The CBB :: View topic - Books: Jane and the Chalet School

through

[^/[^Print]\]

The CBB -> Formal Discussions

#1: Books: Jane and the Chalet School Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:43 pm
—
Here we have effusive, enthusiastic Jane coming up against Jack, who resent the fact that the new girl took her dormitory spot. We also see more of Jose Helston, Elisaveta's daughter, a theatrical performance of the Little Germaine, and some bullying on Jack's part, including a fist fight. There's also a smallpox scare, and Jack gets stuck in a tree. We finish up with Jane's mother getting badly injured, and Jack and Jane making up.

In many ways this is primarily a story about Jack Lambert. What are your opinions about her behaviour and attitude towards Jane, and how the staff and Len deal with the situation? Is she a realistically drawn character, or a little thug?

Is Jane a realistic character, or are her mannerisms overdrawn? Has the injured/missing parent been done to death (Jo Scott, Ruey Richardson, Gay Lambert, Katherine Gordon, among others), or is it still fresh?

Is the students' play an improvement on yet another Christmas Pageant description, or should it be skipped over on rereading.

#2: Author: JayB, Location: SE England

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 1:04 pm
—
I like Jane. She is refreshing and different. She has Mary Lou's habit of treating everyone as an equal, but without ML's bumptiousness - and unlike ML, she is quite willing to be corrected. I like Jose too. They are two characters I'd have liked to follow into the Sixth.

Jack is a little bully, and the basis of her grievance against Jane is very childish, but she is realistic - there are girls like Jack. It's unfortunate for her and the rest of her form that she 'leads the rest of them like sheep' as EBD would say. She wouldn't get away with all she does if there were one or two other strong characters to challenge her. I wonder the CS authorities didn't consider mixing the forms up a bit to put her among girls who weren't so easily influenced.

I think the authorities should have cracked down much harder and sooner on Jack over her treatment of Jane. Holding Jane equally responsible for the fight over the car, for example, when she was only acting in self defence, appears to legitimise Jack's behaviour.

Yes, the injured/missing parent story has been done to death. And yes, the description of the play is one to be skipped on rereading.

#3: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 1:17 pm
—
I find Jane's theatrical stereotype "luvvie" mannerisms rather OTT but, as Jay said, at least she's different! The injured parent storyline is very unoriginal though.

Jack Lambert is obnoxious in this book, but her behaviour is sadly realistic - I remember various "gangs" of girls at school with an overbearing leader who tended towards being a bully. I'm surprised that she doesn't get punished more severely though - people get far worse punishments for much less serious offences; and Jack is guilty of actual physical violence - it's one of the worst incidences of unacceptable behaviour in the whole series.

I love seeing plenty of José Helston in this book! I appreciate that the princess/Ruritanian state thing didn't really fit in with the later books, but I really like Elisaveta as a character - I don't know why EBD had to give her such a hard time, being left a young widow in a storyline that didn't seem to serve any purpose! - and it's lovely hearing more about her and her family.

I tend to feel that the series goes downhill after Theodora/round about there, but I think this is probably one of the better few of the later books.

#4: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 1:38 pm
—
Jack is a bully, but EBD didn't seem to recognise that this was a bad thihng to be. Witness the treatment of stecie Benson when she first came to the school. This may well be down to the times of course.
I found Jane's mannerisms a bit OTT too, but she comes over as a really nice girl and 'real' too. I wish the school had got to the bottom of that fight and dealt with it properly, as I agree that putting any sort of blame on Jane was all wrong. What was the poor girl supposed to do when she was attacked? Lie down and take it? I agree with equal blame/punishment for equal wrong, but this blatantly wasn't!

#5: Author: Róisín, Location: Gaillimh

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:51 pm
—
This is one of my favourite CS books. I don't think Jane is OTT, in fact, she sounds to me very much like EBD herself was. When Helen McClelland asked people who had known EBD what they remembered of her, one thing that stood out was her effusive and enthusiastic manner, which could be embarrassing on occasion. That's why she felt so at home in the theatrical family and home of the Bainbridges.

#6: Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:37 pm
—
I quite like Jane - she's a bit OTT, but comes across as very realistic and kind of sweet - a girl who's grown up in a very different environment from typical CS, but isn't patronised because of it. She's a very vivid character.

Actually, Jack comes across as pretty realistic too, just not very nice. She's one of the more vivid of EBD's later characters - she's stubborn, she's often prickly, she's a leader, but *doesn't* lead in a good way, she sulks and is completely featherheaded and does things without thinking about them, is demanding towards others, and is most definitely not gifted at 'getting inside the skins of others'. She's one of those people who is awkward as an adolescent, but may turn out to be a really interesting adult when she matures.

That said, I don't actually *like* Jack much. In this book she's a thoughoughly unpleasant brat and a bully, and gets off way too lightly. Jane is a new girl in a school that prides itself on making new people feel welcome. She's away from her parents for the first time and has been flung into a totally alien environment. Jack decides to make her life miserable over an imagined slight, and starts on a campaign of deliberate bullying, getting the sheep she calls friends to go along with her, and leaving Jane isolated and rejected. She later physically assualts the girl, and calls her a liar and a thief.

At this point, the main concern of the prefects and junior mistresses seems to be to keep *Jack* out of trouble, by hiding the incident from the Head, rather than protecting poor Jane. Jack certainly deserved to be pulled up short for her behavior - like others have said, her bullying and her influence on her peers isn't seen as as much of a problem as it really is.

Unlike Mary-Lou, Jane's mannerisms really do seem like the result of growing up around a bunch of adults. With ML, I always saw that as an excuse, and her mannerisms more a result of Mary-Lou's personality than her upbringing. After all, she was raised among adults to the age of ten, but from that point on she was a full time school girl with lots of friends outside of school as well. [/i]

#7: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:02 pm
—
Jack Lambert should have been on a head's report at the very least. I always found her very unpleasant, and in spite of her always wanting to know things, not very bright.

I felt sorry for Jane when Jack attacked her, she was not to blame for the incident, but got half the telling off.

I did wonder whether jack was taking over from Margot Maynard in the temper stakes.

The CBB -> Formal Discussions

output generated using printer-friendly topic mod. All times are GMT

Page 1 of 1