Embedded Files
Arthur Ransome
This is another of my favourites of the Swallows and Amazons books (a distinction shared by at least half of them!) where the Swallows, Amazons and Ds take up mining to search for gold. As with many of the books it skirts around the actual lake itself, Ransome is good at not writing the same book again and again and it is a pleasure to plunge into different passions and focusses through the different books. As always the children are set about a serious project, although to adults it appears play and a key obstacle early in the book is what they see as the patronising attitude of Mrs Tyson who wants them to have a nice time with all the awful dullness that conveys. They never see their activity as play, they create a world within the world - in a way many of us do. One of the things that I thought about on this re-read was that this isn't a single construct, one the tensions of the books is always the varied degrees to which the children are invested in different parts of the worlds they create and how they navigate those differences.
Secret Water is particularly notable for this but it is present here too. Roger at times getting frustrated by the painstaking work of searching for gold and creating his own diversions. It is a book that really allows characters to be recognised for their strengths. The expedition wouldn't have happened without Nancy's bullish persuasion of her mother but even more crucial is the trust the adults have in Susan to make sure everyone is looked after and eating well. Susan can come across, and did a bit to me as a child, as the most boring character but without her none of the adventures would have been possible. Ransome recognises this and makes sure Susan gets her share of praise and focus but it still leaves me slightly uneasy that the domestic labour of whatever it is they are doing always falls to Susan and Peggy (or, when the Ds are alone, Dot). They are presented as enjoying their part in it but this can feel a convenient excuse preventing an exploration of more communal living. It is not that the others do nothing, but their tasks always seem to be more directly linked to the exploration currently at hand. I feel that Susan has the least chance to escape from her role and be seen in a different light, perhaps We Didn't Mean to Go To Sea is the best example of her breaking out of that role somewhat (although I am due a reread to check my memory of it!).
The other person crucial to their expedition is Dick, both for his scientific knowledge (although he desire to be cautious and measured is of course blown past by Nancy) and for his ability to construct an alarm to let the Beckfoot natives know pigeons have arrived. The exploration of chemical assays, crucibles and blast furnaces and "gold dissolves in aqua regia" all allow us to find out about mining and, while the children aren't always correct, we feel we understand how to mine and could almost do it ourselves. The Swallows and Amazons books are partially about exploration and the children explore different world through the books, whether that of Arctic explorers, bird watchers or, here, miners.
One of my favourite sections in the book is Titty's divining and how much it unnerves her. This leads to some great exploration of the expectations we can hold of ourselves and those others can have of us. Titty feels she has let others down and John and Susan worry that the Amazons will be disappointed in them (although they are worried about Titty themselves), Nancy however in one of the moments that show the nuances of her character is very understanding of how Titty feels. This book continues a subtle shift in Titty's character, she starts the series a someone who always has a story to tell, someone who loves books and maps. However, as the series goes on and Dot (to an extent) fills that roll the focus on Titty moves, she is the most experienced and thus the responsible one of the young ones but she is also someone who feels things deeply. She is empathetic and caring, sensitive in the best possible way. This appears through her care for the hedgepig and her desperate attempts to prevent the scene she can so clearly imagine of Susan seeing string going into collapsed rock.
The sections with Timothy are also wonderful and are one of those bit that read entirely differently on a second reading Hanging over the whole book is the spectre of fire, volunteer firemen under Colonel Jolly trumpet each other, caught up in their own game, every bit as serious as that of the children and Mrs Tyson frets of a fire that will take the wood and all she has. When the fire finally comes it wipes away prior preconceptions, no-one has time to silo themselves off in their own separate existences, they have to communicate and work together. I think it is this cut through to what is important and the cooperation involved that captivates me about fire, that and a certain sense of awe and drama. When growing up I was fascinated by the fires at Crystal Palace and Windsor Castle, it is a powerful idea that things which seem permanent are no such thing. More recently I watched with horrified fascination the wildfires in Australia, big almost beyond imagining. So much of our language around fire ascribes life, personality and motive to it and this makes fighting fire feel like the cut and thrust of a battle. I also like the equality of the fire. In the face of that tremendous need everyone is essential to stop it, so we see children and adults side by side, all with the same goal. Other books I have enjoyed with good descriptions of fire in this sense are Tamora Pierce's Circe series (The Fire in the Forging - although her website now calls it Daja's book) and Ash Road by Ivan Southall.
Written by Jack
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