Monday, February 06, 2012

Jim

I found Jim's relationship to his parents curious, especially for a "children's" book. He seemed sympathetic to them, but not especially close. He didn't seem terribly upset by his father's death; he seemed more preoccupied with the pirate's doings while his father was dying. And he didn't seem overly fond of his mother; for example, he wasn't pining for home while he was on his voyage.

A lot of great children's stories involve orphans, and Jim seemed like an orphan, even though he wasn't. I sort of wondered whether Stevenson made him a kind of honorary orphan just for the sake of the story. Thoughts?
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2 comments:

Erin said...

Oh, nice observation. You're right, he didn't seem much interested in his father's death, or his parting from his mother. I suppose if you've got a child hero, it doesn't do for him to be tied to his mommy's apron strings. He did seem like an orphan. Orphanhood or a dead parent seem to be such a common theme in children's stories. I guess happy nuclear families don't spawn as many adventures?

12:11 PM, February 07, 2012
kc said...

Kid heroes probably don't have the requisite amount of daring and independence if they are too attached to an authority figure. What's a good kid tale where there's a close parental connection? (there must be some ...)

12:01 PM, February 13, 2012

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