Books: The New House at the Chalet School
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#1: Books: The New House at the Chalet School Author: RóisínLocation: Ireland PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:59 pm
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Apologies, this should have started on Sunday.

There is a synopsis of the book here. This is Jo's last term as schoolgirl and she is a bit shocked to find that she is to spend it in the new middles' house with her three best friends. Stacie returns to the school as a normal student. Daisy, Primula and Margot Venables are discovered and introduced to the Chalet canon. Pranks include Biddy's banshee tales and the rooftop shenanigans of the middles. A major storyline is the Matron of the new house and her clash with the students, especially with Joey. Marie announces some big news.

So what do you think of this book? How do you like the return of Eustacia - do you think her story is satisfactorily tied up now? Do you think that Joey meeting Daisy in the street is too coincidental? What are your opinions on poor Margot Venables and her story? Was Matron Besley *ever* in the right?!

Please join in with any other thoughts you may have. Very Happy
Next Sunday: The Chalet Girls' Cookbook.

#2:  Author: Alison HLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:32 pm
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I like seeing Margot and the children turn up because Jem's background had been a total mystery up until that point. I wish that EBD had let Margot be happy once she'd met up with Jem again, though: the poor woman had been through so much and then she got killed off a few years later Sad . It's a pretty big coincidence that Daisy bumped into Joey and Frieda, but, as she said, she approached them because she heard them speaking English: they weren't just the first people she saw or whatever.

The "bad Matron" story just seems to be copied from Princess!

I really wish we'd got to see Marie and Eugen's wedding - it must have been a wonderfully grand society affair!

I like this book, but I get the feeling that EBD wasn't sure where to go after this: she brought Jo back to the school straight away afterwards, even calling the next book "Jo Returns ..." - it's one of the points at which things could have gone in a very different direction. That's not a criticism, just an observation!

#3:  Author: MelLocation: UP NORTH PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:14 pm
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I always loved this as one of the sunnyy summer term ones. The new house, actually purpose built for once rather than improvised into a school, sounds very attractive. The new matron was a re-hashed idea, but Matron B is a more subtle characterisation that works and another character who doesn't immediately adore Jo which is interesting, making four in a row - Eustacia, Thekla, Joyce and Matron B. I found the Margot story convincing, apart from the annoyance that Jem and parents were right about the n'er do well husband. That incident brings home how cossetted the girls were. Jo and Frieda are 'trusted' to get to the Mariahilfe in daylight aged 17+ and are in trouble for going off with a tiny lady and two small children. Yes, Stacie reformed too easily, but she was a few books ago and we have moved on. The Middles baiting of Matron is superb, I like Baby Voodoo (apart from the mandatory hysterics of Tyrolean ) Marie's wedding would have been lovely. Jo not going to Belsornia was a bit lame 'now that Sybs has come' Did Jo do anything apart from read/tell the odd story? Could it be Madge not wanting to be lonesome with Jo gone? (Fast forward to Josette and Sybil in Australia). Finally a great wind-up from the St Clare's band which for once was miildy funny, though I didn't fall off my chair, even at eleven. Did EBD have Jo Returns in mind at this point I wonder? I also loved the NKB dust wrapper with Jo and Frieda looking so stylish, but why no uniform?

#4:  Author: MaeveLocation: Romania PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:21 pm
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I don't know why, but I was always quite saddened by Joey and the others having to leave their old stomping ground for the new house. It just seemed so wrong to move them in their very last few months of school.

I agree with Alison that the matron story seems like a repeat, but I enjoyed parts of it all the same - like when they revive the SSM Twisted Evil

The introduction of Margot and especially, Daisy (as she becomes such a central character) is interesting, although I find Jem's annoyance at Joey and Frieda's part in the story OTT and unfair. Overall, there are parts I like in this book but it's not one of my favourites.

#5:  Author: RosalinLocation: Swansea PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:07 pm
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I have mixed feelings about this book. Some bits of it I really like, and some just don't work.

I like the start, because we get to see all over the house, and it doesn't feel contrived because we are with Joey and she's never seen it either. Unlike the magically expanding original chalet I can visualise St Clare's and this makes me feel more at home there. But the choice of who to send over to the middles house doesn't work for me. Even reading it as a child I wasn't convinced by sending the Head Girl away from the main part of the school. And the reason for the choice of the other prefects never seemed quite right.

Quote:
You are Head Girl; Frieda is Second Prefect; Marie is Games Prefect; and Simone is your friend, all of you


I first read it in the paperback where I remember it as finishing

Quote:
and Simone is your great friend


and being someone's great friend never seemed a convincing proof of being a strong prefect. From an operational point of view I would have kept the Head Girl at the main school, and sent the Second Prefect to St Clare's, thereby giving her a definite role as being Second Prefect seems a fairly under appreciated role. Then keep the Games prefect at St Therese's and send a couple of strong prefects over with the Second Prefect. I see that EBD couldn't split up her quartet and needed them over there for plot reasons, but having the three most senior prefects all away from the main building has seemed odd ever since I first read it.

I've never found the meeting with Margot and co to be too far fetched. Books are full of this sort of coincidence which did make it easier to swallow when I was 10 or so. As Alison said, Daisy approached the Chalet girls because they spoke English and were Guides, she didn't know who they were. Set beside the Joey/Erica meeting this is quite plausible.

I like the activities of the SSM, although there is a niggling feeling of 'not another bad Matron', it would work better for me if the problem new staff member had had another role. However the only other role I can think of is teaching staff, and I can't see EBD giving her readers the idea that it is OK to play up a mistress like that. Funny that Matrons are fair game, as in both of the Bad Matron incidents we are supposed to see the girls as being more or less in the right, with punishments being given, because the staff must be seen to stick together. In these instances I feel that, when seen in private, the mistress giving the punishment is almost blaming the Matron for inspiring bad behaviour. Quite different to the reaction to the bad behaviour towards Miss Norman in the previous book who is in some ways just as out of her depth as Matron Besley.

I do like the St Clare's Orchestra. As usual it isn't nearly as funny as the characters think, but it is definitely one of her better amusing incidents, and original too.

And I've now been bitten by a plot bunny who thinks that a drabble with different prefects sent over to St Clare's would be a good idea Evil or Very Mad

#6:  Author: RóisínLocation: Ireland PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:01 pm
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When I think of this book (and it is one of my top favourites) I think of the very detailed descriptions of the gorgeous rooms that she gives us - I think I could even describe offhand what kind of flower pattern are in each prefect's room and how many books Jo could fit on her low, white bookshelves! That kind of thing is very attractively done by EBD.

Young New Matron is so irritating in this book, but you can see exactly how she operates, and that she is just trying to assert her authority over the pupils. She goes about it completely the wrong way of course, and starts off with a bad attitude in general, and just digs deeper into a kind of confused obstinacy as the book goes on - but this is great reading! And we know she'll get her come-uppance at the end - that is half the lure of reading the thing through.

I tend to skimread over the middles' bits in this book. This set of middles are only interesting in that we've seen some of them as small children and this is our first inkling of how their characters will develop as adults. Much more interesting is seeing the old middles develop selfconsciously into seniors - Cornelia especially Laughing

#7:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:21 am
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The comparison between Matron Besley and Miss Norman is interesting - you could argue that the girls are behaving similarly in both cases.

Besley was an idiot in that she didn't have the sense to listen to good advice when it was given to her, at the risk of losing her job, and she tended to overstep her authority. On the other hand, I wonder at the decision to put the youngest and least experienced of the matrons alone in a house with all the middles, plus the four strongest of the prefects (including Joey, who even at that age could be a bit much). I can see why she oversteps her authority in an attempt to establish herself as an authority in her own right, rather than just parroting what she is told from the main house, and having Joey inciting rebellion at every turn wouldn't help matters.

Actually, Joey shows her quick judgement here as well - she's publically written her off as a 'fluffy little idiot' before the term even starts.

It would have made more sense to send Matron Gould over to the middles house, and left Besley with the more pliant easy to manage juniors.

Another interesting feature in this book is Jem's reaction to Joey and Frieda's exploits. He comes across as very angry, not because they went with a strange woman, but because they've been airing his personal business to people. I think he was angry and ashamed, rather than angry and worried.

#8:  Author: CarysLocation: London PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:01 am
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New House is one of my favourites. It was one of the first unread CS book that I read when I started re-collecting to series so I have a soft spot for it.

I love the new band of middles that emerge in this book, and it saddens me to think of the possibilities EBD could have had with them if it had not been for the war. Baby voodoo and the St Clares orchestra are two of my favourite scenes in the whole series.

Daisy meeting Joey and Frieda is a co-incidence but no less of one than Erica recognising Joey as her Godmother in Summer Term when Joey had never heard of her! At least Jo knew Daisy existed. I always found Jem slightly scary in this book in his attitude towards his sister when Joey first spoke to him about her on the phone, but I suppose he had visions of her being a fallen woman maybe so didn't want Joey to mix with her?

#9:  Author: Fiona McLocation: Bendigo, Australia PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:22 am
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I always loved this book and it was one of the last books I got from the Tyrol era. One thing I thought was interesting was Matron Besly's take on Jo. She thought Joey was too full of her own importance to ever be good as Head Girl and sometime I would have to say Jo could be full of herself and not very supportive of anyone else. I do and did like her as a character but sometimes I think Marie or Frieda would have handled things better.

Jem's reaction, I thought was more due to the fact Jo and Frieda had been talking about Jem's family affairs especially as in those days it would have been looked down upon even more than it is now and as he said it could have been anyone pretending to be Margot cos once her knows it is his sister he welcomes Margot with open arms

#10:  Author: PadoLocation: Connecticut, USA PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:18 pm
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I can appreciate how Jem might have felt concern about the girls following some stranger off to a hotel - even more so because they were so sheltered and doubtless had no idea of more chilling scenarios that might have followed. But I quite agree that his irritation seems to stem more from embarrassment than any lingering concern for their safety once he actually gets into Innsbruck.

#11:  Author: RóisínLocation: Ireland PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:24 pm
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I didn't think that he was ashamed of Margot as much as just feeling like his (and her?) privacy had been stripped away a bit by what he thought was Joey gossiping (but I haven't read it that recently).

#12:  Author: Sarah_KLocation: St Albans PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:48 am
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I always read Jem's reaction as being part concern for Joey and Frieda, part shame/anger that his private business was being talked abotu but also partly a reaction to the idea that his sister might actually be back because if they were close before she left I imagine Jem must have felt upset and guilty and quite angry about her going and to have all those emotions dragged up again would be hard.

It is very hard to read Jem though as he does tend to want to keep his private business private. I've always personally assumed that he took Margot's leaving with this "unsuitable" man rather badly. Perhaps he felt left behind and unloved by his sister as well as cross with his parents and presumeably ashamed that about the inevitable gossip there must have been at the time. But perhaps I give him too much credit!

#13:  Author: BillieLocation: The south of England. PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:13 pm
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This was one of my favourites. I'm not quite sure why. It somehow seemed a lot more visual than some of the others. We're given a guided tour around the new house along with Joey, and I could really picture it clearly.

I was somewhat bewildered by Jem's reaction, it always seemed a little over the top to me. I guess a lot of it is shock at seeing his sister unexpectedly - although didn't he get angry before he found out who she was? I'll have to go back and check that.

I loved the St Clare's orchestra.

#14:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:12 am
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For Jem I'd guess it was a mix of embarrasment at having his less than pleasant family history dragged up in public, affection for his sister, residual anger at her marriage and subsequent estrangement (it's not clear, but I think the casting out of the family was mainly their parents reaction, and that Jem, who would have been about 22 at the time, was really upset by it), concern because he didn't know what sort of state she and her family was in, and the a general feeling of shock at having her show up out of the blue after not having heard from her for about eight years.

This appears to manifest itself as anger at Joey and Frieda, as the act of helping a lost English woman with two young children find her hotel in broad daylight is not something the girls would normally have been chastised for.

#15:  Author: JayBLocation: SE England PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:09 am
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I think helping Margot find her hotel was OK; Jem might reasonably have said the girls shouldn't have gone up to Margot's room, but stayed in the public areas. And I think Jo should have telephoned Jem herself, instead of sending Frieda to do it; that was probably embarrassing for both Jem and Frieda. But I do think Jem was unnecessarily rude to Frieda and young - was it Wolfram? None of it was their doing, and Frieda doesn't gossip.

#16:  Author: CarolineLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:19 pm
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I've always loved this book - it's such a sunshine-y, summer-y book. Endless golden days and all.

I agree with Jennifer regarding Matron Fluffy - it never occurred to me at the time, but really, she shouldn't have been given responsibility for the experiment that was St Clares. She was completely out of her depth, and it's no wonder she got so many things wrong. It's also kind of indicative of the way new CS staff are treated generally. There isn't much mentoring or guidance for them - it's "here's your house / form / job - get on with it - sink or swim". And she sunk. Partly her own fault for marching in and being stroppy and getting everything wrong, but it doesn't appear she was given much advice by Matey et al until she had already got herself into a bit of a mess, and by then it was too late.

Anyway. I like Daisy meeting Jo and Frieda, and I'm with Jo in saying that there wasn't much else they could do than go with Margot and the children. I can understand Jem being angry - his dirty washing is being aired in public, he's worried about Jo and Frieda potentially putting themselves in danger (he doesn't know at that point who this woman even is), and he was obviously badly hurt by Margot's elopement. Anger is often how a mix of emotions like this might manifest themselves, particularly in someone who is used to being in control - of situations, of his emotions. But he's lovely with Margot when he does get to meet her.

I love the St Clares orchestra saga - not as hilarious as EBD thinks, but... Particularly Jo looking out for Joyce, and then letting the girls get on with things without interferring once she knows it's good clean fun.

Baby voodoo is fun, too. I like the idea that the younger middles feel resentment towards Corney - it seems an entirely natural reaction given Corney's own years of badness.

All in all, a hit.

#17:  Author: SunglassLocation: Usually London PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:48 pm
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I very much like this novel - for some reason, I've always liked the sunny spaciousness of the new chalet, and the slightly over-the-top, very EBD descriptions of the terribly 'dainty' rooms of Jo and co. Maybe the idea of dormitory cubicles horrify me so much that this was enough to make me like the novels, simply because some characters got more privacy! (I've always thought that having Biddy O'Ryan sleep in Bill's room was considerably harder on Bill than on Biddy - can you imagine anything worse than a pair of bright eyes looking over the edge of the sheets as you are getting ready for bed?)

This is one of the novels where the inconsistencies in how much freedom the CS girls are allowed comes home to me - as everyone has said, two of the most senior prefects are 'trusted' to walk in broad daylight through a familiar city, and are tongue-lashed for helping out a pair of small children and a tiny, half-collapsing woman. Some of this, I suppose, is school supervision stuff, but some of it must also be issues of how much freedom young upper-middle class girls were allowed, and how 'public' their doings are. Like Matron Beesley being absolutely disbelieving that the prefects are allowed to go to hear a gipsy band at a hotel full of tourists - which, pace Herr Braun and his special attentions, would appear on the surface to be a rather daring thing for the CS to allow in terms of allowing contact with potentially unsuitable male strangers and presumably being in the presence of alcohol and potentially slightly louche behaviour - I'm not all that surprised Matron B was surprised. The same kinds of public/private issues come up again in things like the proposed film of the CS girls in whichever of the Tyrol novels that was, and various CS regattas being deemed inappropriate because too public. I suppose it's also a cross-cultural issue - and we see EBD strongly approving the discipline of Austrian parents, who appear as having strong rules about chaperonage. But it reads oddly to me, in the context of Joey and Frieda, say, having almost as much responsibility for school discipline as a member of staff, yet being treated as they are by Jem for such a trifle.

#18:  Author: PadoLocation: Connecticut, USA PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:01 pm
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I gather I'm in the minority here, but even today, I would be very worried if my teenage daughters (much more street smart than Jo and Frieda) were to get mixed up with bringing a strange woman, even with children, into a hotel and going up to her room. There are documented cases where thieves and carjackers have used the "woman in distress" as a front to lure victims to them.

Much as it pains me to say so, I'm with Jem on this one.

#19:  Author: SunglassLocation: Usually London PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:23 am
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It just occurred to me, reading other people's posts, that 'Baby Voodoo' is an interesting choice of name for a doll intended to scare. Are we to assume Cornelia or Evadne was from/had visited New Orleans or the surrounding areas and come into contact with African American voodoo that way, or from hearing it referred to in jazz (given Cornelia's saxophone and possible jazz interests)? ISome connection to that part of the US would also offer another context for the various, very odd, references to the Ku Klux Klan. Do we in fact know where the US girls in the CS are from?

The name also suggests to me that EBD was familiar with the concept of the 'voodoo doll' - though it's somewhat sinister to think of the SSM considering sticking pins in it as a method of banishing Matron!

#20:  Author: CarysLocation: London PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:51 am
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Cornelia, and Evvy weren't involved with Baby Voodoo, it was Alixe Von Elsen, Emmie Linders, Biddy O'Ryan etc.
I can't remember who the puppet/doll belonged to orginally.

#21:  Author: SunglassLocation: Usually London PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:00 am
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I suppose Biddy must be to blame, then, via an unknown Irish Voodoo connection - when there is an outbreak of sleepwalking and nightmares, it's usually either Biddy telling banshee stories, or that Norwegian whose name escapes me talking about water spirits...

I don't remember either who owned Baby Voodoo - it's just such an odd reference to find in a CS book, I assumed one of the Americans had some involvement, though of course they had become comparatively responsible by this novel...

#22:  Author: RosalinLocation: Swansea PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:52 am
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Mary Shaw is one of those involved and she's American. She comes from Massachussetts (sp?) according to Exploits, but maybe she had come across the term somewhere.

#23:  Author: JayBLocation: SE England PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:56 pm
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One of the characters in Swallowdale does the sticking-pins-in-a-doll thing. That was published in 1931, so pre-dates EBD's use of Voodoo. There may well have been collections of folk tales around, too.

I have a vague memory of having seen references somewhere else, but can't think where now.

Does Voodoo come up in the Elsie books at all?

#24:  Author: RóisínLocation: Ireland PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:24 pm
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Here are the relevant Baby Voodoo quotes:

Quote:
‘P’r’aps she’s seen It, and doesn’t bother about It,’ suggested Mary Shaw, with a smothered giggle. ‘If so, I reckon Corney Flower’s the coolest hand on this earth. I’d raise the roof if I saw Baby Voodoo peeping in at me. I know that!’
‘Let me try,’ whispered Alixe von Elsen, pressing forward.
‘Here you are, but be careful not to break the glass or Bill will hear it, and she would be so angry,’ replied Emmie Linders, giving her the string to which they had tied a light fishing-rod sinker.
Alixe tried. But no more than Emmie could she rouse that rival to the Seven Sleepers, Cornelia Flower.
From where they stood, they were not able to see the lattices very clearly, and though they felt that they had guessed right with the position of Baby Voodoo, they could only guess at the whereabouts of the open leaf of the window. What is more, though none of them had realised it, when Alixe had taken Emmie’s place she had moved a little to the right, and the sinker was swinging and tapping against the casement of the Head Girl’s room.


It seems to be Mary Shaw who first gives it that name.

Quote:
She could hear low murmurs, but could see nothing except the sinker attached to the string. The middles had drawn up Baby Voodoo for a minute or so just before she arrived.


Quote:
But as they all took up Alixe’s place most carefully, and as Joey was not in her room, nothing resulted. Baby Voodoo was no light weight, either, dangled from the end of a cord, and dropped some fifteen or sixteen feet down. Finally, they gave it up as a bad job; drew up the sinker and their pet...


Seems to be Alixe who is in charge of it though.

Quote:
Biddy O’Ryan gurgled at this. ‘I’ll be a banshee, shall I?’ she suggested; ‘an’ flap me arms, an’ wail like the banshees of old Ireland do.’
‘Oh, dry up!’ said Enid, with a shiver. ‘It’s quite spooky enough up here without your talk!’
‘Sure, an’ ’twas your own suggestion—Baby Voodoo an’ all!’ retorted Biddy defiantly.


And originally was Enid's suggestion.

#25:  Author: LizzieCLocation: Canterbury, UK PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:45 pm
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Carys wrote:
I can't remember who the puppet/doll belonged to orginally.


I don't think it did - I seem to recall it was made up of various bits of discarded clothing from the girls involved - things that were too small or something.

I remember after the maid discovers it, it has to be shown to her before it can be reduced to its component parts so she doesn't continue to believe its a supernatrual being.

#26:  Author: Loryat PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:49 pm
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I like this book, although I also felt quite sad that the action was shifted away from the original chalet! I suppose EBD wanted to emphasise that things were moving on. Also, whoever pointed out that Matron Besly should never have been put in charge of the Middle House was totally right - though I never even noticed that before. Still, if she hadn't been, we wouldn't have had all those storylines. I suppose this can also be seen as an example of a young school still finding its feet.

As regards the Jem storyline, my impression was that Jem was angry with Joey for behaving irresponsibly and gossiping about Margot to other people, but more than anything he was probably dealing with a tumult of emotions stemming from the possible return of a sister he'd maybe even given up for dead. He doesn't want to build up his hopes but he can't hep it. Trying to suppress them probably accounts for his anger.



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