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| Girls: Jealous Girls http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5654 |
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| Author: | Róisín [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:07 am ] |
| Post subject: | Girls: Jealous Girls |
Jealousy among the girls, particularly over friendships, is a very common plot device in the CS. Is the jealousy realistic and naturally portrayed? How about the eventual resolution of the feuds? Please join in the discussion, and provide as many examples as you like, below 
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| Author: | Emma A [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
Jealousy of a new girl is an over-used plot in the later books, I think, and sometimes it's unbelievable: Francie's jealousy of Ruey, for example, whom she sees as blocking a friendship with Margot. I think the Melanie-Ruey jealousy is more believable, and I like the way Ruey deals with it, by explaining to Melanie exactly why she is "part of the family". Taking the series as a whole, though, the best and most consistent portrayal is that of Simone's jealousy of Jo. Joey is not sympathetic of Simone's wish to be Joey's exclusive friend, and I think she treats Simone in a very rough and ready fashion that is only occasionally kind. She often seems to find Simone amusing (at least in the earliest books). The jealousy recurs from book to book, and is acknowledged by others, but gradually deepens into a more equal friendship (say, by New House). Later still, when Simone and Joey are adults with their own families, they remain close friends. I think the way Simone's jealousy gradually lessens, to be replaced by a more lasting and not so exclusive friendship, mimics or is a sign of Simone's maturing as an adult. |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I think some of the episodes of jealousy are poorly contrived and executed such as Margaret Twiss being jealous of Jack's friendship with Wanda; Janet Henderson of Adrienne for her grades; Victoria or Erica with her frienship with the Crewe; Val Pertwee being jealous of Althea and Samaris because they got her in trouble with Len and she was jealous about it or something. These came accross as contrived and put in as a plot device than as something that was particularly realistic. I think Jack's jealousy with Jane about her having her old bed in Len's dorm was better developed. I think the jealousy and probles with Jack and Jane were very realistic and Len's cautiousness about showing any younger girl attention (such as Flavia the next term when Flavia showed Len concern about the snake, and Len could see that Jack was giving Flavia an unfriendly look) showed that the jealouy never really abated. I thought it was realistic and good to see it not resolved in a conversation and moment of repentance but took time to resolve. Margot's jealousy of Len and Con having friends seemed patently ridiculous because there was no indication of it occuring. Margot was friendly with Rosamund and in New Mistress the triplets, Emmerence, and Rosamund all seemed to be friendly together. Francie being jealous of Ruey over Margot also seemed a little left field because there were numerous books describing the two already being friends along with Heather Clayton, Emmerence, Connie Winter and Betty Landon (see New Mistress and Fete). I don't know if we're including fill-ins but I will add I didn't like the jealousy Evadne had over Ilonka with Margia in Juliet as she had never been described as a jealous person and was notoriously friendly with everyone such as Eustasia, Cornelia etc and seem to go out of her way to include new people in her circle of friends |
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| Author: | JB [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I too think that a lot of the jealousy seems contrived because it appears from nowhere (eg like Margot with Len and Con) or because it involves characters we don't know (eg Janet Henderson). We're told not shown. We've never seen Margot remotely concerned with her sisters' friends until Theodora (book rather than person). On the other hand, I can believe Jack's jealousy of Jane - because we've already seen that she sees Len as her property and because we've seen that she isn't someone who thinks things through (eg getting lost in the wood in Triplets). |
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| Author: | Alison H [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I went to an all-girls' school and between the ages of about 12 and 15 there was quite often somebody getting jealous about their friend's friendship with somebody else  , so I find it realistic that there are a lot of incidences of jealousy, although some are presented better than others. A lot of people have supposedly harboured secret admirations for other girls which have been going on for ages before we hear about them, e.g. Francie with Margot and Caroline Sanders with Vi, and so those plotlines seem very contrived. Simone's jealousy over Joey's other friends and the way it dissipates when they're older is presented much better, though, and Jack's jealousy of Jane also seems realistic.
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| Author: | miss_maeve [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
While some of the individual portrayals of jealousy are not done brilliantly, the idea of there being so much of it about is not too far fetched, in my opinion. Certainly, in my time at school, there was an awful lot of it about, mostly centred around one girl, whom it seemed everybody wanted to have as a best friend (rather like Jo LOL). Unlike Jo, she revelled in this, and flitted about, leaving people alternately hanging on her every word or out in the cold and wondering why. I was one of the girls who wanted her to be my friend, and I can fully see the kind of things that I was feeling, in some of the CS girls. |
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| Author: | MJKB [ Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I know WHY, but don't know HOW some girls manage do that? There's generally someone like that in every form and they play havoc with others' emotions. Teachers tend to turn a blind eye to it because it is so complex, and almost impossible to resolve. Actually, Margot Maynard probably has a touch of that about her. Jealousy plotlines are featured in all GO literature because it so often happens among girls. Some of the ones discussed above appear very contrived, such as Margot's resentment of Ted's friendship with Len. But thinking about it a little deeper, perhaps there was something about Ted that alerted Margot to a subtle shift in the balance of power in the triplet's relationship. Ruey is by way of being a step sister to the trips, and Ros Lilley, while a very pleasant girl, is non threatening. Again, Francie's jealousy of Ruey appears out of nowhere but they had both been part of the same 'naughty' group, so it is possible that Francie had harboured those feelings for Margot for years and thought that she could replace Emmy on some level. |
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| Author: | jennifer [ Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:35 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I agree that among schoolgirls jealousy and petty feuding is pretty common. I also find Jack and Jane's jealousy and Simone's as the best presented - most of the other jealousy plot lines are pretty abrupt, and typically involve a new girl + some CS girl we've never heard of (Eilunedd and Peggy, Barbara and Mary, Adrienne and Janet, and most of the random jealousies in later books). With Margot, it does come rather out of the blue, as she shows no sign of jealousy before, and is in fact the most independent of the triplets about her friendships. I can buy Ruey and Francine, in part because Francine has been established as a difficult person, emotionally. But with Simone and Joey, we see the jealousy develop over a period of years - Simone is naturally clingy and obviously wants a best-best friend, a la Margot and Emerence. Joey likes Simone, but she finds her annoying a lot of the time, and is one of those people who needs a big social circle, with lots of friends, and isn't that empathetic towards Simone. We also see Simone gradually grow out of it. Jack is established as someone who is emotionally rather young, who acts on her feelings without thinking first. Len, being fairly young herself, and someone used to smoothing over other people's difficulties, indulges her to some extent, which feeds Jack's possessiveness. Most of the later jealousy plot lines, though, are less engaging not because it isn't realistic, but because they sort of pop out of nowhere, and then vanish again, and are over used near the end of the series. |
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| Author: | Mia [ Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I think there's a little foreshadowing in Richenda with regard to Margot's jealousy. It didn't come out of the blue to me when reading it for the first time (I had a 3 in 1 of Richenda, Trials & Theodora) Quote: Certain people had been left behind who had been with them in Inter V last year, but were not up to the Vb standard. Among them was the third of the Maynard triplets, Margot. She had given her sisters a very wistful look as they left Hall and Len had bent down and murmured something as she went past. Quote: Con and Len were frankly delighted and Margot liked Richenda well enough to be pleased about it, though she did murmur something about wishing Mother had asked Emmy, too. And this from Problem, also setting the scene: Quote: Until they went to Canada the triplets had stuck together. But Margot had been sent off with her aunt, Lady Russell, a year before the others came and that had made the first break. Since then, although Con the dreamer seemed more or less content with her own family, both Len and Margot had branched out. Margot had chummed with one of the naughtiest girls the school had ever known, and Len, after nearly two years of general friendliness, had chummed up with Prunella Davidson after beginning with a violent quarrel with the same young lady. I think at the point before Theodora, Len and Con still have no close friends beside Margot and each other or else they go round in a group with half the form and during this book Len and Con separate into different groups - Len with Ted and Rosamund and Con with Richenda and Odette - and that's what Margot doesn't like. Though I agree some of it is revisionist, if I can use that word. I'm sure there's a comment where Margot says she's never liked Ros and that's not mentioned in Problem at all. |
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| Author: | Sarah_K [ Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Girls: Jealous Girls |
I always thought Margot's jealousy was quite understandable really, or explainable anyway, by the time she spent in Canada. It must have been very unsettling for her to be taken away from Len and Con and in the later books it's often girls that both Len and Con like that margot's jealous of which makes sense if you think she just wants to go back to how things were before they were seperated. Mind you thinking back to my own schooldays I think petty jealousies along the lines of some of EBD's plots (thoug maybe less dramatic) showed up every other week... possibly at a younger age though. |
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