5. The Naughtiest Girl in the School: food as contraband!

The Naughtiest Girl in the School was first published in 1940. The liberal approach to rebellious behaviour seen in the Malory Towers series is also used here; published six years earlier than the first Malory Towers story, I would suggest Blyton is more progressive with The Naughtiest Girl than the Malory Towers series which followed. Elizabeth Allen is off to Whyteleafe boarding school as her parents are going away and it is within this school setting that Elizabeth builds her reputation for being quite literally: the naughtiest girl in the school. The boarding school is co-educational, a new and uncommon phenomenon in boarding schools in 1940 and unlike Darrell, who relishes the rebellion of midnight feasts with her friends, Elizabeth takes this one step further; she not only disregards school rules entirely but craftily smuggles in items of delicious food with the sole intention of enjoying them all to herself! The series is positioned in the first Golden Age period of children's literature; parents and governess figures are relegated to the periphery of the narrative and school is where Elizabeth must learn how to conduct herself acceptably. Rude, spoilt and unfriendly to everybody, Elizabeth's antics directly challenge the moral compass so established in the children's literature which preceded it; rather than proffer a narrative which illustrates 'good and admissible' behaviour (which thereby guides the child reader in an appropriate direction), Elizabeth takes us on a journey of pure rebellion!

Of course, midnight feasts are aplenty in this series but as we have already examined these in Malory Towers, let us think here instead of the infamous travel trunk and those delightful vetoed items of food Elizabeth smuggles into school: "Elizabeth's trunk and tuck-box contained currant cake, block of chocolate, tin of toffee, jam sandwich and a tin of shortbread" (Blyton). Once again, Blyton uses this delicious food to delineate rebellion; a blatant disregard for the school rules but I will also suggest they represent something more. The types of food Elizabeth transports from home to school, the high treat value of each, and the fact that each sugary item defies the austerity diet so synonymous with the war-time era in which the books are set, appear to highlight the absence of parental figures Blyton has chosen to banish to the sidelines. With her parents nowhere in sight, her abandonment by her governess and a thrust into a new, far-away school, these luxury food items may well serve as an emotional antidote to Elizabeth's rather deserted position. Currant cake and toffee tin as solace and sentimental crutch perhaps? 

Alternatively, (or perhaps as well as) the food acting as emotional support for Elizabeth, Blyton also uses it as a way to navigate rebellion: "Elizabeth refused to accept the limited number of items allowed in her chest of drawers and decided to hide her chocolate cake from Granny in there" (Blyton). In her typical entitled manner, Elizabeth is insistent on keeping the contents of her tuck box entirely for herself and never sharing any of her abundant treats with her peers: "I shan't let you have any of my delicious treats, I shall keep them all for myself" (Blyton). After a thorough navigation of Elizabeth's naughty, transgressive behaviour, Blyton again uses food as the vehicle which brings about some equilibrium between Elizabeth and the school children she has managed to upset: "Elizabeth's privileges are restored; she goes into the village to buy some sweets and lettuce seeds to plant. She even shares the chocolate cake with William and Joan" (Blyton). Elizabeth is beginning to realise that the bonding behaviours brought about by sharing the food are really much more enjoyable than scoffing the treats all alone; the food here is the vehicle by which she learns that friends, sharing and caring about others is really a much less lonely way to conduct oneself. It is not until Arabella has a midnight feast to celebrate her birthday and Elizabeth is not invited to join in that Elizabeth begins to re-think her strategy of smuggling in prohibited items for only herself to gorge on: "They had sardines, tinned peaches, chocolate buns, biscuits, a large birthday cake and plenty of ginger beer, stored away until nightfall" (Blyton). Such a clandestine banquet is difficult to be excluded from and it makes Elizabeth stop and think: "Their midnight feast looks as if it will be a great success and I shan't get a morsel"(Blyton).

As Rudd suggests (in regard to Malory Towers but I argue this can also be attributed to The Naughtiest Girl in the School due to their striking similarities): "For readers, it is certainly the pranks, the friendships and the pleasures of the midnight feasts that most appeal" (130). It is once again, this irresistible blend of naughtiness, joy of friendship and the pleasure of food as contraband which appeals so strongly to my childhood self and commands the same appeal as an adult.

Rudd, David, Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature, (130)

Blyton, Enid, The Naughtiest Girl in the School