The CBB :: View topic - Mary Lou Trelawny

#1: Mary Lou Trelawny Author: Josie, Location: London

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:15 am

Please discuss our one and only here...

ETA: In case you've been utterly corrupted by the board, for a favourable view of OOAO, see Mia and Carolyn's fab drabbles. Laughing

Last edited by Josie on Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:52 pm; edited 1 time in total

#2: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:55 am

I liked Mary-Lou most of the time but I felt that she always managed to get away with everything she did. She did well at leading the others though and at least she led the rest in good behaviour instead of encouraging them all to be naughty.

#3: Author: Bess, Location: Cambridge UK

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:13 pm

I like 'little' Mary-Lou the best. She just got more and more saintly - and correspondingly irritating - as she got older. Little Mary-Lou, as described in the wholesale form-fight in 'Island,' and in 'Three Go,' is much more natural.

#4: Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:22 am

I've met people with ML's sort of imperturbable self confidence. As a middle, she frequently gets into trouble, but reprimands generally just bounce off her, and she never changes her behaviour as a result.

I think that when ML was about 14 or 15, the staff and prefects just gave up on reigning her in and resigned themselves to the situation. It's about at that age where she goes from being a very forward and self assured girl with corresponding faults (acting and speaking before she thinks, a tendency to bossiness) to the paragon of virtue she is as head girl. Someone like her is going to butt into things that aren't really any of her business and try to direct everyone else's business, but the staff and (particularly) Joey start indulging this tendency, rather than telling her to
back off.

I have a feeling that if you were a senior when ML was a middle, you'd find her occasionally exasperating, but entertaining. If ML were a senior when you were a middle, she'd be very helpful. However, if ML were in your class, I think you'd be very frustrated. No matter how bright, or hard working, or responsible or talented you were, all the limelight would fall on OOAOML, and she'd alway be the one who directed things.

I get the impression that by 17 or 18, she has no idea that anyone could object to her ways. She's been praised for butting in, and increasingly told that it's her duty and responsiblity to intervene in other people's quarrels. She's been shown that she's special: she can get away with behaviour that would get anyone else in trouble, because she's Mary Lou. She's used to having a little gang of followers to order around, and to being taken into confidence over other students personal lives. She *does* mean well, but she's very aggressive in her do-gooding.

I like Miss Ferrars' initial reaction to her, and find it very reasonable. It's too bad that she gets sucked into the cult, and joins in the 'It's just Mary-Lou' chorus.

I wonder how ML would do in life after the Chalet School. She's spent the time from age 10 - 19 in the same environment, with people who know her, and accept her mannerisms. I suspect she might be a prime candidate for the big fish in a small pool syndrome, when she gets out with a bunch of people who have absolutely no idea who she is, and no particular desire to be reformed into good Chalet girls.

#5: Author: Pado, Location: Connecticut, USA

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 11:31 pm

I've just finished rereading "New Mistress" and have to admit that I'm sympathetic with Miss Ferrar's initial coolness to OOAO. Never having been jerked back from the edge of an eroding cliff, I'm not qualified to comment on her abrupt shift from "How dare you?!" to friendliness, but I guess there's something to having your life saved... Cool

In fairness, Mary Lou does behave beautifully after that incident, keeping her own discomfort to herself so that the others can enjoy the rest of the outing.

#6: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:10 am

I like Mary Lou when she's younger, but she does become unbearable when she's 14/15, especially in A Chalet Girl from Kenya when she "graciously gives permission" for Jo Scott to be part of the Gang and so on. She's better when she's older, though. I know she interferes a lot, but that's partly due to other people - why does Joey have to tell Miss Annersley to "turn Mary Lou" on to Naomi Elton, and why is it OK for Mary Lou to help Verity to get ready in the mornings when anyone else who was slow would just be told to get a move on? & why does everyone say "Oh it's just Mary Lou" about things that other people would get told off for? She'd probably have been a lot better if other people'd treated her differently!

#7: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:26 pm

Mary-Lou as little girl is a very believeable character, she comes over really well. In Three Go she is a normal member of her form and the bit with Clem and the maths is very believeable.

Her early middle years seem quite normal too - apart from the 'spent most of her time with older people' bits and you would have thought that would have rubbed by then thanks to the school.

Her character changes when the school moves to Switzerland, and the books focus on the gang for a while. This is when we begin to see her as the bossy interferring madam that she becomes. I think if I had been at school with her I would have kept out of her way as I would have wanted to slap her.

I don't like her attitude to Jo Scott and I think it is only the 'other worldness' of the CS that stops people like Jessica Wayne and Naomi Elton slapping her very hard.

Of course we needed a character to focus on and EBD had kept Sybil in the background so she was no use and therefore we get landed with OOAML!

#8: Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:54 pm

OK, have had to think about this quite carefully because, like many of you I am sure, the board has crrupted me in my view of ML.

My own opinion is that we see three phases of ML:

ML as a child - she is portrayed at the start as being quite a feminine child who thanks to Clem's involvement becomes a tomboy. She has been bought up by her sick mother and her strict grandmother. She is self reliant and has no real friends or in fact any concept of what other children are like. Clem being easy going and lets face it used to looking after Tony simply takes in ML as a younger sibling. Her first real meeting with other children around her own age are with the Maynards - who are after all a very special set up so far as family goes.

She settles in at school, is mischevious yet she is obviously bright and gets on with her classmates and staff. We see glimpses of her very childish behaviour and of her more grown up behaviour. Overall she is a normal likeable child.

ML as a young teen - after three go she disappears somewhat into the background until they go to the Oberland. She takes on a more prominent role here with her promotion to Head of the Middles and the leader of the The Gang. Previously groups of girls such as the Quintette, Joey and her friends and Daisy/Beth/Gwensi have had much more defined characters. EBD made The Gang a more all encompassing group, possibly too big as she started to miss out characters - their ages meant they were spread not only over the various forms but eventually to different divisions within the school. EBD highlighted ML as the leader of The Gang, essentially a Joey like character but unlike the early books which had all really revolved around Joey she took other girls as the central characters for books. You also at this stage start to see Len emerging as the next, for what of a better word, ML.

ML as a Prefect - yes i know she was a senior but she seems to have gone from senior to prefect in very little time - even Len took longer (but then she was a senior at 13!). ML as a prefect is not quite so Joey like, there are similarities but the most striking difference is that ML - who was described early on as born to be a school girl - is quite happy if not expecting to be head girl. Whilst her butting in, treating everyone as equals, being the confidante of Joey is annoying it is after all what she has been built up to be throughout the series.

ML for me goes from being a very real and believeable character to a totally unbelievable and unlikeable character. Her habit of popping back to School, particularly to help in situations where Joey is unavailable lets down some of the later books.

Hummm, didn't realise that i knew so much about her from memory!

#9: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:32 pm

In a way we see in Mary Lou almost history repeating itself - Joey started out as a very believable and likeable character and seemed to become far less so as the series went on. Was the problem that EBD couldn't cope with her characters growing up?

As a member of Staff ML would have annoyed me intensely, as another member of the Gang she would have been very irritating. But it wasn't solely ML's fault - the adults in the series were as much to blame for allowing and encouraging her.

As for her being surprised when being made Head Girl? She was an intelligent girl, did she really think it would be someone else?

One of the best scenes after she had left schoolwas that with Grizel in Reunion, just after her mother died - there she comes across genuinely and you can admire her courage. It seems a pity that EBD couldn't write her like that all the time.

(I don't blame Kathie Ferrars at all! Laughing

)

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