Margot Maynard
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#1: Margot Maynard Author: Josie, Location: London PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:14 am

Please discuss triplet number 3 here...

 

#2:  Author: betterincini,  PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:14 pm

Personally I think she's a rather spoilt brat, but she does improve.
Evil or Very Mad

 

#3:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:47 pm

Tha Maynard factor. She gets away with things that would have anyone else expelled. After all, it took her so long to improve, it had to be family influence that kept her in school.

ETA: In many ways, I think she's the daughter who most resembles her mother. Not in looks, but in character, because of her assumptions that she's going to get things her own way.

 

#4:  Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:34 pm

The first few times I read the books, and bear in mind I only have paper backs, I didn't like Margot at all, she was the spoilt, pandered to, egocentric child who got her own way simply by throwing a hissy fit, she was bad tempered, violent and wouldn't accept responsibility for her actions.

However, after being attacked by a plot bunny I started to reasearch her life through the books, looking carefully into not only what is said but what isn't said. In the end I was left feeling firstly veyr sorry for her and then admiring her.

Born just at the start of the war, probably premature and not expected to survive she always had to compete for her mother's attention, she was severely ill for a great deal of her childhood, which meant that she couldn't join in with games and activities of her triplet sisters and their friends. Her mother had labelled her from birth as the naughty triplet, not giving her much to look up to.

Having been desperately ill she is then sent to the other side of the world at the age of 8. Yes she goes with her aunt and cousins but Josette herself has been ill and is presumably fragile and probably quite shy, Allie is to all intents a baby and her Aunt has probably only seen her on short visits, maybe an overnight stay but certainly not all that time. My guess would be that no one tried to give Margot an explanation of why she was going to be sent away she just was told she was going.

When she returns she has of course grown apart from the other two and to an extent from her mother, who has a tendancy to baby all her children but especially Margot. Her surface sophisitcation and childish behaviour is pretty typical of a pre-teen with attachment issues but this is basically made out as just being because of the way she is.

She cannot really be blamed for producing "my devil" as her parents in fact invented him as an ill thought out explanation of her miss deeds when she was very young, the misunderstanding was then never corrected.

As a teenager she goes through the horrible stroppy "Kevin" phase much more in the open than the other two, she is childish and plays pranks which do endanger not only her life but others. I belive that her near death experience in Lake Lucerne may have been something of a turning point for her spiritually, particularly if you then look at her refusal to go down the slope on the sled with Emmy in Mary Lou.

Yes she continues to play childish tricks - the sqawker in prep that nearly looses her her birthday treat but then she and her sisters, who probably don't have any attachment issues, have been put into a form with much older girls, socialise with older girls and are expected to act older than their age. Perhaps if she had been allowed to develop mentally along side her own age group she wouldn't have acted out so frequently.

The episodes with both Ted and Betty are turning points with regard to her change of character as opposed to her faith. You cannot excuse either actions but they do go to show some growth in her character and her deepening faith.

Her decision to become a doctor is to me more suprising than her decision to become a nun as i have always seen her as quite lazy, the quiet life of a nun with a family of sisters would probably seem quite a natural way forward for her with her new found faith but to be a doctor as well, with the intensive training involved I think is a fairly big leap in her character.

Suffice to say however, she was determined in what ever she was doing so I belive she would have succeeded in becoming a medical missonary and probably have had a very full and adventurous life!

 

#5:  Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:33 pm

I agree on a lot of counts with Katarzyna.

In some ways she is the most believable of the triplets. Her early ill health would have kept her young in both physical and emotional development and because of the lack of outlets for high spirits when she was young, she got into scrapes at a later time. I subscribe to the theory that we all need to go through certain stages in development and if we miss one out, it will emerge later and be considered inappropriate.

Her 'selfishness' and temper are typical of an immature child who is fighting her corner in a large group. Most children have a tantrum stage as anyone who frequents a supermarket will know Rolling Eyes I find it less easy to believe the others were so good.

I never really saw her as lazy, more using it as a defense by refusing to compete with the others who won at every point. I did wonder if the medical vocation was an attempt to please Jack.

Becoming a nun seemed just a way of getting her out of way in an acceptable fashion so that Len could carry Joey's mantle at a later stage, had EBD gone on writing.

 

#6:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:32 pm

The only point on which I disagree with Katarzyna is in Margot's very early life. As an ill child, she would have received more of her parents' attention. (Personal experience here - my mother was very ill as a child and she got much more attention than her brother or sister.) This would result in Con's independence, the way she goes into her fantasy world of characters, and also Len's leadership beginning at an early age (as can be seen in Lavender when she wants to protect Steven from the baptismal water). However, this closer bond to her parents makes the departure to Canada all the more difficult and explains her superficial independence when she returns.

 

#7:  Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:41 am

I do feel sorry for Margot overall. As it's been said, she's a brat, but at some level she's not been given the chance to be anything else.

Let's see -

- It's admitted that Margot is indulged as a young child, when it wasn't sure if she'd live.

- Joey does her best to hide her temper tantrums from Jack when she's little - she wants Jack to see the best of the triplets in the brief times he's home during the war.

- Her lapses are blamed on 'her devil' well into her teens, rather than making her take responsibility for her own actions.

- She's sent away for a year at short notice - regardless of what they've told her, that's got to be hard on a nine or ten year old.

- She's labelled the bad triplet at a young age - at some level giving her the expectation that she's supposed to act up.

- She's told that she's very bright, and that being in the same form as girls her own age is shameful, as she would be in a much higher form if she weren't lazy. The fact that she has trouble applying herself, isn't a natural student, and is generally regarded as immature for her age doesn't seem to matter.

- She's constantly measured up against her better behaved, more highly regarded triplets.

- She's judged and punished on a different level for her misdeeds than the other students. At some level, she's got to know that they wouldn't expell a Maynard.

And finally, she's in an environment where she can never get away from her reputation. For a lot of people, changing schools or locations can give them a chance to reinvent themselves. If no-one knows that you're the bad one, or the dumb one, or the geeky one, or the shy one, then it's much easier to break out of old roles. Margot, on the other hand, is aggressively followed by her label as the '... bad Maynard triplet. She's the brightest of the lot, but she's lazy and doesn't work, so she's in a lower form than her sisters'

 

#8: Margot and Joey Author: CatherineS, Location: Smalltown, West of Scotland PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:12 am

What I find quite interesting - having just re-read 'Exile' and started on 'Goes to It', is the special claim laid by Joey on Margot rather than the other two. It suggests to me an extra bond or sense of protectorship, although I suppose it could be as Margot's namesake is dead.

'Take your goddaughter, Nell. Jack, here's Connie for you. And this is my baby, Margot. Triplets, Frieda! Can you beat it?' (Exile, p240, GGBP)

'"Not bad, are they? That's Mary Constance; that one is Mary Helena; and this one is my baby of all, Mary Margaret"; Jo introduced her daughters in would-be casual tones.' (Goes To It, p 15, Chambers)

Actually, I must be missing something. Who is Margot's godparent? Apologies as this is clearly something obvious I've missed - oh, for a memory!

Catherine

 

#9:  Author: Kirsty, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:19 am

CatherineS, the 3rd Godmother is Grace Nalder. Who? I hear you ask Laughing The PE/sports teacher when the school was in Tyrol, never heard from again...

 

#10:  Author: Kathryn, Location: Kyabram (north of Melb) PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:23 am

Kirsty wrote:
CatherineS, the 3rd Godmother is Grace Nalder. Who? I hear you ask Laughing The PE/sports teacher when the school was in Tyrol, never heard from again...


except in drabbles, of course....... Wink

 

#11:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:24 am

Kathryn wrote:
except in drabbles, of course....... Wink


And when she joins Millies as PE teacher and music appreciation mistress...

 

#12:  Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:32 am

...with a different first name, but the same surname despite having married a Classics master...

 

#13:  Author: Kirsty, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:35 am

...which is why I stand by my position she was never seen again.... Laughing

I did remember all about the Millies & the different 1st name, but couldn't remember off the top of my head what it was

 

#14: Worms Author: CatherineS, Location: Smalltown, West of Scotland PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:39 am

Thanks! Another can of worms opened!...

 

#15:  Author: RroseSelavy, Location: Oxford, UK PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:45 am

I agree with pretty much everything Katarzyna & Jennifer said, with the addition that I was always absolutely horrified that any parent would tell their child that their mistakes were due to a personal 'devil.' Poor Margot never got away from that, I think. She was so different in character from the rest of her family, and the combination of that, a petted early upbringing and constant nagging to be brilliant probably made her very unhappy and explains a lot of her teenage behaviour.

For me, her becoming a nun never really worked, though I could well see her doing medical missionary work. I wonder what happened at Edinburgh? Getting away from the school and her family for a while probably did her the world of good.

 

#16:  Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:48 pm

RroseSelavy wrote:
I was always absolutely horrified that any parent would tell their child that their mistakes were due to a personal 'devil.'



So was I. Letting kids think that they have guardian angels I can understand, but not that they have devils - it makes her sound like she's possessed! & it meant that she always blamed her problems on him rather than accepting responsibility for them. I suppose Margot's devil was treated as a sort of negative imaginary friend, but I still found it a bit weird that Joey and Jack went along with it.

 

#17:  Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:44 pm

I always felt that 'my devil' was a family excuse for Margot's behaviour. I see Margot's devil as something a young child says, but that is kept up by a family. It is the self-perpetuating myth. As has already been said, she is seldom in a form with her peers so her oppprtunities for social, personal and emotional develoment are reduced.

 

#18:  Author: Changnoi, Location: New Mexico, USA PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:51 pm

There is this plot bunny that keeps biting me about Margot's devil.

She really believes in it. What if she is really hearing the devil speaking to her, telling her to do bad things?

The rest of the family are none too emotionally stable. Witness--Jem thinks that Joey is so emotionally unstable and given to flying into passions and whatnot that he wants to send her to the Annexe.

Mental illness is not a topic readily discussed in EBD's day.


Yes, I have been writing about Margot's psychotic break and subsequent hospitalization in my spare time. As soon as I can get it into an appropriate form, my visions will be shared with the world. Please don't worry; it won't be sensationalist. (All my understanding of the way hallucinations behave has been amassed from my own clients at work, not from thriller novels).

This is what happens when you work in mental health and read the Chalet School.

Chang

 

#19:  Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 7:50 am

I look forward to reading it Chang - I think it will be very interesting but distressing.

 

#20:  Author: Changnoi, Location: New Mexico, USA PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:45 pm

It isn't going to be a very happy story, but I am avoiding many of the nasty things that often happened to people with that kind of illness in the 1950s.

Chang

 

#21:  Author: JustJen, Location: Dorval, Quebec PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:57 pm

I look forward to reading your story

 

#22:  Author: betterincini,  PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:27 pm

To me Margot is a mean kid who gets away with everything just because she's Joey's daughter.

 

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