The "marvelous" Linnie in Six Cousins

[Blytonfan]

If Linnie is so marvelous as portrayed in the "Six Cousins" wouldn't she have made sure Jane made herself nice and clean right from the get go? Susan apparently keeps herself clean and tidy. Why not Jane? Obviously we don't expect Jane to "titivate" but basic hygiene and clean clothes? Hair brushed and teeth cleaned? And Linnie for that matter too, once all the work is done it's a simple matter to change into something other than overalls, brush your hair and put on some makeup?

[Bertie]

I only read the Six Cousins books for the first time a few months ago, so I know others on here will have had a lot more time thinking / discussing them.

But, from my reading, I took it that while Linnie was 'marvelous' in comparison to Rose, there was no suggestion that she was 'perfect' or anything. Just doing the absolute best she could do under difficult and demanding circumstances, same as Mr Longfield.

For narrative purposes, they needed the Mistletoe Farm children to also have some flaws - so that the other cousins could help them in that way and each could learn from another. And, yes, Aunt Linnie has been so busy, and I imagine grateful to Jane for pulling her weight as she does, that she's 'allowed' that character flaw of Jane's to go on with just mild reminders rather than stern commands.

Nobody is perfect. But any flaws of the Mistletoe Farm children, and Aunt Linnie and Mr Longfield, were a lot less than the others because of the caring and loving environment they created there. And that's why the other three children improved a lot when exposed to it. They'll all still always have some human flaws or weaknesses, but the attitude the Longfield's adopt, and environment they've created, helps reduce those and to accentuate their strengths. Whereas the reverse was the case with how Rose behaved.

[Boodi 2]

As far as I can remember, there is one point in the story where Linnie tells Jane that she is disappointed that she does not take better care of her appearance as her hair, dirty clothes and bitten finger nails are a disgrace. However, Jane pays no attention and it is only when Jack says that he was ashamed of her when his friend Richard Lawson saw her that she resolves to improve and look after both her appearance and her bedroom.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Good points, Bertie and Boodi. I'd add that Linnie is quick to seize the moment once Jane decides she wants to improve. Linnie has no doubt been waiting patiently for that time to come, ready to give her daughter every encouragement while letting her make adjustments at her own pace.

When Jane says that she intends to start taking more of an interest in her appearance and general cleanliness, her mother warns her that it won't be easy. Jane insists that she likes hard things, providing she herself has chosen to do them. Her mother replies, "Well, I'm glad you've chosen to, then. You have never done any of them for me. If you can do them because you want to yourself, you should be able to make a success of it."

[GloomyGraham]

Linnie has obviously spoken to Jane about this many times but she's no superwoman,

And in Enid's time (and possibly still now) there's the stereotypical 'Horsie-woman' who is more concerned with horses and riding than with people or personal appearance. It was an obvious character flaw for Enid to associate with a country girl.

[timv]

Jane's character as a 'horsey obsessive' is very typical of the contemporary 1940s and 1950s books for girls aged 10-14 or so, about country girls and/or schools with additional riding facilities - eg the Pullein-Thompson sisters (who ran a riding-school themselves in their teens once they'd left school, in Oxfordshire) or Mary Gervaise or 'Judith M Berrisford', creators of Jackie (a husband and wife team). There's also the more detailed and psychologically acute 'farm family' books, most obviously the Monica Edwards series about Punchbowl Farm (based on her own Surrey farm-restoration project) which commenced around 1948; when I first read the Mistletoe Farm books I was reading Edwards' books at the same time and noted the similarities, eg the realistic use of oil lamps not electricity at Mistletoe Farmhouse and the reliance on a pony trap not a car for smaller shopping trips to save money on petrol.

Jane is rather like Lindsey Thornton in the PF books, or Tamzin Grey in Monica's Romney Marsh series - except that these 2 are also Nature enthusiasts. conservationists and Tamzin, a vicar's daughter. is frequently involved in charity projects to help locals or ill-treated animals. Arguably Monica's 'horsey' girls are more rounded characters with non-horsey interests, but she was partly writing autobiographical portraits (using herself and her daughter a models for L and T) and Enid was more a 'broad brush-strokes' sort of artist - with Jane equivalent to the 'single interest' obsessive Bill in the Malory Towers books. Jane can be reasoned with to get her to improve her careless attitude to appearance, eventually , as both her mother and her twin Jack put pressure on her - and she wants to impress Jack's handsome (and horse-expert) schoolfriend, which is a rare bit of semi-'teenage romance' for the normally reticent Enid. (It's handled subtly and realistically, as the boy is more drawn to the better-groomed, better-mannered, and less abrupt Melisande, who in turn knows how to impress him.)

Clever stuff - I wish we'd had more of the Six Cousins, but I suppose Enid was keen to move on to new characters and only allowed herself to get 'trapped' in long series with her best-selling adventure characters. But I wonder if she could ever have tried putting more depth into the Famous Five's characters (Anne strikes me as the only one who 'develops' - George 'regresses' a bit, in her childish treatment of vulnerable Berta) as a counter to the 'pure adventure' domination by the plot? Or was she too busy thinking up stories by the later 1950s to try this, and getting a bit tired and short of ideas too? (Cf the 'treadmill' risk to a long series of repeating ideas and not trying anything new that happened to Elinor Brent Dyer and her Chalet School books.)

Linnie also has an interest in poetry, and uses this to bond with the culturally isolated Cyril, which is kind and thoughtful of her; ditto her listening to radio concerts, which I think she mentions as a rather solitary pursuit of hers with nobody else in her family interested. This relationship shows her at her best and - realistically - a contrast to her boorish but hardworking and sensible husband Peter, who like a typical 1940s-50s 'macho' Male Achiever can't get beyond Cyril's longish hair and initial lack of commitment to hard work and seems to regard him as what would now be called a 'wimp'. Ditto Jack's puzzled attitude to and initial dislike of Cyril. Linnie is quite prepared to tell people 'home truths' to their faces, most notably Rose who she clearly thinks is lazy and selfish to let her family down by staying in her ''rest/ convalescent home' for too long - but she can be subtler too. Her role and 'truth-telling' may partly be Enid projecting her own views, and/or derived from Miss Theobald at St Clares telling off people who shirk their full potential like Bobby or Mirabel. Jane, like Bobby, has the sense to realise that her critics have a point and takes action to improve.

[Nair Snehalatha]

Jane did not listen -- even if her mother told her to be clean and look good-- it was only when Melisande came over that her parents realised that Jane was making a vwry bad job of caring how she looked-- not 'titivating'.Linnie is really marvellous I would say--As for being in overalls-- perhaps her.husband did not mind-- he knew she was a very caring and lovinf wife and mother.and a wonderful homemaker.

[GloomyGraham]

can't get beyond Cyril's longish hair

Was there ever a father in a Blyton book who didn't disapprove of long hair on a male? lol

Just like 'thin lips' meant that the character was gonna be a 'bad un'

[GloomyGraham]

I always felt 'Six Cousins' needed one more book to make it more of a complete series.

The third could''ve been about Mistletoe Farm having some problem but the (recovered) Holly Farm family helping them out for a change. Perhaps Linnie gets ill and Rose and the rest somehow repay her for all her kindness and common-sense.

[Irene Malory Towers]

I disagree. In fact I think the 2 farm books arguably make up one of the best sets of Enid's non adventure books. Her problem was more that she did not know when to stop and the last books of many of her longer series were a great disappointment, FFO, FF, Secret Seven, and Adventure stories all suffered terribly from the last few books being a real let down. I don't feel that once Rose had transformed herself (rather unrealistically perhaps) that there was anywhere to go with either the stories nor the characters' developments. They live in harmony with nature, hard work, good family relationships, etc.
I think Linnie was right not force good hygiene onto Jane with punishments and rewards. She would have nagged her when she was young but when kids get to their teens it is up to them and I have found even with my own kids they listen much more to their contemporaries.