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Girls: Impositioned Girls
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Author:  Róisín [ Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:22 am ]
Post subject:  Girls: Impositioned Girls

Impositioned Girls – eg the Christie girls, Gwensi.

How did you think of the way they dealt with a School full of new people taking over their home? Do you think they were treated fairly? What did you think of the way that EBD amalgamated them into her own familiar structure?

Please raise any issue you think of below :D

Author:  LizzieC [ Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:15 am ]
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I always think of Gwensi more than the Christies when I think of this subject, possibly because the Christies had another place to live and were living in that other place when the school arrived. The Christie girls were also lucky enough to have their parents there, so I always feel that the school's arrival was much less of an upheaval to them, and I think Dickie's behaviour when the school arrived showed that she was not only level headed but also didn't feel particularly put out by the arrival of the school. Essentially her life continued on much as before.

I really feel sorry for Gwensi though when the school moves to Plas Howell, and think her reaction is actually rather realistic, with the caveat that I think she comes around to the presence of the school rather too quickly! Gwensi is in a different position to the Christie girls when the school arrives on the Island. She doesn't have anywhere else to go, and the school are taking over her home completely while she still lives there, and they generally expect her to be treated just like another pupil in regards to the places she can go. I think that much must have been terribly hard on her, especially as her brother and the only guardian she really remembers and her only family has gone off to war and she has no idea whether she will see him again. It seems like there's a lot of upheaval for her to cope with at one time, possibly the one that hurt most at the time was what she saw as the violation of her home and spaces.

Author:  Alison H [ Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:26 am ]
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I feel very sorry for Gwensi - Dickie never particularly seems to mind - and, like Lizzie, feel that she accepts everything a bit too quickly! OK, a lot of people suffered terrible upheavals during the War, but that wouldn't have made it any easier for her.

I like the Christy family, and am sorry that they disappear once the school moves to Switzerland: having them around is a bit like the good old Tyrol days when the Mensches and Maranis are friends of the school as well as parents of pupils :D . I like the Gwensi-Beth-Daisy Triumvirate as well.

Author:  Sunglass [ Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:49 am ]
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Is it a fairly common GO trope, to have a school move to some form of big old mansion, and for there to be a girl whose home it is/who has some form of local knowledge to unfold the place to the new people? I seem to remember it in one or two Angela Brazils. Only with EBD, it's not exactly that these girls are haring about showing the CS secret passages or priests' holes, as in AB - OK, Gwensi has her secret hedge, but that's hardly very exciting, and it's Commander Christie rather than Dickie who comes up with an explanation for the sunken path/stream/pond/overflow ditch/pirates loot etc. EBD seems to be trying to plug in that GO stereotype more into something realistic, maybe?

Like other people, I like practical, sensible Dickie. The family is clearly landed gentry fallen on hard times, what with having to give up the Big House to the CS, and Dickie going home to help her mother (stepmother?) and making the cakes for tea when the people who stayed at school over halfterm in Carola visit - clearly a lack of servants - and Dickie just gets on with it and copes. Perhaps her level-headed adaptation to the school taking over her home is down to the fact that she's old enough to have a grasp of finances, and sees what a help the rent will be?

Author:  Loryat [ Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:13 pm ]
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Dickie is a lovely character, it's a shame we didn't see more of her. And what happened to Cherry and Gaynor? Somehow the Christies never became part of the Extended Family, like the Lucys and Chesters, though it seemed EBD was heading that way for a while.

I like Gwensi and find her reaction very believable in both aspects. Firstly it's understandable that she would resent her home being taken over, but I also find it convinving that she quickly grows to like the school. She must have been lonely up until then, and with new friends in Daisy and Beth, not to mention the arrival of her heroine Joey, I can easily see that she would quickly adapt. The only thing is that I wish EBD had showed more of Gwensi adapting, and more of the Triumvirate in general.

Cherry hates the school coming to St Briavels, but we don't see very much of it. Also, it's put down to shyness after her illness. Still, I think Cherry's convesion is quite convincing too.

Author:  Róisín [ Mon Sep 08, 2008 6:04 pm ]
Post subject: 

I love Dickie too, for the reasons that you others have said.

With Gwensi, I was a bit startled by the attitude of her family. They seem to expect that the School will fill the place of Family in her life; of course, lots of families did take that view but it seems remarkable here because there is Gwensi, there is the family home, and then the School comes in to replace her family itself. If that makes sense!

Author:  Maeve [ Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:46 pm ]
Post subject: 

It's different, of course, but in a way, Joey was the first impositioned girl, with the original chalet in School at being the closest thing she had to a home until Madge marries. I think it's very realistic in the first few books how she and Madge wrestle with the tension of being on the one hand, two sisters in their own home and on the other hand, a headmistress and a pupil in a school. Of course, the whole school had more of a family vibe to it then, so maybe it often felt to Joey like her family home with just a lot of well-liked visitors.

Author:  Alison H [ Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:18 pm ]
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It's interesting with Madge and Joey, as you say. Although Matron Webb (or was it Matron Besly?) accuses Joey of taking advantage of her position as Madge's sister no-one else does, but we see things like Joey being rude to Madge (who is telling her about Dick's engagement) because she's upset about not being allowed to go to the ice carnival, and Madge telling Joey about things like Juliet's parents doing a bunk which are other pupils' private business.

It must have been strange for Robin, too - Madge is like an aunt or even a second mother to her, and her headmistress as well. Then again, we also see Madge staying with the Mensches and the Maranis in the holidays, and the Maynard/Bettany/Russell clan calling various mistresses "auntie" out of school. It's all lovely really :D - you can't imagine any of the pupils at most GO schools calling their headmistresses "auntie"!

Author:  Mel [ Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:31 pm ]
Post subject: 

Except for Mary-Lou of course, who, naturally, is allowed to call Miss O'Ryan, Biddy!

Author:  Róisín [ Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:52 pm ]
Post subject: 

Maeve wrote:
It's different, of course, but in a way, Joey was the first impositioned girl...


Oh fantastic, I love it. Very true, of course! How much nicer for Joey it would have been if Madge could have taken a small cottage right next to the original Chalet, so that Joey and she could have sustained some form of private home life away from the school.

Author:  Tor [ Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:28 am ]
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And the adult Joey might have been more inclined to cut the umbilical cord between herself and the school.

It is hardly surprising that she, rather than Madge, was never able to let it go, as it became her home from a much younger age, and for a much longer time.

Author:  Loryat [ Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:59 pm ]
Post subject: 

Alison H wrote:
It's all lovely really :D - you can't imagine any of the pupils at most GO schools calling their headmistresses "auntie"!


Except Tim Keith in Antonia Forest's books. :)

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