THE CRITICISMS AGAINST ENID

In the last few years a veritable avalanche of criticisms has been directed at Enid Blyton, long dead in the 1960s. 

One of these is the contradiction between her behaviour in personal life compared with what her characters portrayed. She saw her children minimally, leaving them to the care of nannies. Her books project a mother always there for her children, something that Enid claimed for herself personally also. 

I dont mind the truth about her life pointed out by biographers, but i dont appreciate the criticisims of Enid's work on this account. Do we discount Einstein's work because he may have been unfair to his two wives ?

Enid's work must stand or fall based on the objectives it sets for itself :

Does it get into the minds of young readers ?

Does it inspire in them a moral compass and to be a fair, balanced human being ?

Does it entertain and excite young readers ?

Does it preapre young readers for the ups and downs of life ?

Does it tell them more about the world - science, nature, the rythms of life ?

I think it does, and remains relevant, seven-eight decades after she wrote it. 

These are classics. Just because she wrote for children, was so prolific and so successful, that is no reason to see her work with a jaundiced eye. 

All the other criticisims : that she used the word queer (not in the sense it is used today), or portrayed black or working class people a certain way (generally not as heroes of her stories - though that is not true. Jack of the Adventure series is an orphan), are a product of her times.. she wanted to talk to the children about the world they saw around themselves. 

Would you rather have Homer talking about Apple watches ? I find the criticisisms on such counts ridiculous. 

WHAT HAS ENID BLYTON MEANT TO ME

 ENID BLYTON GAVE ME A FAMILY

All the characters in her books that I loved, became my family.. I laughed and cried with them, worried and felt guilty with them, and eventually grew up alongside them. 

I saw how they helped each other through crisis, and learnt how valuable families could be. 

SHE POINTED TO QUALITIES THAT COULD SEE ME THROUGH LIFE

Her characters learnt the value of patience. diligence. Keeping their temper in check. Being kind. Life taught them these lessons, not lectures. I learnt them too. 

Some of the characters were vain, headstrong or cruel, and were not well liked. I learnt to check my own behaviour too. 

LIFE WASNT A FAIRY TALE

Life wasnt the same always.. there were ups and downs, adversities and joys, comings and goings.. She taught me to accept all with equanimity.. that this was the nature of life..

BEING INDUSTRIOUS

The children were industrious.. always upto something that was productive.. the homeless ones made themselves a makeshift home.. the hungry organized food..  they helped their parents make ends meet when times were tough... they ran around trying to discover what was behind a mystery..

All this taught me the fun of work and how one could be one with it. 

OBSERVING NATURE

The biggest contribution made by Enid Blyton to me was to introduce nature.. to a girl brought up in little houses with no gardens, she taught me the beauty of blue skies.. white clouds.. huge welcoming trees, climbing creepers, and the scents of a garden... 

I WAS NOT LEFT WANTING

Because I had these virtual or families in my mind, I did not feel wanting, or deprived.. I had the confidence to follow my instinct.. I did not need to participate in things that did not interest me, just to belong.. I felt there must be people like me somewhere in the world, if not immediately around me... 

SHE GAVE DIRECTION TO MY LIFE

I think she gave direction to my life.. to focus on what was really valuable.. curiousity, industriousness, to be with nature, and to do what interested me.. I did not even interact with stereotypes of what would be expected of girls of my age and era.. 

Not all the heroic characters in her books excelled at studies, or were first in sports.. or were rich.. but they were good human beings, who looked out for others... So I did not feel the need to follow a template set by someone else for me.. I could follow my own calling.. 

What more could a parent have done for a child ?

Which is why I have always say : Enid Blyton raised me. 

DISCOVERING ENID BLYTON

I must have read my first enid blyton book at the age of 10, more than 50 years ago. Yet, the impressions remain as strong and have shaped my character, indeed my life choices. 

She is a prolific English author, writing some 800 books around the lives of english children. Yet, they go through heartbreak, loss of parent, rejection, happiness, being loved, feeling alone, curious, skillful - the whole melange of emotions and happenings around children anywhere in the world. 

The Five Find Outers

The first character I encountered in the 'Five Find-outers' - Fatty, was inspirational - he accepted he was fat, and went on with what he liked to do - solving mysteries... 

Fatty (The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage) by Treyer Evans

While the mysteries were absorbing, what was equally interesting was the chatter between the children - and their high teas ! So they had scones, pastries, sandwiches with their evening teas - many other snacks i have forgotten about. To an only child like me, the companionship, and being served great food by your mother, was all great (my mother was busy working - and surviving)...

Also in the books were myriad descriptions of nature.. children lying down in an open field and gazing at the blue sky.. at the wind chasing the clouds... or gazing at a thick tree trunk and spreading branches above them... No had ever spoken a word about nature to me before that.. so nature became engrained in my psyche... 

The Famous Five

After the Five Find Outers, I encountered the Famous Five Series... Here was George - actually a girl, Georgina, who rejected the trappings of being a girl.. who was alone mostly, but had a dog.. She slowly joins up with other children to go on advantures...

My brother was possibly named after George's dog - Timmy !

I lived in small 1-2 room houses in crowded urban areas in Delhi.. So the settings of the books : always rural England, and situated in cottages, islands, the English and Welsh countryside and sea shores, was enlightening to me about the big world outside of where i lived.

The first Famous Five book was published in 1942

Here is a good video showing one of the Famous Five adventures.. 

Boarding School Series

I then encountered the St. Clare's series and the Malory Tower series. These are girls boarding schools with a variety of characters.. amiable, timid, bold, cheeky, spiteful. Lots of things happen between them. Eventually, everyone learns lessons and grows up to go to the next class.. I did my growing up alongside too..

From midnight feasts to illicit hook-ups to smuggling to bullying, all these make for great drama.

The St. Clare's story follows two twin girls- Patricia and Isabel O’Sullivan. The series sees their growth from conceited and arrogant girls to dignified and kind young women.

The Family Books

Next I encountered the Family books which are about families in trouble, and pulling together in the time of adversity. I found them hugely inspirational. 

For example, they might have a parent who has gone missing, or both, presumed killed. Or an injured father who was the breadwinner of the family. Or their city house burns down, and overnight they have to live with cousins at a farm. 

The settings are always rural, where the children help tend to hens or sheep, and farm. They help their family put food on the table and there is always laughter, despite the sadness. 

Wraparound dustwrapper from the 2nd edition, illustrated by Barbara C. Freeman

Wraparound dustwrapper from the 1st edition, illustrated by Harry Rountree

I am sure i was helped to cope with my own troubled family situation. More than that, I even found my family in these characters and their lives.

Because of the changing situation of the characters, which mirrored my own refugee family, my world expanded from what it might otherwise have been. For example, the Willow Farm house is constructed partly of timber recycled from old wooden sailing ships and one of the children says, touching a black oak beam, "Funny old beam — once you knew the fishes in the sea, and you creaked as great waves splashed over you. Now you live in a house, and listen to people's feet going up and down the stairs."

NATURE BOOKS BY ENID BLYTON

Finally, I discovered the nature books by Enid Blyton.. of seasons, animals, birds, as they go about their daily lives.

I disocovered these books at the fag end of my childhood, growing into late teens, and did not read all I could have, had i found them earlier. 

But they introduced me to everyday nature, all around us, wherever we live.