found it easier to show affection to Anne who would have responded to a hug, or been thrilled when he complimented her cooking etc.

[Judith Crabb]

Your account Debbie is very close to my experience of the father-daughter relationship, though 1950s childhoods in Australia and no doubt the UK were clouded by the war experiences of many fathers.
One question about surnames. In 'Five on a Treasure Island' George makes it clear that Kirrin Island has been given to her by her Mother, and her mother's people are those previously owned the large tracts of property around the coast. So is the only probable explanation that Mrs Kirrin was born a Kirrin and married a Kirren?

[Judith Crabb]

A typo! Kirrin in the last line and in the fourth line I left out the word 'who'.
More haste less speed. Is that the old saying?

[Anita Bensoussane]

You should be able to edit your posts if you like (there's an "Edit" button at the top right of each post). Of course, we don't always manage to spot our own typos - but people will generally know what we mean anyway!

[Daisy]

One question about surnames. In 'Five on a Treasure Island' George makes it clear that Kirrin Island has been given to her by her Mother, and her mother's people are those previously owned the large tracts of property around the coast. So is the only probable explanation that Mrs Kirrin was born a Kirrin and married a Kirren?

That is my understanding too - Fanny married her cousin Quentin. If you're interested in a family tree you may like to read "Five Delve into the Past" which is in the Cave.

[timv]

I always found the relationship between George and Quentin , especially in the early books, one of the most intriguing and attractive parts of the series - and showing real psychological insight , in contrast to the sniffs of literary critics about Enid never showing any 'depth' or realism. Reading the first two books at the age of eight , it seemed to mirror my own relationship with my scientist father, who was very like UQ but spent most of his time and energy on university work not writing books (and did 'secret' work too but mostly for big firms). The 'keep the house quiet, your father's working' situation is also spot on. The mixture of UQ wanting to do practical things for his daughter , which he can't in the first book as he hasn't the money, but being irritated and baffled when his 'difficult' offspring made emotional demands on him mirrors my own experience. By contrast, my mother (a skilled teacher trained in the Montessori methods of rearing small children which Enid knew, and a fan of A S Neill's liberal co-ed school Summerhill on which Enid probably based the Naughtiest Girl books) was far better at dealing with emotions but as a post-War wife did not think it her place to challenge her husband on developing better parenting skills. The husband laid down the parameters - if usually less grumpily than Roger and Diana's father in the Barney series.

As a child of the 1960s and early 1970s, I can say that the 'Quentin/ Fanny/ George' situation and social views of appropriate roles in Enid's early Kirrin books was still the norm in middle-class households then. Similarly the frustrated and lonely George's outbreaks and her attempts in Kirrin Island Again to 'connect' with her father reflect how I felt as a child - and I was hopeless at science even as a teenager so I could not succeed that way. It is perhaps a pity that Enid did not go into the George/ Quentin situation again when she was a bit older, but of course she was still mainly writing for younger readers and once she was concentrating on plots the family background got left behind. (Julian and co's parents hardly get a mention except as setting the background for an adventure, eg in Caravan). As we can see with Uncle Ursie and the grief-hit, 'buttoned up' Aunt Lou in Come To The Circus , Enid could deal with more complex adult characters if she tried - but logically did not have the urge (or time) to do so once she was pouring out series books.

There is an interesting comparison to be made between Enid and other 'series' writers who have been accused of churning out long series of 'pot-boilers', eg the school story author Elinor Brent Dyer. The best portrayals of character relationships are often in the early books of a series, or in their non-series books; and the latter often did not get republished by the author's publishers as they sold less copies so they fell out of public view. (When did you last see a secondhand bookshop copy of Come To the Circus or House At The Corner?) Do we have the publishers to blame for the author concentrating on the plots of a lucrative series, not on crafting a more serious book once in a while?

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's interesting to hear of people's experiences. Re-reading Five on a Treasure Island for a Readathon some time ago, and again more recently in preparation for writing a Journal article, I was struck by several similarities between George and her father. As I wrote in my Journal article:

Since we have already been warned that Uncle Quentin can be bad-tempered, it comes as no surprise that Kirrin Cottage is not as chocolate-box perfect as it appears on the surface, but a place of stress and struggle and secrets. Aunt Fanny is welcoming but Uncle Quentin is a frowning, intimidating man who hates to be disturbed and makes Julian, Dick and Anne feel “a little scared”. He is a scientist who works from home and everyone is expected to tiptoe around him. He and his daughter George rub each other up the wrong way, adding to the tension, but in fact they are remarkably alike. Both George and her father are impatient, hot-tempered and anti-social and they inhabit their own little worlds to some extent - worlds which mean a lot to them and which they are anxious to preserve. Quentin's study is a symbol of his isolation and George’s island is a symbol of hers. Quentin is utterly devoted to his scientific work, while George is utterly devoted to Timothy. The father and daughter are alike in their stubbornness and drive too, and sometimes have moments in which they understand each other well. The trouble is that they are not very good at communicating their feelings to one another. Quentin’s comment to his niece and nephews – “…maybe you will knock a little common-sense into George!” – makes me chuckle as he’s rather lacking in common-sense himself!

[StephenC]

Uncle Quentin features in quite a few of the later books, including Fall Into Adventure, Have A Wonderful TIme, Plenty of Fun, and Demon's Rocks. His character gradually softens to some extent, although he's still prone to being a very short-tempered man, as we see in Plenty Of Fun, when he finds out that Berta is going to be sent to Kirrin Cottage,

[Wolfgang]

Seeing the word "short-tempered", I just wonder if there's a word "long-tempered". I haven't found it in my dictionary .

[Anita Bensoussane]

No, there isn't!

[Boatbuilder]

Seeing the word "short-tempered", I just wonder if there's a word "long-tempered". I haven't found it in my dictionary .

No, there isn't!

Without going ‘all-religious’ maybe there is

https://originscommunity.com/weekly-rhy ... -tempered/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Judith Crabb]

There is even-tempered which Uncle Quentin isn't.