Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:01 am
*bluishing* Thanks Liz
Seems I really *should* comment on this thread, seeing as how I have spent (probably) more time thinking about Francie than can be good for me!
There are two things about Francie that have been in my memory ever since the first time I read a book she featured in: The scene in New Mistress where she throws the pellet at Len and then the scene in Triplets where she and Len are giggling together. And between the two (plus other scenes, including the one mentioned from Genius), I've always had quite a soft spot for her.
She's probably one of the most realistic teenage characters in the series. She's moody and irrational. Her dislike/hate for Ruey, as irrational as it was, I found entirely believable; who *hasn't* set their heart on something being one way at the start of a new school year and found that actually, it's going to be 180 degrees different?
I don't think, really, that the school was that inconsistant with her. The authorities do their best to try and find the right way to handle each girl, and if one thing doesn't work, they're bound to try another approach, and Miss Annersley does tell Miss Ferrars in New Mistress "She's one girl who can be ruled most easily through respect."
Her early life almost certainly didn't help her out look on life. EBD's timeline's not terribly clear from the explanations in Ruey, but it certainly comes across that the first time she meets Mr Vigors is when she's told he's going to be her 'new' daddy - and what eight-ish year-old likes that kind of sudden change, particularly seeing as EBD implies that her step-mother remarries remarkably soon after Francie's father's death!
The nicest thing about Francie, though, is that she more or less makes good on her own. She's left alone by the chief butters in who (presumably, at least) recognised most of her troubles as being just normal teenage growing pains and by Ruey, she's growing out of being the sulky pain. By the end of Ruey, she's grown up and if you watch her appearences in the rest of the books she features in (and I can give you a list, should you want one!), she's almost a different person. Almost. Jane does comment that Francie's still got a wicked tongue if you show up late for prep!
Ray *hoping this makes sense*
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