4. Malory Towers and the rebellious midnight feasts!
In 1946 the first of Blyton's Malory Towers series was published and my favourite was always Upper Fourth at Malory Towers (1949), for its portrayal of the midnight feast! My copy was certainly well-thumbed and dog-eared because of its repeated use. The landscape in Malory Towers is once again the Cornish countryside but for these stories, the setting is within Benenden boarding school. Rather than the rural setting where children embark on an adventure during the school holidays, these adventures are positioned in the restricted structure of the school setting.
The books are bildungsroman in the sense that they chart the main protagonist Darrell Rivers' coming of age, through the experience and adventure of her secondary school years. Unlike the adventurous Famous Five and Island series, Blyton shifts the focus away from the Robinsonade style exploration of unchartered territory to the very familiar setting of school. Darrell's fiery temper and transgressive behaviour once again carried me on a journey where the boundaries of my own reality were crossed vicariously through her. Blyton's use of the school setting constructed such a realistic stage for child readers that it was impossible not to get devoted to Darrell, her misdemeanors and her struggle to stay out of trouble. Blyton's liberal approach to presenting such rebellious behaviour in a school girl was certainly considered progressive in 1946 and it was for this very reason that it still resounded so strongly for me in the 1980s - the ingenious fictional bad girl. As Rudd suggests: "[In Malory Towers] Blyton constructed a liminal space in which girls, out of the bounds of patriarchy, could explore an alternative path of development" (123). This alternative path of development was exactly what was so exciting.
The theme of rebellion runs throughout the Malory Towers series: tricks played on teachers, fiery arguments between pupils and Darrell's endless scrapes. Blyton use of food could be read as a form of rebellion when the schoolgirls carry out their clandestine midnight feasts in total defiance of the school rules. "Golly! Pork-pie and chocolate cake, sardines and Nestlé's milk, chocolate and peppermint creams, tinned pineapple and ginger-beer!" The thrill of such illicit behaviour was a joy to read and certainly kept me hooked as a child. Blyton succeeds in wrapping up blatant disregard for school authority with the joy of tasty treats; in so doing the shock of such misbehaviour is softened by the descriptions of all the wonderful foods; the food makes their transgression palatable.
In contrast to the wartime austerity diet illustrated in The Island and Famous Five books, Malory Towers offers examples of more exotic and less obtainable foods. The tinned fruit, milk and fish remain loyal to the war-time era in which these books were written but Blyton has also expanded the menu to include rather forbidden and unattainable luxury foods too. This strange concoction of food: sardines and chocolate cake!, illustrates what Daniel explains as "Blyton's fictional feasts which directly reflect the (adult) Edwardian extravagant calorie-laden diet" (72). Although Blyton was born during the Edwardian period, Daniel doesn't believe Blyton's food fantasies in her fiction mirrored what she ate as a child (73), rather that they provide a voyeuristic pleasure for the reader; rich, fatty, salty and sugary foods which would generally have been unavailable to anyone during war-time austerity (75). This rather miscellaneous medley of food items could well be Blyton's attempt to inject the narrative with as much of a salt, fat and sugar fix as possible, at a time when such things were rare: a get it where you can approach!
The first Golden Age of children's literature is generally considered to be the period of the 1860s to 1950s and children's texts in this era often confirmed the power of the adult (Ang,15). Although the Malory Towers series sits in the latter part of this Golden Age period, the first novels were published when this Golden Age epoch was still firmly ensconced in the culture of children's reading. With both these series, Blyton appears to address the shift in power between adult and child which children's literature in the latter half of the twentieth century began to engage with: "children's books in the latter half of the [twentieth] century have done much to affirm the child or adolescent" (Ang, 15). Proleptic in her vision perhaps, Blyton certainly casts adult authority figures to the margins and grants power and focus to the child pupils in Malory Towers. What better way to do this but through the rebellious midnight feasts the children enjoy but are so prohibited by the adult establishment of school? Through her use of food, Blyton not only provides a narrative where readers can vicariously experience gluttony second hand (Daniel, 74), she also illustrates that there's no ‘sweeter' way to portray a rebellious role reversal between adult and child than through the tempting allure of chocolate, peppermint creams and lashings of ginger beer!
Rudd, David, Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature, (123)
Ang, Susan, The Widening World of Children's Literature, (15)
Daniel, Carolyn, Voracious Children: Who Eats Whom in Children's Literature, (72,73, 74)
Blyton, Enid, Upper Fourth at Malory Towers
The books are bildungsroman in the sense that they chart the main protagonist Darrell Rivers' coming of age, through the experience and adventure of her secondary school years. Unlike the adventurous Famous Five and Island series, Blyton shifts the focus away from the Robinsonade style exploration of unchartered territory to the very familiar setting of school. Darrell's fiery temper and transgressive behaviour once again carried me on a journey where the boundaries of my own reality were crossed vicariously through her. Blyton's use of the school setting constructed such a realistic stage for child readers that it was impossible not to get devoted to Darrell, her misdemeanors and her struggle to stay out of trouble. Blyton's liberal approach to presenting such rebellious behaviour in a school girl was certainly considered progressive in 1946 and it was for this very reason that it still resounded so strongly for me in the 1980s - the ingenious fictional bad girl. As Rudd suggests: "[In Malory Towers] Blyton constructed a liminal space in which girls, out of the bounds of patriarchy, could explore an alternative path of development" (123). This alternative path of development was exactly what was so exciting.
The theme of rebellion runs throughout the Malory Towers series: tricks played on teachers, fiery arguments between pupils and Darrell's endless scrapes. Blyton use of food could be read as a form of rebellion when the schoolgirls carry out their clandestine midnight feasts in total defiance of the school rules. "Golly! Pork-pie and chocolate cake, sardines and Nestlé's milk, chocolate and peppermint creams, tinned pineapple and ginger-beer!" The thrill of such illicit behaviour was a joy to read and certainly kept me hooked as a child. Blyton succeeds in wrapping up blatant disregard for school authority with the joy of tasty treats; in so doing the shock of such misbehaviour is softened by the descriptions of all the wonderful foods; the food makes their transgression palatable.
In contrast to the wartime austerity diet illustrated in The Island and Famous Five books, Malory Towers offers examples of more exotic and less obtainable foods. The tinned fruit, milk and fish remain loyal to the war-time era in which these books were written but Blyton has also expanded the menu to include rather forbidden and unattainable luxury foods too. This strange concoction of food: sardines and chocolate cake!, illustrates what Daniel explains as "Blyton's fictional feasts which directly reflect the (adult) Edwardian extravagant calorie-laden diet" (72). Although Blyton was born during the Edwardian period, Daniel doesn't believe Blyton's food fantasies in her fiction mirrored what she ate as a child (73), rather that they provide a voyeuristic pleasure for the reader; rich, fatty, salty and sugary foods which would generally have been unavailable to anyone during war-time austerity (75). This rather miscellaneous medley of food items could well be Blyton's attempt to inject the narrative with as much of a salt, fat and sugar fix as possible, at a time when such things were rare: a get it where you can approach!
The first Golden Age of children's literature is generally considered to be the period of the 1860s to 1950s and children's texts in this era often confirmed the power of the adult (Ang,15). Although the Malory Towers series sits in the latter part of this Golden Age period, the first novels were published when this Golden Age epoch was still firmly ensconced in the culture of children's reading. With both these series, Blyton appears to address the shift in power between adult and child which children's literature in the latter half of the twentieth century began to engage with: "children's books in the latter half of the [twentieth] century have done much to affirm the child or adolescent" (Ang, 15). Proleptic in her vision perhaps, Blyton certainly casts adult authority figures to the margins and grants power and focus to the child pupils in Malory Towers. What better way to do this but through the rebellious midnight feasts the children enjoy but are so prohibited by the adult establishment of school? Through her use of food, Blyton not only provides a narrative where readers can vicariously experience gluttony second hand (Daniel, 74), she also illustrates that there's no ‘sweeter' way to portray a rebellious role reversal between adult and child than through the tempting allure of chocolate, peppermint creams and lashings of ginger beer!
Rudd, David, Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature, (123)
Ang, Susan, The Widening World of Children's Literature, (15)
Daniel, Carolyn, Voracious Children: Who Eats Whom in Children's Literature, (72,73, 74)
Blyton, Enid, Upper Fourth at Malory Towers
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