# | through | # | FAQ |
Quote: |
liked all the girls at the Chalet, and adored Miss Bettany, who was such a kind mistress, and took such an interest in her younger brothers and sisters. ...What made it seem better was the fact that Madame also made Fraulein speak politely to her always, and they followed the head-mistress’s example, and were interested, as well as polite. |
Quote: |
“I think they might have provided a better trained table-maid. The idea of joining in the conversation like that!” |
Maeve wrote: |
I do find the whole initial treatment of Biddy, especially the idea that she become a maid to the Robin, really jarring, but I guess that makes it even more amazing that Biddy ends up as such an integral part of the school, first as a pupil and then as staff. |
Quote: |
Doesn't EBD mean us to think that the maid thing was a bit of a daft suggestion on Vanna's part? Jo accuses her of reading toshy novels.... |
Quote: |
‘Where
will she live?’ asked Simone. ‘Mademoiselle will settle that,’ said
Vanna di Ricci, speaking for the first time. ‘Perhaps Madame would let
her go up to the Sonnalpe. She would be company for the Robin. ‘She’d
have to get rid of a good deal of her brogue, then,’ said Jo... ‘My
sister would never hear of the Robin learning Irish-English.’ ‘Possibly
she could do that if she were with people who did not use it,’ said
Simone. ‘It’s pretty strongly rooted, I should say.’... ‘ Vanna spoke
up again. ‘It would be a good idea, I think, to have her trained to be
maid to the Robin,’ she said.
Jo stared at her. ‘My good girl, who’s going to pay? Uncle Ted hasn’t all that much money – little more than his salary, I believe.’ ‘But if we educated Bridget, and looked after her till she was grown-up, would she not be willing, from gratitude, to serve the Robin?’ ‘Vanna, you’ve been reading toshy novels!’ accused Jo. ‘Don’t be an idiot, my lamb! That sort of thing is all very well in a book, but it doesn’t happen very often in real life – if at all. No; we must think of something better than that. All the same,’ she went on thoughtfully, ‘to have her trained as a maid is rather an idea. Her mother seems to have been one to this Miss Honora, and the kid should know something about it. If we could hang on to her till she’s fifteen, and then have her taught hair-dressing, and so on, it might be the very ticket for her.’ |
Maeve wrote: |
‘She’d have to get rid of a good deal of her brogue, then,’ said Jo... ‘My sister would never hear of the Robin learning Irish-English.’ ‘Possibly she could do that if she were with people who did not use it,’ said Simone. ‘It’s pretty strongly rooted, I should say.’... ‘ |
Quote: |
Because there is nothing wrong with exposing the Robin to, for example, Marie Pfeiffen's accent, which is presumably working class, but Austrian. |
Maeve wrote: |
...the other accents that EBD makes note of are Welsh and Scottish ones. |
Maeve wrote: |
.
. . But again, no one is going to suggest that a CS girl make her way
around the world by charring in hotels, or that the girls and the
kitchen staff get to know each other in their off hours!
|
Rosalin wrote: |
Back on topic, the treatment of working class girls vaguely annoys me, particularly the way they are looked down on and assumed to be less intelligent. It's odd because I never react like that while reading the Abbey books and they are much worse. I've noticed that especially trying to do a cross-over. Meshing the two attitudes has been causing me quite a few problems recently. |
Rosalin wrote: |
Hmm, I'm now rather worried about how my mind works. Or I've been reading too much Terry Pratchett |
Jennie wrote: |
I think that we have to bear in mind that India was used as the dumping ground for the black sheep of families for many, many years. |
Kathy_S wrote: |
I gather that there may likewise be circumstances in which the British received pronunciation has snobbish connotations, but can't begin to guess whether they would have been current in EBD's social circles, or at a school like the CS. |
Lesley wrote: |
The little digs annoy too |
output generated using printer-friendly topic mod. All times are GMT