Dislocation and children's relationships with their peers and parents in children's fiction set during the Second World War.
by
Timothy Johnstone, B.A.
A Masters Dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Masters of Arts degree of the Loughborough University of Technology.
September 1995
Supervisor: Professor M. Evans, BA, MBA CNAA, PhD, PGCE, ALA, MIInfSc. Department of Information and Library Studies.
., © T. Johnstone, 1995. Abstract
This dissertation looks at the treatment of dislocation and children's relationships with their parents and peers in novels written for children about the Second World War, in order to identify what are the dominant themes which the authors develop.
The first chapter deals with evacuation: its unpopularity and the problems it caused and the deVelopment of themes which show fictional evacuees facing those problems with optimism and their successful adaptation to a new environment.
Chapter 11 shows how the situation of refugees in wartime Britain was not approached ill _ children's literature until a decade after the war, when stories containing themes of optimism in adversity, self-discovery, exposure of prejudice and supportive families began to appear.
In chapter Ill, the differences the war brought to parent and child relationships are identified, especially their portrayal in a wave of children's novels based upon the writers' wartime, childhood memories, which again develop themes of readjustment and the overcoming of adversity, particularly through the caring of substitute parents and families brought closer by the war.
The final chapter covers the depiction of children's relationships with their peers and such themes as the friendships made possible by wartime dislocation, the problems of social isolation, sometimes combined with the sympathetic portrayal of a German soldier, and the strength of sibling relationships
In conclusion, the dominant themes in children's literature about the Second World War, developed from the issues of dislocation and children's relationships with parents and peers, have provided authors with the opportunity to write stories which fulfil present- day children's intellectual and emotional needs. CONTENTS PAGE NO.
Introduction 1 Introduction References 6
Chapter One 8 Chapter One References 22
Chapter Two 28 , Chapter Two References 38
Chapter Three 42 Chapter Three References 56
Chapter Four 61
Chapter Four References 72
Conclusion 76
Conclusion References 80
Primary sources 81
Secondary Sources 83
0; Introduction
1 Dislocation and children's relationships with their peers and parents are important issues in children's novels irrespective of when they are set. However in novels set during World War Two these issues are give~ a special prominence, due to the disruption and chaos many people had to endure.
The war years were a restless time .... To have seven or eight homes, none of them pennanent ..... was not at all uncommon and altogether ..... sixty mimon changes of address were recorded in England and Wales in a civilian population of thirty eight million.l
This dissertation will explore how dislocation and children's relationships with their parents and peers have influenced children's fiction set during the Second World War.
It is only since the 1970s that critical interest has focused upon children's fiction set during the Second World War- The reason for this is three fold. Firstly there were not many new children's novels published during the Second World War.2 This was due to a paper shortage3, the absence of many authors and artists on war work4, and the damage caused by bombing raids upon London, when publishers stock and printing plates were destroyed.s This resulted in the number of new books declining each year',
from 15,000 in 1939 to 6,700 in 1943, where it remained till after the war ended.7
Secondly, it was not until after the publication of The Dolphin Crossing, 1967, that children's fiction set during World War Two established itself as a prominent genre.s Previously the "serious effects of war" had not been seen as suitable for discussion in children's novels.9 Thirdly, the study of children's literature in schools, colleges and universities only began in the 19705.10 Gillian A very, in 1CJ72, wrote that since she wrote Nineteenth Century Children, 1965,
Children's books now have their own niche in the study of English and of education.ll
The increasing critical interest in children's fiction set during World War Two, has mirrored the increased academic interest in children's fiction as a whole,
the period from 1970 has heen one of ..traordinary activity in the discussion of the subject.12
The Nesbit Tradition, 1CJ72, looked briefly at children's fiction written during World War Two but did not go into great depth, The only post 1945 war time novel examined is The Silver Sword, 1956,13 It was not till 1978 that an in-depth analysis of children's wartime fiction written both during and after the Second World War was available. This came with the publication of Women and children first. The fiction o/two World Wars, by Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig.l4
2 The year before, the journal Children's Literature in Education had begun to take an interest in the increasing popularity of children's war time fiction, with the pUblication of an article entitled Recent World-War-lIfiction: A survey.1S This was followed by Sheila Ray in The Blyton phenomenon, 1982, who concentrated upon the patriotism in children's fiction written during World War Two.16 John Rowe Townsend in Written for children, 1987 briefly focused upon children's novels set during World War Two written both during and after the war.!7 Interest in children's fiction set during the Second World War has continued into the 1990s. Peter Hunt has examined this genre in his book An Introduction to Children's Literature, 1994.18 He has also looked exclusively at war novels written during the Second World War in a chapter entitled Retreatism and Advance in Children's literature. An Illustrated History, 1995.19
Dislocation and children's relationships with their peers and parents are dominant issues which bring to the fore various other issues and themes in children's fiction set during the Second World War and the primary aim of this dissertation is to identify and explore these issues and themes.
I have focused upon two specific elements of dislocation to be found in children's novels set during the Second World War. These are, the difficulties faced by children who were evacuated, and the plight of the many children who became refugees. Dislocation is a prominent issue in many children's novels dealing with the period.
Novels of exile, alienation. and displacement were part of the fictional treatment of war for children. and continued into the Cold War years.20
As JiII Paton Walsh has stated, it was a time when for children "the whole world was unreliable".21 Children frequently had to move from one environment to a completely different one. In my first chapter I have looked at the major evacuations carried out and their affect upon thousands of children. In order to determine the extent to which evacuation dislocated children, it was necessary to look at the unpopularity of evacuation during the war, the prejudice it aroused and the difficulties children faced in adapting to their new surroundings. Whether hindsight distorts an author's portrayal of World War Two is also explored. The extent to which evacuation was shown as a chance for self-improvement is examined, as well as its social and educational consequences. Finally I have looked at the official ending of evacuation as a subject for children' authors.
In my second chapter upon refugees I have looked at the theme of refugees forced to adapt to a . new environment, and the problems they faced. I have also examined how child refugees in children's novels are usually portrayed as optimistic in the face of adversity, the symbolic importance offamiIies, and how the theme of self-discovery permeates the process of dislocation the child undergoes.
3 In chapter three, this dissertation will examine the depiction of the affects of war on children's relationShips with their parents, and the social changes brought about by World War Two which affected the concept of parenting, such as the rising number of illegitimate births, the rising divorce rate and the phenomenon of women left to bring up children on their own. I have also looked at the portrayal of opportunities for mothers to enjoy increased freedom, as well as the difficulties many ex-service men faced when they returned home. The separation of children from their parents was common place during World War Two, be it due to evacuation, death or having a father who was called up. I have attempted to determine how fictional children reacted to these separations and I have also looked at the relationship between parents and children who were not separated; how much did parents tell their children about the world in which they were growing up? The importance in novels of substitute parents is also considered.
In my final chapter the portrayal of children's relationships with their peers in children's fiction will be explored. I have focused upon the importance of peers in helping children to develop psychologically and emotionally and how the Second World War brought together children who would otherwise never have met. I have also looked at sibling relationships, and the extent to which fictional children emulated adult behaviour when they were with their peers .
This dissertation will concentrate upon children's novels as opposed to picture books or comics, because it is in children's novels that writers have the freedom to explore the themes and issues the.Second World War raises. The popularity of comics has declined, "comics are finding it more difficult to maintain circulation figures at present"22 and picture books, primarily read by younger children, tend not to be set during World War Two. The portrayal of World War Two has featured prominently in children's comics, but has tended to be one dimensional. War is seen an opportunity for adventure and/or fun,
they make an extremely basic appeal to readers, with vindictive Germans and stalwart British Tommies ...... The heroes of these comics are adults. fighter pilots, commandos. intelligence agents, in all ca,ses effective and indestructible, crudely simplified to pander to the reader's idea of a dashing. formidable quality in grown-ups,23
The novels I have chosen reflect the choice offiction available to children today and the fact that the Second World War was an international war. "It is almost impossible to find a part of the world where its impact was not felt".24 I have referred to some novels now available to children, which have been translated into English, such as I am David, Friedrich and Closer to the stars. Sheila G. Ray has noted that not many children'S novels written during the Second World War have survived.25 I have howeverincluded a selection of the few which have, together with children's novels set during World War Two, written since 1945.
4 We· do not know who-we are ~r where we are unless we know something of other times and places.26
. . . '. This is particuarly relevant to today's children growing up in a ~orld ofincreasing communication and diminishing frontiers.27 Librarians will find this dissertation useful because it focuses upon children's fiction set during World War Two, which is a rich source of knowledge and experience for children of other times and places. Gillian Cross has stated that
For a very large number of children. their individuaJ, idiosyncratic.reading is a crucial part of emotional and intellectual development.... Only public libraries can provide the enormous wealth and variety of books that those children require. 28
If public libraries can select fiction which fulfils children's emotional and intellectual needs, they will ensure that, "there are increasing numbers of children's books on loan" .29
5 Introduction References
1. Longmate, Norman. How we lived then. A history ofeveryday life during the Second World War, 1971, p.63.
2. Eyre, Frank. British children's books in the twentieth century, 1982, p.26. 3. Longmate, ref. 1, p.447.
4. Ibid., p.447.
5. Ray, Sheila G. The Blyton phenomenon. The controversy surrounding the world's most successful children's author, 1982, p.26.
6. Longmate, ref. 1, p.449.
7. Ibid., p.449.
S. Townsend, John Rowe. Written for children. An outline ofEnglish language children's literature, third edition 1987, p. 211.
9. Cadogan, Mary & Patricia Craig. Women and children first. The fiction of two world wars, 1975, p.23S.
10. Watkins, Tony & Zena Sutherland. Contemporary children's literature. In: Peter Hunt, ed. Children's literature. An illustrated history, 1995, pp. 289-321.
11. Avery, Gillian. Childhood's pattern. A study of the heroes and heroines of children'sfiction, 1770-1950, 1975, p.9. 12. Watkins, ref. 10. p.294.
13. Crouch, Marcus, The Nesbit tradition. The children's novel in England, 1945-1970, 1972. 14. Cadogan, ref. 9.
15. James, David L. Recent World War Two fiction: A survey. Children's literature in education, 1977, 8 (2).
16. Ray, ref. 5. 17. Townsend, ref. S.
IS. Hunt, Peter. An introduction to children's literature, 1994. 19. Hunt, Peter. Retreatism and Advance (1914-1945). In: Hunt, Peter, ed. Children's literature. An illustrated history, 1995, pp. 192-224.
6 20. Hollindale, Peter and Zena Sutherland. Internationalism, fantasy, and realism. In: Hunt, Peter, ed. Children's literature. An illustrated history, 1995, pp. 252-288.
21. Walsh, JilI Paton. My life so far. Something about the Author, Autobiography Series, 1987,3,194. 22. Daniels, Jenny. "Girl talk". The possibilities of popular fiction. In: Morag Styles, Eve Beame & Victor Watson, eds. The prose and the passion. Children and their reading, 1994, pp.20-35. 23. Cadogan, ref. 14, p.239.
24. Paris, Michael. The novels of World War Two. An annotated bibliography of World War Two fiction, 1990, p.ix. 25. Ray, ref. 5. p.I60. 26. Townsend, ref.8, p. 195.
27. Elkin, Judith. The British child in British children's literature. International Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 1993, 8~2), 100.
28. Cross, Gillian. Credit for borrowing. Times Educational Supplement, May 19th 1995, 12
29. Ibid.
7 Chapter I
Evacuation
8 Evacuation was the most common way British children were dislocated throughout the country during the Second World War. Almost every household in Great Britain was affected,1 Of the novels of the Second World War that explored evacuation, few have survived,2 exceptions being Visitors from London 1940 by Kitty Bame and P.L Travers I Go by Sea, I Go by Land 1941. It was not until the end of the war that children's authors began to explore evacuation and its effect upon children, in depth. Mary Cadogan has noted that,
It was not until the late l%Os that a new crop of children's writers began to look back . 3 to ..... the effects of evacuation.
Since 1945
Real-life experiences undergone by many children, especially of the evacuation ..... underpinned the more distinguished stories.4
Between 1939 and 1945 there were three major evacuation p1ans, forty eight percent of schoolchildren wereevacuatedS from the "vulnerable industrial cities and taken into the countryside".6 They were sent to "reception" areas.7 The first major evacuation took place on September 1st 19398 and this was followed by the second evacuation, which began in August 19409 and continued into "the most savage period of the Blitz - the autumn of 1940".10 The final evacuation was in 1944 with the "flying bombs" scare,1!
Children's novels accurately reflect the problems associated with evacuation, which was very unpopular because it separated families and placed new burdens in the reception areas,12 In When the siren wailed, Laura, Andy and Tim Clark are evacuated from London. Their parents resent the fact that their children have been evacuated, "if this war lasts long we'll 'ave lost our kids",13 The heaviest burden placed upon new reception areas was the difficulty in finding suitable accommodation for the evacuees,14 In Goodnight Mister Tom, the local billeting officer is described as "harassed",15 Travis, LCrosby said that,
A protest meeting of... billeting officers in March 1940. condemned evacuation as "unsatisfactory" because it placed an "unreasonable strain" upon householders)6
Financial problems over billeting costs could also heighten a child's sense of dislocation.
The sorrow of parting from their children clearly wasn't the only pain lbat evacuation brought parents.17
Most evacuated schoolchildren were from working class backgrounds so parents found billeting costs hard to meet. Though there were government allowances, these were hard to
9 obtain as the government did not want to be seen as "pampering parents" who could pay",18 Parents were also responsible for clothing their children,19 The financial hardships of working class parents of evacuees are reflected in When the siren wailed when the Clark children's father struggles to send them pocket money.
"If! was to cut out fags I could manage sixpence a week for each",20
In Fireweed, the main character, Bill, is evacuated to a remote Welsh village. He has trouble adjusting to his new environment because his foster parents can not afford to send him to a Grammar school. They resent the fact that Bill's father has not sent any money. Their complaint emphasises the fact that there were significant financial discrepancies between evacuees,
"It is not like Mrs Jones's boy. who gets pocket money from home every week, as I hear. There has not been two-pence for him yet. And he has no good boots. and no thick socks with him either, and his things only in a paper bag."21
It has been written of evacuees and their hosts that "On the whole the two worlds did not merge successfully".22 While this is not generally the case in children's fiction, the culture shock many evacuees and their hosts experienced is illustrated. This culture shock was based upon the fact that many evacuees had not previously been fed, clothed or housed properly.23 After the first major evacuation in September 1939,
The most immediate complaint reaching London and the other urban evacuation areas was the dirty or veminous condition of many of the evacuces.24
The fact that most evacuees were working class and so some had diseases due to deprivation helped to create prejudice.25 There was an "association of hygiene with character".26 This is evident in The Exeter blitz ,local school children resent evacuees because "Half the Londoners had fleas and lice. Or so people said".27 Prejudice between evacuees and their hosts was not always on the part of the host.28 In Back to the blitz, the main character, Arthur finds rural life too old fashioned. "That farm! Talk about the Middle Ages!" 29 Prejudice was not wholly based upon traditional class prejudice, the problem was "a clash between rural and urban workers and their lifestyles".30 Most foster parents were, like evacuees, working class31 but evacuation forced together children and adults whose life styles were often totally alien.32 Goodnight Mister Tom. reflects the positive side of this. Willie prospers when he is moved from an environment where he is neglected to one where he is loved and allowed to develop, both emotionally and educationally. By the end of the novel he is "warm and happy·it was good to be alive".33 In Fireweed, the totally alien lifestyle of Bill's hosts is emphasised as they
10 constantly speak Welsh. He is there five weeks before he realises that mail is not delivered but is kept at the post office. Many evacuees evacuated in 1939 returned home and had to be re evacuated when the blitz began.
It was clear that the first evacuation did not "take", primarily because there had as yet been no air-raids. Thousands of children, therefore, had to be re-evacuated ..... in September 1940.34
This is reflected In Goodnight Mister Tom when WiIlie, who has been evacuated, returns to London in March 1940. "Mothers were always taking their children back".3S
Not surprisingly in children's fiction set during the Second World War, evacuees generally adapt to their new surroundings and this theme of gradual adjustment is dominant. As Ruth Inglis has stated,
Learning to adapt to totally new circumstances is a sophisticated task and one which exerts its toll on a young child.36
The fear this prospect engenders in children is an important feature in novels such as Carrie's war. When Carrie and her brother are first evacuated
Carrie nearly did cry. Tbere was a lump like a pill stuck in ber throat. 3 7
In How's business, How initially detests the village in Lincolnshire where he has been evacuated. "It was awful here .... Bleak and cold and flat".38 However like Carrie and her brother Nick, he graduallyadapts to his new surroundings. He makes friends and becomes accustomed to living in the countryside and his interaction with his physical surroundings reflects his gradual acceptance of his new home. The first time How is genuinely happy, after being evacuated, is on his return home from an auction with his uncle, when there is a direct correlation between the beauty of the countryside and How's degree of happiness.
How felt happier than he had done all week. It was late afternoon by now, and the sun was sinking towards the fen's edge like a glowing red tiddlywinks.39
The theme of children gradually adjusting to their new environment means that the process of dislocation for fictional evacuees has no long term negative effect. At the end of Carrie 's War, when she and her brother return home, Carrie has adapted so well to her new environment that she is not sure whether she wants to return home. "Carrie was not sure whether she was happy or not".40 .Home sickness is portrayed as something which is transitory. In How's business, How realises, when he returns to London, that the homesickness he initially felt has gone.
11 How thought suddenly of the water which mn sparkling in the dyke outside Auntie Kath·s house. With.~ odd senSe ofs~rise. he found that ..... He had taken to it.41
In order to sustain this positive theme, any problems fictional evacuees encounter must be overcome. In reality many people had misgivings about evacuation. Donald Winnicott, who was the consultant psychiatrist to the Government Evacuation scheme, described evacuation as a "story of tragedies" .42 Ruth IngIis has stated that "Some psychiatrists of the day were implacably opposed to the evacuation scheme" .43 Anna Freud, the late child analyst, believed that to separate a child from a parent would damage its emotional growth.44 These professionals believed that the actual act of separating a child from ita home and parents would be detrimental, "either... children are emotionally disturbed, perhaps more than they can recover, or else the child is happy and it is the parents who suffer".45 In spite o/all terror is typical of most children's fiction set in World War Two in that evacuation, rather than disturbing the main character, helps her to develop emotionally. By the end of the novel, Liz the heroine, realises for the first time in her life, that she is at peace with h.erself.
Out of the sombre ingredients of war had sprung a new quality to life· ..... a quiet acceptance that things turned out as they did".46
Even in Back to the blitz, in which the main character, Arthur, runs away from his foster parents, he does not suffer any long term psychological damage and by the end of the novel is looking forward to the "antics we get up to trying to cope with all this damn bombage."47 Fireweed is remarkable because it leaves the impression that Bill has been psychologically damaged by his experience ofliving rough on the streets of London. At the end of the novel BiIljoins the army. When asked if he has any war wounds he replies, "Nothing. Not a scratch".48 but the reader is aware that not all injuries are physical.
Evidence on how well children really adjusted to their new environment is contradictory. Most . evacuees returned home. This happened with each of the three major evacuations.
By mid-November 1939. the rate of "drift hack..... was more than 6.000 weekly to London alone. By the summer of 1940. half of all London evacuees had left the reception areas.49
Each time there was a major evacuation the same thing happened, "after the immediate danger passes, evacuees left the reception areas" .50 Many children returned home because their parents missed them, despite the fact that they had adapted to their new environment.
In many cases, when a father or mother could bear separation no longer ..... they would recall them. (their children) offering any number of excuses.Sl
12 Though this behaviour was understandable, it could be considered irresponsible. In When the siren wailed, a street warden states that "it's downright wicked to bring them back" .52 However of the children who did stay in their respective reception areas, many found evacuation "idyllic".
The nation's mothers revealed on the 1st September 1939. and the days immediately following it, a warmth and good nature towards other pe.ople' s children that many of their guests still recall with affection nearly thirty years later,53
Although by January 1940, eighty per cent of evacuees had returned home,54 this does not indicate a widespread fail ure to adapt to their neW-environment, as children often returned home for other reasons. The only useful evidence is the personal recollections of individual evacuees. Unfortunately "Memory and repression can dovetail strangely"55 and adversely influence what evacuees can now remember, so this evidence is not impartial. Former evacuees tend to block out their most painful memories.56 Most evacuees experienced the pain of dislocation and yet attempted to adapt to their new environment. What is difficult to determine is whether most of the evacuees who had returned home early, had managed to adapt to their billets. Children's authors are free to decide whether their characters adapt. They can reflect the fact that each evacuee's story differed, Peter Henessey has said of evacuees, "Each had a very personal story" .57
Children's novels written since 1945 benefit from the knowledge that evacuation saved many children's lives.
Only 7.736 children were killed in bomb attacks in the U,K, "',' and unquestionably this fjgure would have been much higher had there been no evacuation policy.S8
This is illustrated in both How's Business and Back to the blitz, where the hero, who has been evacuated, returns home to find that his home has been destroyed in an air raid, The implication is that evacuation was the best policy at the time, In Carrie's war, Carrie realises that she and her brother are much safer in the countryside, "Carrie thought of all the bombs falling, of the war going on all this year they'd been safe in the valley".59 There was no doubt during World War Two that children were safer in the designated reception areas.60 The problems were ensuring that the majority of children in evacuable areas were evacuated and that evacuees did not return home. Only one third of the anticipated three and a half million people took advantage of the voluntary evacuation scheme.6! Even though before the start of the war, eighty per cent of London's school population signed up for evacuation, slightly more than half stayed at home.62 The reluctance of many children to be evacuated is illustrated in How's business when How's friend says that his mother has decided that "we'd stick together",63
13 The problem of evacuees returning, is addressed at the end of Back to the blitz, when Arthur's mother decides to let him stay in London. The fact that Arthur'.s home and the house he was sheltering in have been destroyed in an air raid suggests, that this decision is a wrong one.
As "Popular fiction is one medium through which successive generations absorb the image of the past",64 children's authors writing since 1945 must be careful not to allow hindsight to adversely affect their portrayal of evacuees. It is important that they portray history accurately. They are writing "secure in the knowledge that the war had been fought and won".6S It is easy to forget that wartime Britain was "a society in great danger"" throughout the war, and how people reacted to this danger. Michelle Magorian accurately portrays a common reaction to danger in Goodnight Mister Tom. When Wille and his mother return to London, they meet a woman who has not evacuated her children. "Hardly seems as if there's a war on at all".67 This attitude was proved to be misguided when the blitz started in September 1940. However the image of this woman, realistically reflects the common attitude of the time. The British people were living "on a razor's edge".68
Understandably many evacuees were apprehensive about the outcome of the war and the safety ofloved ones. This is reflected in In spite ofall terror. Liz is billeted with a family whose son Simon is missing in action. Simon's disappearance coincides with the British and French troops withdrawal from Dunkirk on May 29th 194O.6!1 Just as the British withdrawal paradoxically gave the "British the will to fight on",70 Simon's disappearance disturbs Liz and fuels her patriotism. During an English lesson she wonders,
What were she and .... All the rest of them doing, bothering about the Montagues and the Capulets and their silly feud? The little boats were still setting out from Ramsgate. The soldiers were coming home.71
Hestor Burton accurately reflects the sense of urgency and fear present in British people at the time of Dunkirk. "No one knew for how long the island could be defended, but it was certain that it could nof be walked over".72 The Dunkirk spirit helps Liz adjust to her ri"ew environment in a positive way.
In The Dolphin crossing, the story also revolves around the Dunkirk evacuation. The author, Jill Paton Walsh, captures the situation of many children during the Second World War. Though they wanted to actively contribute to the war effort, there was confusion about why Britain was at war. One of the characters, John, says, "It's all very complicated.... grown-ups get so worried and angry if one asks questions".73 According to Ruth Inglis,
children appear to have been aware of Hiller's victories in the first year of the war.74
For many children, including evacuees, Hitler was a figure on whom they could focus all their
14 fears and hatred.7S As many children received most of their information about Hitler from newsreels at the cinema, rather than from parents,
Hitler ..isted in a land where fantasy and reality overlapped and finally merged,"
During World War Two "adults did what they could to shield British children from the true terror of war"." This kind of protection could hinder or help evacuees to adjust to a new environment. In Carrie's war, Carrie and her brother Nick are sheltered from the adverse effects of a war which is simply a backdrop to their. eventful lives. Thedangers of war in their parents' lives seem "far away and long ago".78 However in Fireweed, Bill does not want to be sheltered from the war ana -resents the fact that he has no access to war news. "They didn't seem to take a newspaper".79
The theme of self-improvement evident in children's novels about evacuees during the Second World War, derives from the fact that for many children, eva~uation was the chance to lead a better life. The depression of the 19305 had created poverty amongst the working class throughout Britain. Evacuees were the
children of Britain's mass unemployed. "the bud of the nation". reared in the depressed industrial cities of the North. the Midlands and the Northeast",80
Due to inadequate housing, clothing and a poor diet, these evacuees were often dirty, prone to illness and under nourished.81 In When the siren wailed, three children are sent to live wi th Colonel Stranger, his housekeeper and her husband. They benefit from proper sleep and being better fed and clothed. The youngest child Tim, changes from the "whining little scrap who had left London... He was looking different; good regular meals and long nights in bed had filled him out and he felt fine" .82 The fact that evacuation programmes influenced the social changes which took place after 194583, by highlighting how a great many children had not been fed, clothed, housed or educated properly, is largely ignored in children's fiction. Evacuation "enabled the "haves" to meet "the have nots"84. Although children's authors show evacuation as a chance for many children to lead a better life, they tend to avoid showing how evacuation which
... started as a short-tenn safety measure .... became ..... the foundation stone of future child welfare policies in the post-war world,8S
This is because during the war, nobody knew the long term effects evacuation would have. "The individual evacuees were unaware of the moinentous changes they ...set in motion".81i Even if their background is deprived as in When the siren wailed, this is ameliorated by the fact that they have been loved and cared for by their parents, "in the C1arks' tumble-down house there was a lot of love".87 In Goodnight Mister Torn, Willie's disturbed mother is more of a 15 problem than his deprived background. After she has locked him under the stairs and left him, society's attempts to help him recover are depicted as woefully misguided. Mister Tom says that "The sooner Will could get out into some wide open fields the better".88 This is what happens and WiIlie recovers without the help of the state in the form of hospitals, children's homes and psychiatric care. Mter Willie has gone to live with MisterTom, the doctors who attempted to care for him haunt him in his dreams, emphasising how WiIIie is better off with Mister Tom. "If you scream ... we shall put you to sleep for ever'.89 The reader is left in no doubt that Mister Tom is Willie's saviour.
Self-improvement in children's novels about evacuees is only possible once the child has detached the Iinks-with his or her background. This process of dislocation helps the evacuee to gain some self-knowledge. In Goodnight Mister Tom, Willie stops living in perpetual fear of punishment and learns to appreciate the opportunities life has to offer him. From initially believing he is a "bad boy"90 he comes to believe that there are "so many things to live for" .91 Willie is taught to read, and discovers that he has a talent for drawing. In both The Exeter blitz and The Dolphin crossing. evacuees achieve independence. -In The Dolphin crossing. Pat who is isolated after having been evacuated with his step mother, makes friends with John, and together they sail to Dunkirk in order to help withdrawing soldiers. Through their friendship Pat is able to fulfil his desire to help the war effort. He hates "sitting around here being kept out of everything".92 In The Exeter blitz .Terry Wooton has been evacuated to Exeter. His relationship with Colin develops from dislike and distrust of each other simply because they are from different parts of the country. to one of close friendship. They set up a fish and chip stall after the final Baedecker raid UpOl1 Exeter in May 1942, a sign of growing independence. At the end of the novel, Colin declares "half a cheer for Hitler I say".93 He knows that ultimately Exeter will "rise from its ashes".94 He also knows that if it were not for Hitler and evacuation, his friendship with Terry could not have happened. The process of dislocation the war forced upon Terry, helped him and Colin to become friends. The Baedecker raids were a series of raids upon British towns of cultural interest.9s
The educational implications of evacuation constitute a persistent theme in children's novels set during World War Two. The fact that evacuation highlighted the disparities in children's education around Britain is reiterated in children's literature, emphasising the need for the reform which came in the 1944 education act.
The immediate impact of the war on the educational system was to expose the disparities of secondary provision between local authorities.96
In In How's business, How is evacuated from London to Lincolnshire, where his school compares unfavourably with the one in London.
Compared with How's school in London, the ... c1assroom was very crowded."
16 Before World War Two, there had been pressure from both the working and middle classes for educational reform.98 Prior to the 1944 Act, education was free for children between the ages offive and fourteen in elementary schools. Secondary schools, which children could attend after the age of fourteen, were notfree.99 Five children out of six did not receive more that an elementary school education to the age offourteen.loo Though during the 1930s many areas allotted children places in secondary schools by examination, this did not widen the social range of secondary schooling. Fees were assessed upon a means tested scale, allowing children of large poor families to pay nothing, however many parents still had to pay.lOI Both the Spens report (1938) and the Norwood report (1941) suggested that equality of opportunity could only materialise if education after the age of eleven was reorganised.l02 The impetus for reform was strengthened further by the inadequacies of the education system highlighted by the process of evacuation.
By the middle years of the war. the educational reform movement was gathering strength. fuelled in part by the failures of ..... evacuation.103
The emphasis in children's fiction upon the need for social change, focuses upon the need to change education, not to improve housing nor the general health of evacuees. Children's authors revealed the extent to which evacuation adversely affected evacuees' education. Britain's education system is depicted as perpetuating inequalities. Fireweed and Carrie's war both highlight the fact that where you lived in wartime Britain could adversely affect the quality of education you received.104 In Fireweed, one of the reasons why the hero Bill cannot go to grammar school is because the remote Welsh farm to which he is evacuated is too far away. Access to any form of education, for a child of his age, is difficult.
'"There is the school in the village.... But nobody still at it the age you are".1 0S
In Carrie's war, Carrie has to attend school in a chapel. The secondary school which has better facilities "with playing fields and a pool and modem laboratories" 106 is too far away. Though Carrie does not mind this arrangement some children "would prefer to be taught in a proper school" .107 The quality of a child's education could also be affected by gender. In In spite ofall terror, Liz's education is more limited because she is a girl.
"Girls' education is quite different from boys ..... There is no need for them to learn Latin if they don't want to".108
She is proud of the grammar school education she had received before she was evacuated. Though she, like many other evacuees is evacuated with her school, her education is adversely affected. Only twenty per cent of children were evacuated together as a schooll09 and even though such children could continue the same curriculum, other problems were harder to overcome. Liz's school cannot find adequate classrooms, they have "lessons for two hours 17 only in the afternoons» .110 In When the siren wailed, the three Oark children initially receive only a part- time education after being evacuated, because there is a shortage of class space.
When the evacuees .... arrived .... their school was not big enough to take the extra children. the local children had gone to the school in the morning and the evacuees in the afternoon. III
An attempt to solve this problem was the "space shift" which entailed local children and evacuees using the school premises forfour and a half hours each.
It was often at school that evacuees had the most difficulty adjusting, especially those who were not evacuated with their school. Many evacuations were organised privately, independent of any of the official schemes. Two million people were evacuated privately.111 The problems these evacuees faced are examined in depth in How's business. How is not initially accepted by his new classmates, none of his friends are evacuated with him. His isolation is emphasised when at play time he stands on his own.
Most of the boys charged about after a footbalL.the girls chattered in groups .... How watched. standing a1one.1l3
Though any education system would have had difficulties dealing with the effects of evacuation, the inequalities made apparent in Britain's education system emphasised the need for reform.
Child society was thrown open to public scrutiny by tbe detachment of so many children from their family of birth.114
For evacuees who were evacuated for a long period, the process of dislocation was repeated when they returned home. They found that they had to adapt to a new environment all over again. The end of official evacuations was announced on September 7th 1944,115 the day before the first V2 rockets began to fall upon London.11i However these new attacks did not prevent evacuees from returning to Britain's major cities. Their gradual return peaked in the autumn of 1944.
One after another from September onwards the fonner danger districts were proclaimed "go~home" areas until by the end of the year only Hull and London were not yet considered safe.117
They were declared safe six days before the end of the European war. However it was not until almost a year later that the evacuation scheme officially came to an end. US The official end of evacuation is not dwelt upon in children's novels, nor are the problems of returning home, as the story usually ends before evacuees return.
18 At the end of When the siren wailed, the three Clark children are reunited with their parents but the novel does not explore in depth the reunion.119 Instead the reader is left with a feeling that because the children have survived the emotional and physical difficulties evacuation brought, they will survive the rest of the war.
"I know the war's not over so and there may be worse to come, but we've managed so far so I reckon we'll manage to the end",120
This statement applies to most evacuees in children's novels. How in How's business, Willie in Goodnight Mister Tom, and Liz in In Spite ofall Terror, are all finally able to look at the uncertain world in which they are growing up with a belief that they will survive the war. Optimistic endings reflect the fact that
Adult fiction sets out to portray and explain the world as it really is; books for children present it as it should be,121
In an ideal world all evacuees adapt to their new environment. Marcus Crouch has written that
The essence of the traditional adventure story is that it has an ending,122
A satisfying ending is crucial for novels concerning evacuation. It is easier for authors to convey the sense of dislocation evacuation brought into children's lives, by ensuring that the novel's narrative gradually builds towards a climax. Evacuation was an immensely complex operation which had radical affects upon many children's lives. As Hugo Crago has stated,
The great appeal of story is that it ofTers a coherence, a unity, that tempomrily solidifies and unites the warring fragments inside our heads into a satisfying whole,lD
This coherence can only exist if children's novels have a logical conclusion. At the end of a story about evacuees, the author must determine whether the evacuees have adapted to their new environment. Through the format of the children's novel, writers can resolve the conflicting emotions children might have about such displocation and help them to see both the advantages and disadvantages.
One novel which does focus upon the problems evacuees faced when returning home is Back home by Michelle Magorian. The novel's heroine Rusty, returns home to Britain in the summer of 1945, after five years as an evacuee in America. The problems of readjusting to home life were more acute for evacuees who had been evacuated abroad as they had been immersed in a totally different culture, with their parents unable to visit them,124 At the beginning of the war, many Americans offered a home to British children. Many British
19 emigrants felt that it was their duty to help Britain defeat the Nazis. 125 Unfortunately Churchill was against the mass emigration of evacuees,126 however the withdrawal from Dunkirk in May 1940 increased invasion fears and resulted in the formation of the Children's Overseas Reception Board known as CORB,127 This was the only official evacuation committee recognised by the government. It aimed,
in an orderly and systematic way to get Britain's children out of the country. US
Apart from America, children were also evacuated to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa. By July 1940 30,000 had signed up to travel to America,129 The number of British children who lived abroad during the war has been estimated at between 15 and 20,000. Most had been evacuated by the late autumn of 1940,130 Back home does not focus upon the problems British evacuees had, adapting to life in America. When Rusty remembers her evacuation, she remembers how her foster parents made her feel part of the family, but at the same time reminded her that "her real mom and pop were missing her",131 In reality many . foster parents worried that evacuees were forgetting their real parents,132 Another problem was that in 1940 many American and Canadian hosts had not expected that evacuees would end up staying for five years. This caused many American foster parents serious financial problems,133
Concern that the continued presence of evacuees might damage America's and Canada's relationships with Britain meant that many evacuees returned home in 1943 and 44,134 By 1944 half of the British children who had been evacuated in 1940 had returned home.135 It is after her return that Rusty's problems begin. Her sense of dislocation is acute. At one point she is tempted to tell her mother that
She thinks of America every day. And every day here in England away from my American family and friends feels like I am slowly drowning in a dark pool.l36
Five years in America have changed Rusty's physical appearance, her personality, the way she speaks and the clothes she wears. Many children did not recognise their parents when they returned to Britain. In Back fwme Rusty appears to her mother to be a completely different child. When she had been evacuated
from England in 1940, she had heen small and quiet. with spindly legs and milk-teeth. a far cry from the twelve year-old girl who now stood in front of her. tail, robust and tanned. with thick long hair and intense green eyes)37
Many children who were evacuated to America became used to a higher standard of living_ Rusty lived in a bigger house and was able to go to the cinema and eat out regularly. Many evacuees also developed an American accent. Readjusting to life in Britain was as hard as being 20 evacuated from home. Rusty is teased at school because of her "frightful" accent.138
Back home concentrates upon the emotional problems of returning to England. Rusty finds it difficult to adjust after living with her easy-going, liberal foster parents, to life with her conventional mother who does not approve of how she behaves. She soon realises that her mother will be upset if she tells her how much she misses America, so she lies.
"Aren't you pleased to be back?'" she said thakily ..... "Of COUlSe I am". she lied.139
Ruth Inglis has written that one of the negative effects of evacuation was that evacuees could
acquire a creeping case of hypocrisy, a tendency to bend the truth in order to please. 140
Helen Cuthbert who was evacuated to Australia for five years,
told everyone she preferred England to Australia ... " thO\.1gh it was untrue, it was what she thought her family and friends expected her to say, and it made life easier to respond accordingly.141
It has been said that ''To be an evacuee was a contorted business" .142 Evacuees had to adapt to new surroundings, never knowing when they would return home. If they adapted too well, they then faced the difficulties of readjusting when they returned home. Children's authors have used this scenario to create fictional evacuees who faced the terrors of loneliness and insecurity which real child evacuees faced, and which contemporary children may also fear.
21 Chapter one References I, Winnicott, D. The evacuated child. (A broadcast talk to foster parents, 1945). In: Clare Winnicott, Ray Shephard & Madeleine Davis, eds. Deprivation and delinquency. D.W.Winnicott, 1984, p3943.
2. Hunt, Peter. An Introduction to Children's literature, 1994, p.129.
3. Cadogan, Mary and Patricia Craig. Women and children first. Thefiction of the two world wars, 1978, p.243. 4. Hollindale, Peter and Zena Sutherland. Internationalism,fantasy, and realism. In: Hunt, Peter, ed. Children's literature-:-An illustrated history, 1995, pp. 252-288.
5. Minns, Raynes. Bombers and mash. The domestic front, 1939-45, 1980, p.20. 6. Ross, Stewart. The home front, 1990, p. 26.
7. Jackson, CarIton. Who will take our children? The story ofevacuation in Britain 1939-45, 1985, p.2.
8. Inglis, Ruth. The children's war. Evacuation 1939-1945.1989, p.1.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Thorpe, Andrew. Britain. In: Noakes,Jeremy, ed. The civilian war. The home front in Europe, Japan and the USA in World War Two, 1992, p.I4-34.
13. Streatfeild, Noel. When the siren wailed, 1977, (first published 1974) p37.
14. Macinol, John. The evacuation of schoolchildren. In: Smith, Harold L. War and social change. British society in the Second World War, 1986, pp.3-3!.
15. Magorian, Michelle. Goodnight mister Tom, 1981, p.9.
16. Crosby, Travis L. The impact ofcivilian evacuation in the Second World War, 1986 p.l00. 17. Inglis, ref. 8, p.22. 18. Ibid.
19. Ibid .. , p.25. 20. Streatfeild, ref. 13, p37.
21. Walsh, JiII Paton. Fireweed,l969, p.22. 22. Minns, rer. 5, p.24.
22 23. Inglis, ref. 8, pp. 18-19.
24. Crosby, ref. 16, p.33.
25. Ibid.. , p.34.
26. Ibid ..
27. Rees, David. The Exeter blitz, 1978, p.4.
28. Inglis, ref. 8, p.49.
29. Nichols, Freda. Back to the Blitz. 1978, p.5.
30. Thorpe, ref. 12, p.24.
31. Macinol, ref.14, p.27.
32. Thorpe, ref. 12, p.24.
33. Magorian, ref. 15, p.295.
34. Jackson, ref. 7, p.26.
35. Magorian, ref. 15, p.175.
36. Inglis, ref. 8, pp.151-152.
37. Bawden, Nina. CaTTie's war, 1974 (first published 1973), p.17.
38. Prince, Alison. How's business, 1987, p.27.
39. Ibid .. ,p.55.
40. Bawden, ref. 37, p.112.
41. Prince, ref. 38, p.153.
42. Winnicott, ref. 1, p.22.
43. In'glis, ref. 8, p.l54.
44. Ibid ..
45. Winnicott, ref. 1, p.22.
46. Burton, Hester. In spite of all terror, 1968, p.I82. .' 47. Nichols, ref. 29, p.92.
48. Walsh, ref. 21, p.I40.
49. Crosby, ref. 16, p.9.
50. Ibid.
23 51. Inglis, ref. 8, p37. 52. Streatfeild, ref. 13, p.37.
53. Longmate, Nonnan. How we lived then. A history ofeveryday life during the Second World War, 1971, p.51.
54. Ibid.. ,pp.60-61. 55. Inglis, ref. 8, p.5.
56. Wicks, Ben. No time to wave goodbye, 1988, p. 222.
57. Hennessy, Peter. Never again. Britain 1945-51,1992, p.12.
58. Inglis, ref. 8, p.5. 59. Bawden,ref.37,p.120. 60. Inglis, ref. 8, p.5.
61. Ross, Stewart. The home front, 1990, p.26.
62. Jackson, ref.7, p.16. 63. Prince, ref. 38, p.l8.
64. Paris, Michael. The novels of World War Two. An annotated bibliography of World War Two fiction, 1990, p.xii. 65. O'Sullivan, Emer. English and German national stereotypes in children's literature. International Review ofChildren's Literature and Librarianship. 1993,8 (2), 92. 66. Hennessey, ref. 57, p.52 67. Magorian, ref. 15, p.l86.
68. Lewis, Peter. A people's war, 1986, p. 235.
69. Marwick, Arthur. The home front. The British.and the Second World War, 1976, p.32.
70. The world at arms, The Reader's Digest illustrated history of World War Two, 1989, p.40.
71. Burton, ref. 46, p.137. 72. Lewis, ref. 68, p.l25.
73. Walsh, JilI Paton. The Dolphin crossing, 1967, p.24. 74. Inglis, ref. 8, p.60.
75. Ibid .. , pp.60-61.
76. Ibid .. , p.60. 24 77. The world at anns, ref. 70, p. 177. 78. Bawden, ref. 37, p.34. 79. Walsh, ref. 21, p.22. 80. Inglis, ref. 8, p.165. 81. Ibid .. , pp. 18-20. 82. Streatfeild, ref. 13, p.42. 83. Jackson, ref. 7, p.I88.
84. Inglis, ref. 8, p.l65
85. Ibid.
··86 Ibid ..
87. Streatfeild, ref.13, p.214.
88. Magorian; ref. 15, p.214.
89. [bid .. , p.227.
90. !bid.. , p. 13.
91. !bid.. , p. 270. 92. . Walsh, ref. 73, p.24. 93. Rees, ref. 27, p.116.
94. Ibid. 95. Lewis, ref. 68, pp. 212-213. 96. Thorn, Deborah. The 1944 Education Act: the "art of the possible"? In: Smith, Harold, ed. War and social change. British society in the Second World War, 1986, pp.101-128. 97. Prince, ref. 38, p.32. 98. Crosby, ref. 16, p.130. 99. Thorn, ref. 96, p.I02. lOO. Lewis, ref. 68, p.234. 101. Thorn, ref. 96, p.l 02.
102. Nobbs, Jack. Sociology in context, 1983, p.211. 103. Crosby, ref. 16, p.132. 25 104. Thorn, ref. 96, p. 102.
105. Walsh, ref.21, p. 22. 106. Bawden, ref. 37.
107. Ibid.
108. Burton, ref. 46, p. 43.
109. Jackson, ref. 7, p. 3. 1l0. Burton, ref. 46, p. 62.
111. Streatfeild, ref. 13, p. 39. 112. Thorpe, ref. 12, p. 21. 113. Prince, ref. 38, p. 33-34. 114. Thorn, ref. 93, p. 109.
115. Longmate, ref. 53, p. 62.
116. Ibid.
117. Ibid.
118. Ibid.
119. Streatfeild, ref. 13.
120. Ibid., p. 157.
121. Carpenter, Humphrey. Secret Gardens. A study ofthe golden age of children's literature, 1985, p. 1.
122. Crouch, Marcus. The Nesbit tradition. The children's novel in England 1945-1970, 1972, p. 30.
123. Crago, Hugo. Why readers read what writers write. Children's Literature in Education, 1993,24(4),279. 124. Inglis, ref. 8, p. 107.
125. Jackson, ref.7, p. 107.
126. Ibid., p. 69.
127. Ibid., p. 75.
128. Ibid.
129. Ibid., p.76.
130. Ibid., p. 93. 26 131. Magorian, Michelle. Back home, 1985, p. 353
132. Dunham, Marjorie J. Letter to Sir Anthony George, 24 October 1943. In: Jackson, ref. 7, p. 153.
133. Ibid.
134. Ibid., p. 168.
135. Ibid., p. 174.
136. Magorian, ref. 131, p. 242.
137. Ibid., p. 16.
138. Ibid., p. 140.
139. Ibid., p. 116.
140. Inglis, ref. 8, p. 152.
141. Ibid.
142. Inglis, ref. 8, p. 151.
27 Chapter 11 --
Refugees
28 By July 1941 the Nazis' Ellropean empire stretched from France, across Belgium, Holland, Germany and into Poland. NOrWay, Yugoslavia and Greece were also part of the Nazi empire.
The fortunes of wartime Britain were at a low ebb in July 1941. Every one of the European allies by whose side she had fought against the Nazis was now defeated and occupied. 1
In the years preceding the Second World War, many children had been forced to flee their homes as Hitler's armies spread across Europe.
Throughout 1938 and much of 1939. there was a feeling of umeality in Britain as the public watched Hitler's steady encroachments on the European continent. These aggressions were punctuated by daily anivals in English ports of hundreds of Poles, Czechoslovakians, and Germans, fleeing from Hitler's wrath.2
However before the Second World War started, the British authorities were reluctant to allow many refugees entry into the country3 for two main reasons.' There was a fear firstly that a huge influx of refugees would add to the serious unemployment problem which existed in Britain at that time4 and secondly that as a considerable proportion of refugees were of Jewish extraction, there would be a significant growth in antisemitism.5 However the
events of 1938. the German invasion of Austria and the atrocities committed there, the occupation of the Sudetenland a few months later and the mass flight of Jews and Socialists from both countries ..... led to a revision of British immigration policy and to the reception of many thousands of the victims.'
As Britain began to accept more refugees, Nazi aggrandisement meant that there were fewer countries to which an ever increasing number of refugees could escape. By September 1939 about 60 00 refugees from Nazi oppression had arrived in Britain.'
Dislocation for refugees combines the worst elements of evacuation and the homelessness ... caused by air raids. Refugees, like bombed out children, will probably never be able to return to their homes and like evacuees they are often separated from loved ones. As in children's novels about evacuation, in those about wartime refugees there is a recurring theme of children adapting to a new cultural environment, This is an inspirational theme for children's authors as it
takes courage Uto give up everything .... to start all over again in a strange country".8
This is illustrated in When Hitler stole pink rabbit, in which German refugee Anna and her family leave 1930's Germany and move to Switzerland, then to France and finally Britain. Anna has repeatedly to make new friends and start new schools. When she moves from France
29 to Britain she says to her father, "Do you ever think we'll belong any where?"9 While most fictional evacuees do adapt successfully to their new environments, there are exceptions. In The moon's on fire, Polish twins Tadek and Stefek live in London with a friend's aunt and uncle. They do not adapt to their new physical surroundings, and their problems of readjustment reflect the cultural differences between the Poles and the British. When Tadek and his brother go to the cinema they see a film in which a German plane crashes,
At home in Poland, ... people would cheer if tlley saw an enemy bomber going down in flames. Here in England you were always supposed to be quiet and still and not get excited. He did not like it. 10
The plight of refugees was not dwelt upon extensively in children's fiction written during the Second World War. The restrictions placed upon children's authors meant that by the end of the war,
the bulk of children's fiction was still located in a dream worldof boarding school. ponies. the prevention of crime. impossible reversals of fortune and holiday high-jinks.ll
The fact that the "serious effects of war were not considered suitable for discussion at this level",ll meant that when refugees did appearin children's novels their plight was inevitably trivialised. In The Chalet School at war, the problems of readjustment that refugees faced are glossed over. Though a significant proportion of the school's pupils are from countries which have been invaded by the Nazis, their problems are not faced. The only time the international make-up of the pupils and staff is noted is when Daisy describes the school as a "real Tower of Babel"13 because of the number of languages the school's pupils will be able to speak. However the novel's rather facile optimism, which aims to boost the reader's morale, means that any problems foreign pupils might encounter as a result of being forced out of their country of birth, are not explored. Problems caused by the chalet school's move from Guernsey to Wales concern the characters more than any problems caused by being driven out of their homeland.
. ' .. The tone of The Chalet School goes to war, reflects the fact that this novel was written in 1941 when Britain was still under the threat of a possible Nazi invasion.14 Children wanted to read fiction which told them that ultimately the Nazis would be defeated. A danger of stories which focused upon the plight of refugees was that, while they might emphasise the moral inferiority of the Nazis, they might be too alien for British children to identify with. As Sheila G Ray has stated,
Many children's books published in the 1940-44 period had ..... themes and sentiments guaranteed to boost morale.1 5
It was easier to achieve this if children were reading fiction such as Biggles defies the Swastika, 1941, in which British cunning and skill, in the person of Biggles, defeat the Nazis. Refugees 30 '. personify the human cost of war, children's fiction written during the Second World War does not focus upon such personal fights as this but upon the battle between the Allies and the Nazis. This point is illustrated in the war time story, William and the Tea-cake. In this short story a Austrian refugee, Miss Smith, turns out to be a German spy. The moral of this story is that any refugee entering Britain during war time should be treated with suspicion. Miss Smith was
a fanatical Nazi agent who had come over among the refugees in order to carry on the work of espionage)'
In reality suspicion of refugees based upon the fact that they might be spies was largely unfounded, as few spies operated successfully in Britain during the Second World War.17 This was another reason why children's wartime authors did not focus upon refugees who had settled in Britain. Throughout the war the "English never lost the sense of being morally in the right".18 If children's authors had recorded the actual plight of refugees in Britain, this sense of moral superiority might have been weakened.
After the war ended there was a sharp decline in the number of children's novels which were set during the Second World War. Peter Townsend has written that
It was eleven years before a front-rank war book for children by a British author appeared. 19
The book publishing business did not immediately recover as, "War time shortages continued for some time after the end of the war".20 However in 1956 the "front-rank" book, The silver sword, appeared)1 This novel illustrates the fact that in children's literature
!be first major theme to emerge from the war was the plight of the lost children of Europe, the victims of enemy occupation, extermination camps and post-war chaos.22
The silver sword tells the story of a Polish family who become refugees. It is appropriate that the most prominent children's novel about the piight of refugees in Nazi occupied Europe should concentrate upon Polish refugees.
No part of Europe was more profoundly nffected by the great displacements of population which occurred in World War Two.23
Like the father in The silver sword, many Polish citizens were sent to concentration camps. Poland's Jewish popUlation was reduced from 3,351,000 in 1939 to 90,000 in 1945.24 Around 100,000 refugees escaped from Poland into the Baltic countries.25 Both Poles and Jews were likely to be sent to concentration camps because as the war progressed the Nazis ceased to distinguish between them26, After the war ended children's authors were able to look at the individual stories which lay behind figures such as these. As Peter Hennessey has stated, 31 It's only when tragedy is brought down to the ..... personal ..... that the conglomerate horror of the Second World War can begin to be felt by those who did not feel it at the time. 27
Children's authors could explore the effects war had upon the hundreds of thousands of people who were dislocated from their countries of origin without having to worry about adversely affecting morale. Another difficulty for children's authors writing during the war, was that the full horrors of Nazi persecution were not widely known, There was widespread censorship of all forms of media, including children's books, during the Second World War. This meant that such atrocities as the extermination of the Jews, which caused the refugees to flee, were not widely known of until afterlhe end of the war.28 Although by the winter of 1942-43 news was filtering through of mass extermination of Jews in Poland,29
The subject remained a difficult one to handle ... and the Ministry (of information) steered clear of it throughout the war.30
Belsen was the first concentration camp to be liberated by the British on April 15th 1945,31' Prior to this, the horrific conditions the Russians had encountered when they had liberated Auschwitz and Majdanek had been refuted when relayed to the British, because they had been seen as subject to Russian propaganda.32 It was not until the end of the war that the full extent of Nazi atrocities became apparent.33
Now that contemporary children's authors can explore the plight of refugees, there is a theme of optimism in the face of adversity in their novels. Though many refugees lost families and were never able to return home, and despite the atrocious suffering and loss of life, retrospective writers know that Nazism was defeated. In I am David, the hero is resigned to death. His life "WOUld soon be over".34 However the determination he shows when he escapes from a concentration camp and travels across Europe to Denmark, highlights the novel's central theme of optimism in adversity. While on the run, David realises that he wants to live. "Suddenly he knew that he did not want to die".35 This is no surprise to the reader as the urgency ofDavid's behaviour illustrates his intense wish to avoid capture, "now that he had learned about beauty he wanted to live". David's appreciation of the beauty of his surroundings encourages him to be hopeful in spite of difficulties. He wants to travel to a place where things are "beautiful" and where people do not oppress one another. "Everybody has a right to his life and freedom",36 a sentiment which today's readers are likely to share.
I am David is one of the few children's novels in which the refugees do not eventually arrive in Britain. Another which takes place on the continent is The silver sword. In this story, three children have to leave their home in Warsaw and go into hiding. Eventually they travel to Switzerland. The author, Ian Serraillier, has recognised the suitability of dislocation as a theme in children's novels. 32 The war and its devnstating effects. including the suffering of families separated from loved ones. are always there in my story.37
Ian Serrailler's creation of a family whose members because of Nazi oppression become refugees, highlights the "devastating" affects of war. The theme of optimism in the face of adversity in this novel weakens the negative effects of displacement on children. Although the sisters Ruth and Bronia are separated from their brother, Edek, when he is taken away by the secret police, their despair does not overwhelm th.,m. They are still optimistic. Ruth" had hope and firmness of purpose".38 They return to a cellar in which they have hidden previously and make it habitable
Patiently and without despair Ruth set to work to repair the damage.39
Ruth, Bronia and Edek are searching for their parents from whom they have been separated. They possess an inner strength which enables them to survive the loss of their home, and the break up of their family. Ruth is a "born teacher"4o and starts a school in a.disused cellar. Edek is adept at smuggling essential supplies into nearby towns to be sold~ The three children initially leave their home after Nazi storm troopers come in the middle of the night and take their mother away. The children's escape emphasises to the reader their determination. Edek says of the Nazis "We shan't let them have us now".41 Like David in I am David, he and his sisters are able to remain optimistic against all odds because their journey has a purpose, beside escaping from the Nazis. Their hope to be reunited with their parents keeps them going, just as David's desire to find a place where things are beautiful motivates him.
These journeys are not only physical but also psychological. A theme of self-discovery runs through both novels. Peter Hunt has written that
very many books originate in a sense of place. This. combined with the frequent journey motif -often itself allegorical ·and the desire in the child to comprehend the shape of the world. "literally and metaphorically. has led to a singular use of landscape. and the map.42
I am David and The silver sword are allegorical in the sense that they are stories of growing up. In both, children embark onjourneys which lead them to reunions with their parents. However they also embark upon a psychological journey of discovery which involves learning to survive in an unfamiliar environment with no adults to rely upon. The halts in their journey signify different stages in their psychological development. As Marcus Crouch has written,
The children tackle their enormous problems. growing with their experiences
but becoming scarred by them 100.43
When David finds a temporary home with the Levana del 'Varchi family he learns how to play
33 and interact with other children
They always wanted to be playing. and Dsvid had particularly wanted to learn how to play.44
When David escaped from the concentration camp he did not know "how people lived outside a prison-camp".45 In The silver sword,Jan has to make a decision to leave his dog Ludwig, and help Ruth rescue Edek during a wild storm. "In that moment of decision Jan began to grow up" .46 The children have had a normal upbringing and have never had to survive without adults to provide for them. At the end of the novel the psychological changes the war has caused in Jan and Ruth are observed. Ruth is seen to possess "courage, self-sacrifice and greatness of heart".47 The fact that both Jan's and Ruth's experiences have negative psychological repercussions after the war, contributes to the allegorical element in the novel. Ruth's prolonged separation form her parents results in her behaving
like a young child, clinging to her mother and following her every--where ..... It seemed as if she were trying to recover the lost years of her childhood.48
Ruth has changed psychologically but this difficulty of readjustment is only temporary and the generosity of spirit the war has highlighted is put to good use after the war when she becomes a house-parent in a children's village, looking after French orphans.49 The war has also left a profound psychological mark upon Jan, "his mind had suffered more than his body, and minds usually take longer to heal",SO but eventually, "his bad ways began to drop from him" .51
Families feature strongly in children's novels about wartime refugees. In When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit, the heroine, Anna, and her family have to flee their home in Germany. They move from Germany to Switzerland, to France and then to Britain. Anna feels that she can endure her nomadic existence, just as long as "they were together" .5~ Rctional refugees are either reunited with their parents at the end of the novel, or,like Anna, travel from onecountry to another with them. In I am David, David is finally reunited with his mother. In Storm Warning, an English girl called Ann, who is living in Germany, helps to shelter two Jewish sisters from the Nazis and they are finally reunited with their parents. Families are symbolic in such stories, they represent safety and security from Nazi oppression. This reflects the fact that in children's fiction about refugees during the Second World War there is usually a bond between parent and child which war cannot break. There is a continuing image of the parental bond being unbreakable. In I am David, David is led to his mother by means of a kind of telepathy. He has no evidence that the woman for whom he is searching, is his mother. It is not until the final page that the reader discovers that David's intuition was correct,
The woman locked into his face and said clearly and distinctIy,"David... My son David... :·53
In Storm Warning, the safety of the two Jewish girls, Rachel and Ilse Weiss, is illustrated at the
34 end of the novel by the image of the girls with their parents "moving off towards the Swiss patrol-house - united and free".54 To be convincingly free the children must not only escape from the Nazis, but must be reunited with their parents.
The author of When Hitler stole pink rabbit, grew up during the Second World War and this novel and its two sequels, The other war round and A small person far away, have been described as autobiographical but unlike similar novels such as Carrie 's war and The Machine gunners, which will be discussed in a laterchapter, the action revolves around Anna, the only other characters are her brother Max and her parents. It takes place over a long period, 1933-35 and was first published in 1971 when the concept of realism was beginning to become a dominant feature of children's novels.55 Realism or "new realism" manifested itself in children's literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s and is characterised by novels which deal with "serious (and often brutal) social problems".56 Marcus Crouch has written that no subject is now unsuitable for children's novels.57 When Hitler stole pink rabbit, focuses upon the plight of Gennan Jews during the Second World War; a ~ubject which had previously not received a great deal of attention in children's literature. The prejudice Jews often encountered is illustrated when Anna and her family are staying at a Swiss hotel and she and her brother are not allowed to play with other Gennan children because she and her brother are Jewish. When Anna's family moves to Paris they fall out with the concierge of the block of flats they live in. The concierge says,
"Hitler knew what he was doing when he got rid of people like youl"58
However the theme of optimism in the face of adversity, which runs through this novel, means that the possibility of capture by the Nazis is not dwelt upon. Anna, vacillates between being less frightened by the threat of the Nazis than her parents, and having nightmares about them. However her moments offearare rare and her positive atti!ude to the difficulties her family face help to maintain the novel's optimistic tone ..
It seemed rather fine and adventurous to be a refugee. to have no home and not to know where one was going to live,59
Anna's mood fluctuations are reminiscent of the upbeat attitude to life Anne Frank displays in her diary. Like Anna she is mainly cheerful. Of her suffering, she has "Hope for it to end, hope for peace" .60 However her optimism does occasionally falter, the thought of Jews being sent to concentration camps gives her nightmares, "wretched people are being sent to filthy slaughter-houses like a herd of sick, neglected cattle".'1 Throughout When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit, the theme of hopefulness strengthens the belief that nothing bad will happen to Anna and her family. Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig have said of this novel that the "cheerful tone becomes in the end somewhat bland".62 Peter Hunt has written that realism in children's . literature "is a matter of degree, a matter of where the lens is pointed".63 An author chooses 35 what to show the reader. In depicting a family which escapes tragedy, Judith Kerr does not make Anna's story less realistic. Some refugees were fortunate enough to evade capture by the Nazis. Judith Kerr's fonn of realism is necessarily less brutal than what happened to many refugees in real life. The knowledge of what eventually happened to Anne Frank and her family gives the diary an atmosphere of menace which no children's novel could ever match. In When Hitler stole pink rabbit, the author does highlight the menace of the Nazis but shows the reader that Anna's family is strengthened by its ordeal. Anne appears to have faced her ordeal as optimistical1y as the fictional Anna.
Fortunately children's authors do not have to describe Nazi atrocities to convey to their readers the evil of their philosophy. A more effective way is to emphasise the intel1ectual inferiority of a regime which sees children as a menace that must be eradicated. Any regime which sees Anna as a threat has to be inherently evil and absurd. The mother who forbids her children from playin'g with Anna and her brother, when they are staying at a Swiss hotel, simply makes herSelf ridiculous. Prejudice is depicted as not inherent in children but something which is taught by adults. This theme of prejudice based upon a ridiculous preconception is also illustrated in How's business. When How is evacuated t6 a remote Lincolnshire village, he meets a girl . called Anna and her mother who are Gennan refugee. They are ostracised from their local community, because '"They're foreigners. Her mother's a witch, too".64 In reality refugees in Britain during the Second World War were often badly treated. By September 1939, 60,000 refugees had arrived in Britain.65 Britain's treatment of refugees during the Second World War was controversial. There was
widespread anti-Semitism which surfaced in 1940 in temporarily successful clamour for the internment of refugee Jews as "enemy aliens",66
In May 1940, refugees "who had Gennan connections were locked up".67 Many refugees of other nationalities were also imprisoned.
Nazis, anti-Nazis. Jews and even Jew-bailers were thus an imprisoned together. 6S
Those who were not locked up faced prejudice.
The subject of refugees is especially attractive to contemporary children's authors as it provides an opportunity for fiction particularly relevant to today's multi-cultural society. As Judith Ekin has written,
Great Britain is a multi-cultural. multi-lingual, multi-faithful society ..... We should be preparing young people for a world where many of the harries between groups, between cultures and between nations have been broken down.69
By portraying the plight of refugees during the Second World War, children's authors can 36 highlight the suffering endured by people of different nationalities, and emphasise the dangers ofreligious and racial prejudice. The majority of refugees who arrived in Britain came from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.7o Six out of seven of them were Jewish.71 Prejudice against refugees was common as there was a tendency on the part of the British to equate all foreigners with Nazis. In Fathom Five, the Maltese are unfairly victimised even though Malta was bombed by the Germans during the war. Nico is an example of how his nation suffered at the hands of the Germans, and why many of his country men became refugees.
Nico lose father, mother, brothers, all .... when Germans bomb Malta,72
The theme of prejudice based upon a ridiculous pre-conception; that the Maltese wanted Hitler to win the war, is evident in this novel. In The other way round, Anna's brother Max is interned because he is English. Anna 's mother, in her anger, correctly highlights the assumption behind Britain's war time internment policy, that all foreigners were Nazis, which meant that many refugees "who had German connections were locked up"73, This policy conveniently forgot that in the 1930s, while Britain was trying to negotiate a peace with Hitler, many "foreigners"such as Jews in Germany, were being persecuted by Hitler. As Anna's mother says,
"We've been fighting Hitler for years .... All the time the English were still saying what a fine gentleman he was, And now that the penny's finally dropped .... , the only thing they can do is intern Max",74
I have examined the effects of dislocation upon refugees' lives by looking at the themes and issues highlighted by children's authors. Refugees had to adapt to new environments, and this provides a constant theme that runs through children's novel about refugees. As JiIl Paton Walsh has stated, the Second World War was a time of "discomfort and gloom, and above all, upheaval".75 The issue of prejudice is addressed, through the portrayal of refugees of various nationalities. It is generally overcome and the long term negative effects of being a refugee are not explored, as characters are consistently portrayed as being optimistic in the face of adversity. The theme of self discovery is important because it enables children's authors to probe the psychological development of their characters. A final, recurring theme in children's novels about refugees, is the central role of the family in representing safety and security.
37 Chapter two
References
1. MacLeod, Rory. The promise offull employment. In: Smith, Harold, L, ed. War and social change. British Society in the Second World War, 1986, pp. 78-100.
2. Jackson, Carlton. Who will take our children? The story of the evacuation in Britain 1939 - 45, 1985, p. 15.
3. Carsten, Francis. German Refugees in Great Britain 1933 - 1945. A survey. In: Hirschfeld, Gerhard, ed. Exile in Great Britain. Refugeesfrom Hitler's Germany, 1984, pp. 11-28.
4. Hirschfeld, Gerhard. Introduction. In: Hirschfeld, Gerhard, ed. Exile in Britain. Refugeesfrom Hitler's Germany, 1984, pp. 1-9.
5. Carsten, ref. 3, p. 12.
6. Ibid., p. 13.
7. Ross, Stewart. The home front, 1990, p. 38.
8. Cadogan, Mary & Patricia Craig. Women and children first ..... Thefiction ofthe two world wars, 1978, p. 241.
9. Ken, Judith. When Hitler stole pink rabbit, 1994(first published 1971), p. 266.
10. Donaldson, Margaret. The moon's on fire, 1981(first published 1980), p.5.
11. Cadogan, ref. 8, p. 238.
12. Ibid.
13. Brent-Dyer, Elinor. The chalet school at war, 1988 (first published in 1941 as The chalet school goes to it), p. 70.
14. Marwick, Arthur. The home front: The British and the Second World War, 1976, p.73. 15. Ray, SheiIa, G. The Elyton phenomenon. The controversy su"ounding the worl;is most successful children's author, 1982, p. 160.
16. Crompton, Richmal. William and the tea-cake. In: Williamat war. A collection of Just -William's wartime adventures, 1995(first published 1941), pp. 191-214.
17. Ross, ref. 7, p. 45.
18. Cadogan, ref. 8, p. 243.
19. Townsend, John Rowe. Writtenforchildren. An outline ofEnglish language children's literature, third edition 1987, p. 211.
20. Ray, ref. 15, p. 34.
21. Townsend, ref. 19, p. 211. 38 22. Cadogan, ref. 8, p. 211.
23. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1960,18, p. 153.
24. Ibid. 25. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1960, 19, p. 58.
26. Ibid. 27. Hennessy, Peter. Never again. Britain 1945 - 51, Im, p.55.
28. Miller, Russell. Their finest hour. The Sunday Times. News Review, May 7th 1995, p. 1. 29. Yass, Marion. This is your war. Home front propaganda in the Second World War, 1983, p. 45.
30. Ibid., p. 45.
31. The world at arms. The reader's digest illustrate.d history o/World War Two,l989, p.416.
32. Ibid.
33. Miller, ref. 28, p. 1.
34. Holm, Anne. I am David, 1979(first published in 1963 in Danish as David), p. 11.
35. Ibid., p. 28.
36. Ibid., p. 111.
37. Serraillier,lan. lan Serraillier 1912 -. Something about the Author Autobiography Series, 1987, 3,260.
38. Serraillier, lan. The silver sword, 1956, p. 71.
39. Ibid., p. 55.
40. Ibid., p. 48.
41. ibid., p. 44.
42. Hunt, Peter. An Introduction to Children's Literature, 1994, p. 179.
43. Crouch, Marcus. The Nesbit tradition. The children's novel in England 1945 - 70, 1972, p. 28.
44. Holm, ref. 34, p. 110.
45. 1bid., p. 38-39.
46. SerrailIier, ref. 38, p. 177.
47. Ibid. 39 48. Ibid., p. 187.
49. Ibid.
SO. Ibid., p. 186.
51. Ibid.
52. KeIT, ref. 9, p. 272. 53. Holm, ref. 34, p. 191.
54. Kay, Mara. Storm warning, 1977(first published 1976), p. 187.
55. Elkin, Judith. The British child in British children's fiction. International Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 1993,8(2), 102 . . 56. Hunt, ref. 42, p. 147.
57. Crouch, Marcus. New faces, new directions in Britain. Children's Literature Review, 1986, 11, 15.
58. KeIT, ref. 9, p. 252.
59. Ibid., p. 93.
60. Frank, Anne. The diary ofAnne Frank, 1954 (first published 1947), p. 85.
61. /bid., p. 72.
62. Cadogan, ref. 8, p. 241.
63. Hunt, ref. 42, p. 171.
64. Prince, Alison. How's business, 1988 (first published 1987), p.35. 65. Ross, ref. 7, p. 38.
66. Calder, Angus. Britain's gOod war? History· Today, 1995,45(5),60. 67. Ross, ref. 7, p. 38.
68. Ibid. 69. Elkin, ref. 55, p. 100.
70. Lewis, Peter. Apeople's war, 1986, p. 38. 71. Ibid.
72. Westall, Robert. Fathom Five, 1982 (first published 1979), p. 210-211. 73. Ross, ref. 7, p. 38.
74. Kerr, Judith. The other way round, 1994 (first published 1975), p. 339.
40 75. Walsh, JilI Paton. Walsh, JilI Paton. My life so far. Something about the Author Autobi9graphy Series, 1987,3,194.
41 ·Chapter III
Parents
42 British family life of the 1930s was very different to that of the 1990s. Divorce was almost unheard of1 and though illegitimate births, occurred they were hidden away.2 In war time Britain,
only married women were supposed to have babies. The rest knew that unmanied motherhood turned them into social Qutcasts,J
The growth in realism in children's fiction since the 1970s has meant that children's authors have been able to reflect upon the very different attitudes towards single mothers that existed in the 1930s. Children's authors tend not to depict the plight of children who were illegitimate, but focus upon the difficulties single mothers themselves faced, because many illegitimate children were adopted4 and therefore usually did not have to cope with the social stigma of illegitimacy, whereas single mothersdid.S Adoption was the only legal alternative.6 In A little love song, the heroine makes friends with a pregnant girl who faces pressure to give up her baby.
"We've had people round from the church and the hospital and voluntary workers ..... they say I'm heing selfish keeping him",7
The phenomenon of mothers left to bring up children on their own, when their husbands were called up, was one which society had not faced before. In Back home, Rusty's mother finds that war brings increased independence and freedom. Women under the age offorty with children under fourteen were classed as "immobile" and therefore were exempt from war service,S however most did undertake some kind of war work9 which often gave them the opportunity to make new friends and learn new skills.lo Many joined the Women's Voluntary Service which provided reliefforthe homeless.l1 By 1943,375,000 women were employed in Civildefence,12 which involved working as air raid wardens, staffing control centres and driving ambulances.l3 Eighty per cent of mamed women were engaged in some kind of war work.l4 The theme of self improvement evident in children's novels about evacuation, often involves, both evacuees and their mothers. Rusty's mother has become more independent through working with the W.V.S. "War was one of the best things that happened to me."lS Whereas with evacuees the opportunity for self improvement came from a change in their environment, for women the increased freedom from undertaking some kind of war work outside the home, or bringing up children on their own, created a fuller life.
Thousands of women undoubtedly relished their changed lives, especially for the new horizons that were opened up for them. I6
Before the war began very few women were employed. They could work in domestic service, the textile industry, the service and distributive trades or on assembley lines, but were excluded from the engineering, steel and shipbuilding industries)7 It was also hard to gain entry into the 43 Civil service orotherprofessions.l8 Carrie's mother in Carrie's war drives an ambulances in air raids and finds this job "very exciting",19 When she visits Carrie and herbrother she gives the impression that she has started a new life. This is symbolised by the fact that
She had had her hair cut. She looked different ,20
The happiness her new found freedom has brought her, is emphasised when
Their mother laughed, .. ,Laughed and laughed like a little girllaughing,21
She has found the freedom the war has brought her exhilarating. Carrie's mother highlights the fact that life for women
changed radically in Britain during the Second World War because of conscription, evacuation and some liberalisation of sexual behaviour.22
Though the changes the Second World War wrought upon the family were significant, the traditional nuclear family continued to disintegrate after 1945. The birth rate of illegitimate children did not begin to rise dramatically until the 1980s, reaching 31 % by 1992, and currently rising by two percentage points a year.23 The divorce rate only increased gradually until the 1969 Divorce Reform.24 Despite a "phenomenal" rise in illegitimate births2S, society was not ready to destigmatise unmarried single mothers and end the social isolation they had come to endure, In In spite ofall terror, Liz's unmarried cousin becomes pregnant. Her mother throws her onto the streets. The attitude of the time is epitomised for the reader by Liz's gran,
"She's done a real wicked thing, bringing a child into the world without a father",26
However World War Two did begin the irrevocable alteration of the structure of the British nuclear family: As well as the rise in the number of illegitimate births, the number of single mothers bringing up children on their own, also rose dramatically. This was mainly due to fathers/husbands having been called up. Children could be separated from their parents, through evacuation, or if their father was called up or away on war work. Military conscription became law in 1939,27 however as mothers who were bringing up children were not called up, children were more likely to be separated from their father. As 264,443 members of the armed forces were killed28, for many wives the task of bringing up children on their own became a permanent one. This fact is not reflected in children's fiction. Occasionally fictional children lose parents, as in But can the Phoenix sing?, A Time ofFire and The Machine-Gunners, but the widowed mother left to bring children up on her own is rare in children's fiction.
44 Patricia Craig and Mary Cadogan' s statement that in World War Two fiction written since 1945,
missing relatives are not always alive and well off-stage~ father does not have to appear .. ," to restore the families fortunes,29 is a generalisation not borne out by many novels. Parents very rarely die, even in The silver sword, I am David and Storm warning, in which whole families are separated through Nazi oppression, parents and children are reunited. This tendency still adheres today; in Waiting for Anya 1990, the hero's father is a prisoner of war in Germany but before the end ofthe novel he returns. This reflects the view that children want stQries in which "the petty restrictions of life are removed" .30
Realism in children's novels requires two essentially contradictory elements. Children need access to literature which enables them to both "search for knowledge about emotions and lifestyles beyond their own"31 and "look for reassurance and relevance".32 World War Two 'novels can meet both of these requirements. Novels such as The Machine-Gunners and Goodnight Mister Tom, do illustrate the human cost of war and the emotional problems of adjusting to a new environment by highlighted the tensions which exist between children and adults. They can recreate the past, making it easier for children to imagine people's lifestyles during the Second World War. A review of The Machine-Gunners, written at the time of its publication, praised its realism "This book has a remarkable authenticity of atmosphere."33 Reassurance is provided by the fact that despite the suffering and destruction caused by the war, the hero and his immediate family are unlikely to be killed. Even when the heroine is a cat as in Blitzcat, the cat returns home safely and is reunited with her family.
It has been said that nowadays children's literature is not afraid to tackle "the harsh facts of life" .34 However death, when it occurs, is generally portrayed at a distance. In The Machine gunners, though Nicky has been emotionally scarred by his parent's death, his grief is not dwelt upon. As the plot revolves around Chas, once Nicky's mother has been killed, he fades into the background. In Goodnight Mister Tom, there runs the constant theme of optimism in adversity. Whatever obstacles to Willie' s happiness are placed in his way, he overcomes them. The death of his mother has the positive effect of enabling Mister Tom to adopt him. At the end of this novel, when Willie's best friend Zach is killed, the grieving process Willie goes through is described movingly, "Will survived each day in a zombie-like daze.. .Inwardly he felt too numb even to cry".35 However ultimately he is able to come to terms with Zach's death. "I can live without Zach even though I shall miss him".36 Learning to accept death is depicted as being an essential part of a child's psychological development. Willie's acceptance of Zach's death is for the reader convincing and therefore reassuring but it is not as fundamental an event as the death of a parent.
45 Many husbands and wives reunited after the war, found that their marriage could not survive and were divorced. The divorce rate doubled in England and Wales between 1939-41 and between 1944-46.37 Children's authors can depict this significant change by focusing upon children's relationships with their parents. In Back Home, Rusty's parents' marriage does not last long after Rusty's father returns home. He cannot accept that the war has made his wife more independent, his wife is not prepared to surrender her freedom.
he wanted things to he just the way they we'e before 1940 ..... she couldn't start pretending she was the same person as she had been six yearS ago.38
Through Rusty's relationship with her parents, the reader is shown the difficulties couples faced after demobilisation. At one point Rusty notices that her father "was great at giving orders, he was terrible at receiving them".39 In reality many men had problems adjusting to a changed domestic lif,e having grown used to either giving or receiving orders.
military experience often changed men in ways that mad~ it hard for them to show love.40
He is not at all demonstrative towards his son Chariie, who he has never seen before he is demobbed and is a stricter parent than his wife, which causes further friction,
father said he was a boy, not a baby, and that he'd have to learn to act like a man.41
Their relationship illustrates the difficulties faced by children born while their fathers were away fighting. When the end of the war came many children of former soldiers found that they had to get used to living with a stranger.4Z In When Dcuidy came home, Barry Turner and Tony Rennelllooked at the problems for soldiers readjusting to home life. One wife remembers how her son, who was born while her husband was away, failed to establish a proper relationship afterl945.
He considered our boy spoilt and undisciplined ..... while the baby' asked me in a loud voice, "When is that man going to go away?,,43
Through children's literature in which service men are demobbed, there runs a theme of emotional readjustment. Though they are pleased to be back, the fact that they have been away fighting for a number of years manifests itself in their physical appearance, and in their emotional reaction to being back home. Many returning servicemen did eventually readjust to being home.44 However children could often build up impressions of their fathers which were hard to reconcile with the man who returned. "Some felt cheated by their father's return" .45 In The Spitfire secret, the hero, Les, tells his school friends that his father is a fighter pilot. He finds this easy because he can hardly remember him. When his father is demobbed Les finds it hard to accept him, 46 he had thought somehow that Dad was taller and broader. "more like an older version of Biggles.46
He has to face the fact that his father was an ordinary soldier, "Never out of this country even. Just shifted from one dreary base to another" .47 In The war and Freddy, even though Freddy's father does not return home until the end ofthe novel, the author gives the reader an indication ofthe effect the war has had upon him. Freddy's father's sandy hair
was thinner. his face was lined and his eyes were deep. He was hardly smiling. but deep contentment radiated from him.48
Though he is glad to be home, the suffering he has undergone will always be with him. As Margaret Wadsworth, whose husband returned home in 1946 wrote,
"We put flags up for them ..... but the boys wbo came back were not the boys who went away".49
In Back home, when Rusty's father returns home she fails to recognise him, a situation many children dreadedSO and which symbolised the extent to which children andtheir parents had been living separate lives. It has been said that
a child has only a limited capacity for keeping alive the idea of someone wbo is loved when there is no opportunity for seeing and talking to that person.S1
In children's novels set during World War Two in which the hero or heroine's father is serving in one ofthe armed forces, the father is often at the back of the child's mind. In these novels runs the theme of optimism in the face of adversity. Children worry about their absent fathers but do not question whether they should be away from home. To have a father who is away is something to be proud of. In Over the wet lawn, three of the main characters' fathers are away fighting. When Raoul first meets the other children they all proudly boast about their fathers.
"My dad's in the army ...... Ours is in the RAF'.52
In these stories children whose fathers are away fighting, either cannot remember them and are able to block them out of their minds, or worry about their father's safety and find that their fears are never justified. In How's business, How does not worry about his father's safety because he rarely thinks of him,
How did not often think about his father. He had seen him so seldom in the last four years
that the soldier who came home on leave sometimes ..... seemed t~ be just a special kind of father.53
47 This reflects the fact that, as Barry Turner and Tony Rennell have written,
For many a young child, daddy was a shadowy figure, a dimly remembered bringer of presents.54
In Keeping Henry, the narrator's father is in the Navy, Her younger brother Charlie does not miss theirfather.
Cbarlie ... barely knew him. In the last four years Dod had only been on leave twice.SS
The narrator fears for her father even though these fears turn out to be unjustified.
the news blared out.. .. most important and frightening to me because of my father, attacks on convoys .... ships being sunk, blown out of the water,56
Children's fiction written both during and after the war is generally patriotic in tone. David Jones has written that writers have been reluctant
to probe the troublesome psychological and spiritual questions that war should provoke,S7
Although World War Two novels written since the early 1970s have begun to introduce "sympathetic" Germans such as in Summer of my German soldier, 1974, The Machine Gunners, 1975 and Tomorrow is a stranger, 1987, the allied cause is accepted asjust. As Peter Hollindale has written, "writers for children ... cannot hide what their values are."S8 The absence offathers away fighting, encourages children's desirse to serve their country, and reinforces the belief that the Nazis were evil. In The Dolphin Crossing, Pat and John have a desperate desire to get involved, partly fuelled by the fact that their fathers are both soldiers. "It's ruddy awful...being kept out of everything ... and thinking of them fighting" .59 During the Second World War, in children, "patriotism was intense and uncomplicated".60 As the war became distant, authors could write.about it more objectively and questioningly. By 1978 Andrew Davies could write a "funny and entertaining book"6! about World WarTwo, Conrad's war. It is a story told from the perspective of a boy who imagines himself as the hero of a series of wartime adventures. The writer uses the close relationship between the hero Conrad and his parents, in order to show the unexpected yet certain protection his father can provide, "Conrad felt sleepy and weak and very glad to be looked after by his dad", 62 as well as to bring home the anti-war message which is at the core of the story. Eventually, Conrad, begins to see war
the way his mother talked about it ..... sad and serious, and if something didn't happen very soon he was going to start crying.63
48 Parents in children's novels set during World War Two, rarely mention the social unease which was manifest in British society during the war, the strikes, the resentment caused by the fact that the poor were more likely to be bombed than the rich,64 and the unpopularity of Churchill shown at the end of the war.6S Dr Nick Tiratsoo has stated that "not even the threat of Hitler could reconcile Britain's social divisions".66 The MP Joe Ashton remembers being at the cinema a few weeks after YE day. When Churchill appeared on the screen,
there were shouts of "Get him out" and "Warmonger",'7
The war did not ease British society's divisions,
the dancing in the streets on VE day was deceptive, for it hid the feelings of a large section of the nation. A militancy was beginning to grow.68
The recurrent theme of optimism in adversity, which helps to maintain the patriotic tone of these novels, suppresses this feature of British society. The growth in realism in children's novels since the 1970s has not tempted authors to explore the social divisions of the period. While it is true that children's novels accurately explore the common desire to defeat Hitler, they do not explore the tensions which existed beneath the veneer of unity.
The war on the home front was in many ways a shoddy episode, all our social barriers remained. some internal conflicts in fact worsened and the celebrated spirit of national unity owed very little to what actually happened and quite a lot to propaganda."
An important part of a child's development is learning to "understand the world" .70 Through the portrayal of family life children could learn about the tensions that existed in British society. By ignoring the social conflict present in wartime society, children's authors lay themselves open to the charge that children's novels "reflect society as it wishes to be seen",7! not as it is. Two novels which do mention the divisions present in British society are The file on Fraulein Berg and Fathom Five. in which the disunity of British society is illustrated. Fathomfive makes the point that people still wanted Hitler to be defeated, but were angry at the injustices in British society and could see no end to the war.
War going on too long; people turning funny. Miner's striking, when the country was desperate for coal; helping Hitler ..... Britain going rotten inside. Hitler winning from sheer boredom.72
In Fathom Five. Chas' father does alter his son's perception of society when he says of Churchill, "He's just another boss" .73 Chas' father statement that
Hitler has got to he stopped - and Aah suppose Churchill's the man to do it,74
49 was a common attitude during the war. The implication being that once Hitler was defeated it would be time for Churchill to resign as prime minister.
It has been said that the degree to which evacuees missed their parents often depended on their social class. Middle class children often already had experience of being away from home, so could look upon the whole exercise as a holiday.75 Unfortunately for working class children.
"evacuation ... was often confusing and hurtful, with strangersinviting him or her to abandon cherished habits",76
The abandonment ofthese "cherished habits" could remind working class evacuees of the distance between them and their parents. Middle class children had an advantage in that their parents could afford to visit them.77 In Carrie's war, Carrie and her brother's social background is never directly referred to. However their mother is able to afford to visit them and the impression is given thattheirfather commands his own ship. "Her father's ship was on convoy duty"78, thus giving the impression that they are middle class.
The loss of a parent was the most significant change the Second World War could bring to a child's life. The changes brought about by evacuation or becoming a refugee were usually gradual, the effects did not manifest themselves for a long time and were often reversible. The loss of a parent during war time was sudden and irreversible. The portrayal of children losing parents during the Second World War, illustrates the patriotic tone of children's fiction, written both during wartime and after 1945. InA time a/fire, when the hero Sonny's parents are both killed, they are depicted as having died for ajust cause. Even in death there is reason for optimism. Sonny is eventually able to look forward to the future with his grandparents.
''The gap of the missing healed over, It still hurt; but this was a family that worked again",79
In The Machine Gunners, Nicky loses his mother in an air raid and his father has already been killed in action, yet the theme of optimism triumphs at the end of the novel when Nicky is taken away by a police officer to be placed in a home. He tells the police man to "Get stuffed" .80 In overcoming his grief he has developed from a shy and unsure boy into somebody who is prepared to challenge authority.
Substitute parents are important in children's novels set during World War Two. A repeated theme is that good parenting comes rather from a sympathetic attitude of mind than a biological relationship; a child's natural parents are not always the most suitable people to bring up a child. During evacuation some children found that their foster parents were a considerable improvement upon theirnatural parents. These evacuees
owe a debt of gratitude to their wartime "borrowed parents'" whose loving homes were able to foster an awareness of life outside the environments they had left.SI 50 Willie in GoodnightMister Tom, and Liz in In spite ofall terror, are evacuated from unhappy homes to those where they benefit from the love and attention their foster parents give them. Willie benefits from Tom's care in Goodnight Mister Tom because he needs somebody who will help him to learn to enjoy life. Tom's care does him more good than his mother's. She has convinced Willie that he is "full of sin"82 and beats him. Tom transforms Willie's life. It has been said that
Very poor parent-child relationships seem to be likely to set in train a complex sequence of disadvantaging events which may. if not broken by good fortune, lead to serious disturbance when the child grows up.83
The theme in Goodnight Mister Tom and In spite ofall terror, of good parenting resulting from a certain attitude of mind, enables children's authors to create substitute parents who allow children's lives to improve. In In spite of all terror, Liz's foster parents provide a stable, caring, family environment which she has not experienced since her father died,
now the Brutons were her own; she was wrapped up in them; they were the best part of her life,84
Evacuation turns out to be permanent for both Liz and Willie. Tom adopts Willie and the reader is given the impression that Liz will stay permanently with the Brutons, "she had a new family now" .85 In reality this did not happen very often, the adoption of evacuees did not become widespread. Neither Willie nor Liz, after having got used to life with their foster parents, have to face the difficulties of returning home. Rusty in Back home is not so fortunate. Life with her American foster parents has helped her to blossom both emotionally and physically and created a distance between her and her natural parents, "her mother didn't seem real. Nor her father".86 She cannot readjust to life in England until she has got to know her mother again. When the reader is told that "Every day Rusty was discovering that her mother was really a lot of fun",87 it is apparent that she is overcoming the difficulties of homecoming.
Other members of a child's family can make successful substitute parents. The death toll of 67,635 civilians and 264,443 service personnel ,88 meant that many children were orphaned. Of the children who were not evacuated from London and other major cities, "Many of those who stayed behind were orphaned".89 Therefore the Second World War was a time when many grandparents, aunts and uncles found themselves bringing up their young relatives. This is illustrated in Storm warning and A time offire. Ann in Storm warning and Sonny in A time offire are not mistreated by their natural parents nor rescued from a damaging background but pass from one loving relation to another. Ann is cared for by her Uncle Dick after her father's death. Uncle Dick's profession as ajournalist enables the author to place Ann in Germany in 1938. Uncle Dick refers to his niece as "sole living relative"9o and remains in the background of the novel until the end. However the impression is given that Ann benefits from living with her uncle. He removes her from a school she detests, and encourages her to learn
51 Genuan. Unfortunately he is a rather one dimensional character, the reader never discovers whether he enjoys looking after his niece. In A time of.fire, the theme of good parenting being the result of a sympathetic state of mind is emphasised, when Sonny's grandparents reassure him that he will not be left alone in a "cruel hard world"~91 Though Sonny was not mistreated by his parents, his grandfather criticises his father for joining the R.A.F.
"yer dad wasn't a very good dad to you. Another sort 0' Dad
would ha' stayed home and .. ,takken 0' you".92
Sonny's grandparents help him to come to tenus with his parents' death. They provide Sonny, who blames himself for their death, with the most satisfactory explanation of why they died.
It seemed to fit, to help, more than what the vicar had said.93
The novel ends with Sonny and his grandparents clearing up their kitchen. The image of them working together illustrates how Sonny feels at home with his grandparents. Even though he has just confronted the Genuan fighter pilot, who he thinks killed his mother, his grandfather's presence comforts him. "We'd better get tidied up, an' save the tale tilllater",94
In But can the Phoenix sing?, the theme of the right attitude of mind producing good parenting is illustrated both in the past and in the present. After the parents of the hero, Misha, have died, he joins a band of resistance fighters and the second in command, Dr Henryk, becomes a father figure to him. Dr Henryk's influence affects Misha's relationship with his own step-son, Richard. Misha admits to Richard that "because in so many ways he was a model step-father. I suspect that in failing you, I am letting him down too".95 In But can the Phoenix sing? and Goodnight Mister Tom, parenting is depicted as rewarding those who put the most effort into it. Misha's relationship with his step-son does not begin to improve until he composes a letter which relates the story of his childhood during the Second World War. In Goodnight Mister Tom, the love and attention Tom devotes to Willie alleviates the pain he has felt since his wife . died in childbirth.
he felt as if a heavy wave of sadness had suddenly beem lifted from out of him. Memories of her didn't seem as painful as he had imagined.96
This theme of parenting rewarding the effort that is put into it is illustrated in But can the Phoenix sing? when Misha in his letter to his step-son regrets that Nazi death camps are being forgotten;
there is no better illustration of the inability of human beings to leam from the past than the blank looks on the faces of most of your generation, Richard, when most of those names are mentioned.97
52 At theclimax of the novel it is revealed that Richard and some school friends, painted two large swastikas and the words "Jews belong in Israel"98 on their school's playground walls. However, whereas before reading his step-father's letter Richard found this vandalism amusing, by the end of the novel Misha knows he is sorry for what he has done,
"I !mow you're sorry, Richard and that's what's important to me",99
This statement brings to a conclusion the novel's central message that responsible parenting pays dividends. As a caring parent Misha has successfully helped his step-son to understand the truth about Nazi persecution.
For children who were not separated from their natural parents during the Second World War, it provided them with an opportunity to develop a closer relationship. The children's author who has written most perceptively about children's relationships with their parents during the Second World War, is Robert Westall. He has said that,
Any hook .bout children has got to be about the power struggle between cbildren and adults.l OO
In his novels, including The Machine-Gunners, after this power struggle, parents and children come to an uneasy truce which ultimately brings them closer to one another. When The Machine-Gunners was first published there were two main criticisms: it was violent and it contained too much bad language.lOI However it is the portrayal of Chas' relationship with his parents which is the most memorable element of the novel. A contemporary review said that, "The action of this story is dependent, ultimately, on character",102 The most memorable characters are the quick thinking Chas, his strict father, who has a healthy disrespect for authority and his mother who is obsessed with what the neighbours think.
The re-emergence of World War Two as a subject for children's novels in the late 1960s and 1970s, reflects the fact that children who were adults during the Second World War began to look back upon their own childhood, In 1975 Marcus Crouch wrote that
the last decade ..... has been a great time for reminiscence. Writers .. .look back to their own childhoods,103
This is a reason why the home front is depicted in so many children's novels, rather than battles or espionage. For the majority of children, the war "wasn't fought with tanks and planes and guns"I04 but "by old men and women and kids",lOS As many children were not evacuated and had fathers who were not called up, their memories of World WarTwo include daily wartime life with their parents. This is evident in The Machine-Gunners.
53 Robert WestalJ has written that inspiration for this novel came when
I began my own journey in memory back to the time when I was twelve ..... Memories began to surface",l06
These memories included the influence his parents exerted as he grew up through the war years.
My [other's effect on my writing was huge. He is the father of The Machine-Gunners and Fathom Five.1 07
Many other children's authors such as Judith Kerr, JiII Paton Walsh, Penelop~ Lively and Susan Cooper, have written novels based upon their wartime childhoods. However none of the parent-child relationships they have created are as intriguing and convincing as that of Chas and his father. Chas does not have a false image of his father.
He looked at his father. and saw a weary. helpless middle-aged man,108
However he and his father still have a deep bond which the fear of a possible Nazi invasion strengthens. This is shown at the end of the novel when Chas and his gang's secret "den" has been discovered. Chas's father says,
"I'll not say much for my lad... except he thought he was fighting the Germans".109
Nina Bawden in Carrie's war, highlights the fact that she grew up during the Second World War. A contemporary review of this novel stated that "Nina Bawden writes with ..... a strong whiff of nostalgia" .HO Another reviewer wrote of Carrie 's war that "If it is not partly autobiographical, it certainly feels as if it is".l1l Both Susan Cooper and JiII Paton Walsh have also emphasised the importance for them of growing up during the war. However different authors have different memories and this is reflected in their novels. Jill Paton Walsh was limited in the extent to which she could, draw upon her actual memories of World War Two, she could only remember a little of the London blitz depicted in Fireweed, and nothing of the withdrawal from Dunkirk in 1940, depicted in The Dolphin crossing .112 Parents in these two novels are either absent or remain in the background because both novels focus upon major war time events rather than upon the relationships between parents and children. Susan Cooper's war was much more peaceful than that of Robert Westall. She "never came face-to-face with death, or with blood"113yetin her novel, Dawn offear, which is set during the Blitz, the danger of war is apparent. Both day and night time air raids take place and one of the main characters is killed. As in The Machine-Gunners, war helps children to forge a closer relationship with their parents. This is achieved by emphasis upon the desire of parents to protect their children.
54 During an .air raid the father's desire to protect his son is almost a physical force;
His father·s arm around him was like an iron bar.114 .
This is an example of how in children's wartime literature, the depiction offamily life, or its break up, provides a vibrant backcloth against which the actions of the young characters' lives revolve.
55 Chapter three References.
1. Winfield, Pamela. Bye bye baby. The story o/the children the G.I.s left behind, 1992,p.7.
2. Ibid., p. 8.
3. Ibid., p. 4.
4. Ibid., p. 8.
5. Ibid., p. 4.
6. Ibid ..
7. Magorian MicheIle. A little love song, 1993(first published 1991), p. 261.
8. Minns, Raynes. Bombers and mash. The domestic front 1939-45, 1980, p.9.
9. Ibid. 10. Croall, Jonathan. Women's work. In: Don't you Know there's a war on? The people's voice 1939-45, 1988, pp. 59-60.
11. Lewis,Peter. A people 's war, 1986,p. 141.
12. Ibid., p. 140.
13. Ibid., p. 141. 14. Croall, ref. 17 , p. 59. 15. Magorian Michelle. Back home, 1985, p. 37.
16. Croall, ref. 10, p. 59.
17. Ibid. 18. Ibid. 19. Bawden, Nina. Carrie's War, 1973, p. 34.
20. Ibid., p. 35.
21. Ibid., p. 37.
22. Harper, Sue. Madonna of the seven moons. History Today, 1995,45(8),51.
23. Morgan, Patricia. Farewell to the/amity? Public polieyandfamity breakdown in Britain and the USA, 1995, p. 4.
24. Nobbs, Jack. Sociology in context, 1983, p. 162.
25. Lewis, ref. 11, p. 150. 56 26. Burton, Hester. In spite of all terror, 1968, p. 167.
27. The world at arms. The reader's digest illustrated history of World War Two, 1989, p.175.
28. The Sunday Times. The casualties of war. News Review, May 7th 1995, p. 2.
29. Cadogan, Mary & Patricia Craig. Women and children first. Thefiction oftwo world wars, 1978, p. 270.
30. Carpenter, Humphrey. Secret Gardens. A study of the golden age of children's literature,1985, p.1. 31. Eccleshare, JuHa. Trends in children's fiction in the United Kingdom during the 1980s. Children's Literature in Education, 1991, 22(1), 21. --
32. Ibid., p. 21. 33. Fisher, Margery. A review of The Machine-Gunners. Growing point, 1975, 14(4), 2707. In: Westall, Robert. Robert (Atkinson) Westall1929 -. Children's literature review, 1987,13,250.
34. Townsend, John Rowe. No escape form the harsh facts of life. The Sunday Times, August 6th, 1995, p. 10.
35. Magorian, MicheIle. Goodnight Mister Tom, 1981, p. 282.
36. Ibid., p. 295.
37. Winter, J M. The demographic consequences of war. In: Harold L. Smith, ed. War and social change British society in the Second World War, 1986, pp. 78-100. 38. Magorian, ref. 15, p. 377.
39. Ibid., p. 292.
40. Turner, Barry & Tony RenneIl. The children's stories (Serialisation of When Daddy comes home, by BarryTumer & Tony Rennell, 1995). The Sunday Times. News Review, April 2nd, 1995, p. 2.
41. Magorian, ref. 7, p. 2%.
42. Turner, ref. 40, p. 1.
43. Ibid., , p. 2.
44. Lewis, ref. 11, p. 241.
45. Turner, ref 40.• p. 1.
46. Forsyth, Anne. The Spitfire secret, 1985, p. 52.
47. Ibid., p. 62.
48. Hamley, Dennis. The war and Freddy, 1994 (first published 1991) pp. 151-152.
57 49. Turner, ref. 40, p. 1. so. Ibid.
51. Winnicott, D. The evacuated child. (A broadcast talk to foster parents 1945). In: Clare Winnicott, Ray Shepherd, and Madeleine Davis, eds. Deprivation and delinquency. D. W. Winnicott, 1984, pp. 39-43. .
52. 8tanden, Michael. Over the wet lawn, 1977, p. 9. 53. Prince, Alison. How's business, 1988 (first published 1987), p. 77.
54. Turner, ref. 40, p. 1. 55. Bawden, Nina. Keeping Henry, 1990(first published 1988), p. 12.
56. Ibid., p. 42. 57. James, David L. Recent World War Two Fiction: A Survey. Children's Uterature in Education, 1977,8(2),71. 58. Hollindale, Peter. Ideology and the children's book. Signal 55, January 1988. In: Hunt Peter, ed. Uterature/orchildren, 1992, p. 30. .
59. Wa\sh, JilI Paton. The Dolphin crossing, 1967, p. 24-25. 60. Cadogan, ref. 29, p. 213. 61. Davies, Andrew. Conrad's war, 1980 (first published 1978) Bookjacket.
62. Ibid., p. 142. 63. Ibid., p. 126. 64. Minns, ref. 8, p. 18.
65. Ashton, Joe. Hitler did us a favour. In: David Childs & Janet Wharton, eds. Children in war. Reminiscences o/the Second World War., 1989, pp. 120-122. 66. Tiratsoo, Nick. Myths and memories of World War Two. (BBC2, July 2nd 1995). 67. Ashton, ref. 65, p. 122.
68. Wicks, Ben. No time to wave goodbye, 1988, p. 196. 69. Tiratsoo, ref. 66. 70. Meadows, 8ara. Understanding child development. Psychological perspectives in an interdisciplinary field o/inquiry, 1986, p. 185.
71. Hunt, Peter. Introduction. In: Peter Hunt, ed. Children's literature, 1993, p. 2. 72. Westall, Robert. Fathomfive, 1982 (first published 1979), pp. 30-31.
73. Ibid., p. 230.
58 74. Ibid. 75. Westall, Robert. Children of the blitz. Memories o/wartime childhood, 1985, p. 42. 76. Inglis, Ruth. The children's war. Evacuation 1939-1945. 1989, p. 99.
77. Ibid., p. 23. 78. Bawden , ref. 19, p. 33-34.
79. Westall, Robert. A time offire, 1995 (first published 1994), p. 121.
80. Westall, Robert. The Machine-Gunners, 1977(first published 1975), p. 186. 81. Wicks, ref. 68, p. 201.
82. Magorian, ref. 35, p. 30.
83. Meadows, ref. 70, p. 185. 84. Burton, ref. 26, p. 135.
85. Ibid., p. 182. 86. Magorian, ref. 35, p. 43.
87. Ibid., p. 377-378. 88. The Sunday Times. The casualties of war. News Review, May 7th, 1995, p. 2.
89. Pettit, Jane. A time to fight back. True stories ofchildren's resistance during World War Two, 1995, p. 2. 90. Kay, Mara. Storm warning, 1977(first published 1976), p. 18. 91. Westall, ref. 79, p. 121.
92. Ibid., p. 127.
93. Ibid., p. 128.
94. Ibid., p. 149. 95. Laird, Christa. But can the Phoenix sing? 1995(first published 1993), p. 241. 96. Magorian, ref. 35, p. 110. 97. Laird, ref. 95, p. 149.
98. Ibid., p. 288.
99. Ibid., p. 303.
100. Westall, Robert. Robert Westall obituary, The Times, April 23rd 1995, p. 19.
59 101.. Jones, P.S. Bad language honoured. In: Library Association Record, 1976,78(10) 497. In: Westall, Robert. Robert (Atkinson) Westall 1929- Children's Literature Review, 1987, 13,249. 102. Fisher, Margery. A review of The Machine-Gunners. In: Growing point, 1975, 14(4), 2708. In: Westall, Robert. Robert (Atkinson) Westall 1929- Children's Literature Review, 1987,13,249.
103. Crouch, Marcus. New faces, new directions in Britain. Children's Literature Rel'iew, 1986,11,12. 104. WestalI, Robert. Robert WestaIJ 1929 -. Something about the Author .4utobiography Series, 1986, 2,322. -105. Ibid.
106. Ibid.
107. Ibid., p. 310. 108. Westan, ref. 80, p. 95.
109. Ibid., p.185.
110. Moss, Elaine. A review of Carrie's war. The Times, May 10th 1973, p. 14. 111. Times Literary Supplement. A review of Came's war, April 16th 1973, p.383. 112. Walsh, JilI Paton. Jill Paton Walsh 1937 - . My life so far. Something about the Author Autobiof?raphy Series, 1987,3, 197-198.
113. Cooper, Susan. Susan Cooper 1935 -. Something about the Author Autobiography Series, 1988,6,67. 114. Cooper, Susan. Dawn offear, 1974 (first published 1970), p. 51.
60 Chapter IV
Peers
61 The idea that no man is an island can be adapted to apply to a child, for socialisation with peers is hugely important for a child's psychological development.! Forty years after the end of the war Sara Meadows wrote that,
children spend a great deal of time ..... with other children. In densely populated and age-graded societies like ours, those other children will probably be of about the same age, which implies relative similarity of skills, experience, interests and status: that is, they can reasonably be called "peers".2
This statement applies to children growing up during the Second World War, but additionally the Second World War enabled children with totally different experiences of life to meet each other.3 Children met others from different religious backgrounds, from different parts of the country and, in some cases from different countries. Unfortunately it would be wrong to claim that World War Two led to anything more than a superficial mixing of people from different social classes.4 Children who had wealthy parents were not likely to find themselves meeting children from less well off homes. Many members of the m.iddle and upper classes could afford to arrange their own private evacuations into the country or abroadS, and many had use of their own private shelters. The first shelter census, published in November 1940, showed that only 9 per cent of people who used shelters used public ones.' Neither were children very likely to make friends with others from different religious and geographical backgrounds. Children are as capable of maintaining in-built prejudices as their parents. Kate Eggleston, who was a child during the Second World War, remembers how badly evacuees and Jewish children were treated at the primary school she attended during the war in Nottingham.
I can remember the evacuees coming. We were horrible to them. It's one afmy most shameful memories. how nasty we were,'
Prejudice against evacuees derived from the fact that the evacuees came from backgrounds which were completely alien to children in Nottingham who had no idea of the extent of the deprivation which existed in the East End of London.
They were poor little EastEnders. they weren 'ttough at all, they were poor little thin, puny things.8
Jewish children at her school were victims of religious prejudice,
they were always talked about inan unpleasant way.9
Children, as ever, were quick to single out those who were in any way different. Nevertheless, during the war many childhood friendships were formed between children who would otherwise never have met. As nearly every household in the country was affected by evacuation,tO most children, either being evacuated or living in reception areas, were likely to meet children from different backgrounds. When one also takes into account the child refugees who were at school 62 in Britain during the Second World War, before April 1939 more than 4,800 child refugees from either Gennany , Austria or Czechoslovakia had arrived in Britain;ll as well as the number of children who had to change schools because eithertheir home or school was destroyed in an air raid, during the war 200,000 homes were destroyed, 250,000 were uninhabitable and a further 250,000 were badly damaged,12 the opportunities for children to make new friends increase further.
Throughout children's novels set during the Second World War, war is seen as providing an incentive for children to forge friendships, and an opportunity for encounters with other children they otherwise would not have met. These fictional friendships are usually beneficial for the children involved, particularly in novels about evacuees. Though most foster parents, like most evacuees, were working classl3 evacuation did provide some opportunity for children from different social class to meet.14 In children's novels, the theme of war bringing together children who would otherwise never have met and ofthem benefiting from the experience, usually centres around a working class child making friends with a middle class child. In The Dolphin crossing, the two main characters, John and Pat, are from different social backgrounds. They rescue British and French.soldiers during the Dunkirk evacuation using John's boat and form a friendship which transcends class barriers but which turns out to be transitory.
once the threat of defeat receded. most people went back to the old way of living. IS
Though their friendship is ended by Pat's death, the reader is given the impression that the friendship would not have survived the war. This is illustrated by John's father's rather condescending attitude to Pat's actions.
He must have been vel)' foolhardy. irresponsible almost. to take such risks.!6
The inference is that his son made a mistake mixing with somebody who was his social inferior. In The Exeter blitz Terry, an evacuee, before being evacuated has spent his life in a war tom London;'alone with his mother after the death of his father. Colin, the other main character, has enjoyed a middle class existence, safe from bombs, at home with both his parents. It is this difference in backgrounds that helps the boys forge a lasting friendship as each learns from the other. Terry has had a less sheltered upbringing than Colin, and is able to introduce him to experiences such as smoking and going to pubs, "Cockneys'll teach you yokels a thing or two")7 He organises a fish and chips stall which he and Colin run and Colin is able to show Terry how to clean fish. In this novel, their parents do not disapprove of their friendship. The theme of war having brought together two children fonn different backgrounds who would not otherwise have met, is highlighted when Terry sends Colin to find whilt he can "scrounge" for their fish and chips stall. When Colin returns with a frying pan and lard Terry admits,
"You local yokels are as good at nicking stuff as us evacuees·'.18
63 The reader is shown that Terry, unlike Col in, comes from a background where stealing is common. Their friendship has developed to such an extent that Terry can make light of the prejudice which evacuees usually had to endure, and of which Colin had at first been guilty.
A common fantasy of children is to be free of parental restrictions and to survive independently with no adults around. The chaos World War Two created provides children's authors with an opportunity to bring this fantasy to life, as many children were separated from their parents with no legal guardians to look after them. This was because some children ran away, after having been evacuated. Carlton Jackson has written that during the war the Health Ministry stated that some children did leave their foster homes and "simply wandered throughout the country"l? Other evacuees when they returned hgme, ran away because they were unhappy, "this very problem occurred on hundreds of occasions".2o This scenario of children who are not subject to parental constraints is brought to life in Fireweedwhen war throws together two children, Bill and Julie, who would otherwise never have met. The only thing they have in common is that they have both run away. The theme of a friendship between two children from different backgrounds is evident throughout this novel. The chaos of war which surrounds them provides a backdrop which strengthens their friendship. The fact that World war Two meant that many children spent a great deal of time roaming the streets is suggested when Bill remarks that he and Julie "weren't the only ones".21 During the war, a third of children who lived in cities from which children were supposed to have been evacuated, had no school to go to.22 This was because nearly one school in ten in England and Wales was requisitioned by the government.23 Also by July 1941, 1,000 of the 23,000 state schools in England and Wales had been partially or completely destroyed and another 3,000 had been damaged.24 The number of children who were roaming the streets during the London blitz, meant that children like Julie and Bill found it easy to pass unnoticed. The sheer scale of disruption the blitz inflicted upon London meant that adults were not as observant as normal, they had other things on their minds.
At first we were alanned when people spoke to us; we thought they were all going to jump on us. and report us to someon~ ..... for being on our own. But we soon stopped feeling like that. They weren't in that mood, somehow.2S
The fact that children could walk around unnoticed is not surprising considering the extent of the destruction of the capital. As Peter Lewis has written,
Nothing in the war - any war - until then had prepared people for living in a city under such an onslaught.26
The Blitz upon London lasted from September 1940 to May 1941.27 In September alone it meant the temporary or permanent loss of the homes of between 40,000 and 50,000 people each week.28 In Fireweed, Julie, who has had a sheltered upbringing, would not have survived long on the streets without Bill. When they first meet, she is fearful that Bill will leave her, "For an
64 awful moment I thought you were trying to shake me off' .29 Bill, in turn, benefits from having someone with him for whom he feels affection. Apart from his father he has never cared for anyone before. His depth offeeling for Julie is emphasised when she is in hospital,
Not being with her. not !mowing how she was. had become a pain as sharp as toothache somewhere in my chest.30
In Tomorrow is a stranger, war provides an incentive for the two main characters to get to know each other. Paul and Tessa are at school together prior to the start of WorId War Two. They are brought closer together when in 1940 Germany invades Guernsey where they live. As many of their school friends leave when the Nazis invade, both find that their immediate circle offriends declines. The theme of children being brought closer together by war is apparent in this novel. Initially Paul and Tessa do not like each other, he thinks of her as "irritating" .31 The novel, which covers the whole war, begins three days before France signed an armistice document with Germany32 and twelve days bef?re the Germans arrived on June 30th 1940.33 The British government offered to evacuate civilians from the channel islands, though many accepted, 60,000 remained.34 Both Paul and Tessa remain with their families after the Nazi invasion. Their mutual hatred of the Nazis helps them to forge a friendship, which involves them operating an underground newspaper and keeping secret the whereabouts of a Jewish teacher who has gone into hiding. When Tessa is attacked, Paul comes to her rescue. The boy who attacked Tessa says,
"She's not your girl. is she?" "Yes, she is," said Paul. Tessa could have hugged herself. But she would sooner have hugged Paul. 35 .
The theme of war providing an opportunity for new friendships is not unique to children's literature. In adult fiction set during the Second World War Two, the theme of adults rather than children being brought closer together by war is important. The Avenue goes to war by R.F. Delderfield, tells the story of the inhabitants of an avenue in London between 1940-47: Two of the principal characters, Jim Carver and Harold Godbeer, who initially become friends in the novels prequel, find that war brings them closer together. Their friendship is "forged in the fires of war" .36 Harold recognises that the war has provided an opportunity for him and Jim to develop their friendship.
"If the war's done nothing else its brought us all closer togetherl"37
Just as childhood friendships in children's novels rarely last after the war, Jim and Harold grow apart once the war has ended. Both are widowers, after Jim has remarried in 1945, a distance grows between them and Harold begins to form a new friendship with another widower,
65 He remained close friends with Jim .... but Jim had &lilh, and Baskerville was a widower,like himself.38
Their friendship turns out to have been a "wartime coalition" .39 Jim and Harold still see each other, but are not as close as they were. Their friendship, like those of Bill and John in The Dolphin Crossing, and Julie and Bill in Fireweed. does not survive the end of the war. The transitory nature of wartime friendships, emphasis~s the theme evident in both children and adult literature, of people becoming friends with those they would not otherwise have met or have been motivated to befriend. This theme reflects thefact that the Second World War did provide isolated opportunities for people of different social classes to make friends with one another. However, while these isolated examples have been used as inspiration for many novels, in reality they were not frequent enough to have any permanent effect upon British society.4o Arthur Marwick has written that there is "little hard evidence"41 of social classes mixing during the Second World War. Though there is an abundance of examples of individual accounts of friendliness which cross social barriers, this can partly be explained by a need in times of danger "to communicate freely, and avoid conditions of social isolation".42 If one is caught up in the chaos of war, it is preferable to talk to somebody of a different social standing than to talk to nobody.43 Therefore friendships formed both in children's novels and in reality during the war, highlight the fact that, when one is perpetually living with the possibility of a sudden violent death, it is a natural human reaction to forget social niceties and make friends with other people simply because they are nearby. This is illustrated in Fireweed by Julie's dismissive attitude towards Bill once she has been reunited with her family . He is simply someone who looked after her when she was stranded in London during the blitz. Her reply to her brother's suggestion that she and Bill might have been romantically involved, suggests that she sees Bill as inferior,
Oh, Robin, don't be siUy!....Of course there's nothing in it, nothing at all.44
Another theme which runs through children's literature set during the Second World War, is the damaging effect social isolation can have upon a child's emotional development. A child without friends of his or her own age is portrayed as more likely to have psychological problems in the future. In Summer of my German soldier, Patty's only friends are an escaped German prisoner of war and her parents' maid Ruth. The theme of the damaging effects of social isolation is developed when Patty decides to help an escaped prisoner of war, by providing him with shelter. Though the escaped German prisoner Anton, is an adult, in Patty's eyes he fulfils the desire she has to make friends of her own age. She sees him as a boy rather than a man.
Anton smiled, and the smile made him look very young, more like a boy my age than a man.45
66 The Summer o/my German soldier is unusual for a children's novel set during the Second World War, in that it takes place in America. There is no sense of the danger which is evident in novels such as The Machine-Gunners and When Hitler stole pink rabbit, set in Britain or occupied Europe. This reflects the fact that America was largely beyond the reach of German and Japanese bombers.46 This novel also illustrates the growing trend in children's fiction set during the Second World War, for German soldiers to be portrayed sympathetically.47 The phenomenon of the sympathetic Nazi and a tolerance towards people from different countries including the Axis powers, has existed in children's fiction since authors began to write about th~ Second WorldWar. InBiggles delivers the goods, 1946, Biggles states that
I've tmvclled a bit, and laking the world by and large, its my experience that with a few exceptions there's nothing wrong with the people on it. if ooly they were left alone to live as they want to live.48
In We couldn't leave Dinilh, 1941, written when British invasion fears were widespread, a German soldier, General Schleicheer, does not agree whole heartedly with the changes which have occurred in Nazi Germany, He
had known a Germany kindlier than that under the present regime ..... there were moments when he dared regret the extreme ..... severity that Hitler's Reich saw fit to mete out to the conquered.49
The difference in the portrayal of a German soldier in Summer o/my German soldier is that the soldier Patty shelters allows the reader to see how damaging is Patty's social isolation, whereas the soldier in We couldn't leave Dinah, boosts morale through his disillusionment with the Nazi hierarchy. The school-girl crush Patty has upon Anton is so intense because, apart from Ruth, she has nobody else she can talk to, Patty's remark,
if someday I grow old and forgetful, forgetting even friends' names and faces, his face I could never forget.50 explains why, because she does not have other friends' faces to remember, when she eventually finds a friend in Anton she becomes obsessed. She has no friends to distract her apart from Anton; when she envisages running away there are only two people she will miss, "Sharon (her little sister) and Ruth" .51 Anton provides her with the affection she desperately needs.
In The Machine Gunners, the theme of the social isolation of a child adversely affecting his psychological development, is apparent in the character ofNicky.52 When Nicky is first introduced into the story his isolation is emphasised. "Across the classroom, alone as always, Nicky was packing his neat books".53 He is bullied at school and physically attacked every home time. Robert Westall is brutal in his creation of an image of a lonely, frightened outcast.
67 Every night it happened. regular as clockwork. The wolf-pack never tired of it ..... the end of the day was al';'ays.rounded off by an hour oftortuie.S4 .
Though Nicky's social isolation is lessened when he helps Chas and his gang hide their machine gun, it is not until the gang capture a German soldier, Rud, that he forms a friendship which fulfils his desire to be loved. Rudi himself realises that the boy has "a terrible need".55 The damaging effect Nicky's social isolation has had upon him comes to a head when Rudi is about to escape from England in a boat the childre:J have provided for him. His need for affection means that he is prepared to leave Britain with Rudi. Rudi leaves without Nicky and underlines Nicky's urgent need for friends among his peers for the good of his psychological development. As Rudi tells Nicky when he says that there is nothing left for him, "There is much left; your Kamerads" .56
Siblings are important in children's novels set during the second World War. The chaos and change the Second World War inflicted upon children's lives meant that for many, a brother or sister provided the one constant relationship. Children were unable to maintain long term peer relationships due to the upheavel surrounding them and therefore spent more time with their siblings. In Carrie's war, We couldn't leave Dinah, and Going back, a brother and sister experience significant changes in their lives which limit their access to other children, so the children face their difficulties together; in Going back, the children have to endure periodic visits from an unsympathetic father, in We couldn't leave Dinah and Carrie's war, brother and sister are separated from their parents, and in We couldn't leave Dinah, Mick and Caroline have to adapt to living under Nazi occupation when the island where they live is invaded. In all three novels, the children are bound together by a sibling bond which helps them to deal with the difficulties they face. In each, the interaction between brother and sister reveals aspects of the childrens' characters. At the beginning of Carrie 's war, Carrie's feelings for her brother emphasise her compassionate nature. "She loved Nick, loved him so much sometimes that it gave her a pain" .57 In Going back, the lives of brother and sister, Edward and Jane, revolve around the farm on which they live, Medleycott. They see Medleycott as "the centre of the worid" .58 When their father decides to send Edward away to boarding school, Jane's ." sympathy for him shows both her compassion, and her closeness to her brother. On his last day before going to school,
Edward sat on the edge of his bed. speechless and I felt. vicariously. in my own stomach. the cold hard knotting that must be in his.59
In We couldn't leave Dinah. the heroine, Caroline, benefits from her brother's presence. Whenever she feels downhearted he boosts her morale. At one point, when she tells her brother that children can do nothing to help the war effort, he replies,
It doesn't matter what age we are ... .lts our war. isn't it. as much as theirs.60
68 This statement reflects the fact that the novel was written during the war, when children's fiction aimed to boost morale. It also emphasisesFred Inglis's point that children's novels "try to tell children how to live together better",61 with both their peers and their siblings. "That is the best common purpose which holds all children's writers in a single community".62 The ideal relationship which is depicted between brother and sister is something which children should emulate in real life. This point is emphasised in Carrie's war and in Going back. Both novels are told in flashback, in each the heroine revisits her wartime home. Since the end of the war the intimate friendship both heroines shared with their brothers has ended. Edward has died and the niader is given the impression that Carrie and her brother are no longer close. When, in the present, Carrie returns with her children to the Welsh valley where she was evacuated, her children refer to Nick as Uncle Nick but Carrie does not refer to him at all except when talking about the past. When Hepzibah asks about Nick, it is her children who reply, not Carrie.
Frank Aanagan has written that children's literature is essentially optimistic in tone,
Children's books embody a world view which we need reminding of from time to time ...... the assertion that the wor~d is .... , a good place to be: that there is a moml order. a moral pattern which we transgress at ourcost.63
Whether this view is correct is not often questioned in children's literature. Even in children's novels as bleak as Friedrich , which teIls the story of a Jewish boy and his family in Nazi Germany, there is hope, because humans are seen as fundamentally decent. Towards the end of the novel, Friedrich tries to get into a German air raid shelter. Even though he is not allowed in because he is Jewish, the fact that most ofthe other people in the shelter want to let him in, I suggests that at the height of Hitler's persecution of the Jews, most Germans were capable of feeling pity towards them. This is shown when they implore the air-raid warden to let Friedrich into the shelter, "Let the boy stay!" came from all sides".64 Howeverin one particular children's novel set during the Second World War, the belief that the world is fundamentally "a good place to be"65 is questioned. Robert Westall, in his depiction ofthe relationships between children and their peers, has shown how the war was for many children a dehumanising experience. The Machine Gunners, a story about children whose social circle was not widened by the war and who therefore remained within their existing peer group, shows the world, and more specifically England during the Second World War, to be a place where moral order has crumbled. The moral pattern has been transgressed. The relationship between Chas and the other members of his gang implies that the world was not "a good place to be"." The children in The Machine-Gunners live in a period which "brought all ages into vivid contact with violence, fear and hatred".67
A contemporary review described this novel as the story of an "ingenious imitation of a grownup game".68 Throughout, there run the parallel themes of children emulating the
69 behaviour of adults and of society's moral order having crumbled. The children's relationships with one another are characterised by violence, intimidation and cynicism, reflecting the behaviour of adults who were busy waging violent war against one another. The school bully, Boddser Brown, twice threatens Chas's gang's plans to hide their machine gun. Each time he does he is savagely beaten up, first by Chas and then by another member of the gang. When Chas and his gang first need Nicky's help, they are cynical, "We've got to make it worth his while" .69 It does not occur to them that he might be glad of their friendship. Intimidation is also evident between the members of the gang. When later, Nicky refuses to let them use his boat, his friends threaten to leave him, with the result that "Nicky suddenly felt alone and very frightened".70 Although amongst the individual members of the gang there is a deep sense of comradeship, this ultimately disintegrates. Rudi highlights the theme of children parodying adults,
these children were strange in that they neither laughed or quarrelled. Oh. they argued ..... But they never fell out....!t was as if they depended on each other like ..... the crew of a bomber. Sink or swim together.71
The children are bound together by their shared secrets, the machine-gun and Nicky's whereabouts. When the secrets are out and the children are eventually separated by their parents, the reader is given the impression that their friendship will not survive. The final image of their separation reinforces this idea,
So they parted never to be all together again. They walked across to their parents. Their anus were grabbed roughly, and they were led away.72
Just as many adults who were thrown together by the war never met afterwards so the same happens with these children. In the novel's sequel, Fathom Five, only Chas and Cem are still together. Audrey, the only other character to reappear, has grown apart from them since leaving school.
Dawn offear also maintains this theme of children mimicking adult behaviour through their relationships with their peers. Derek, Geoffrey and Peter become involved in gang warfare between their gang and another. There is no sense that the moral order has disintegrated; the children's fighting is not savage and brutal like that of Chas and his gang. However when two older boys fight it is
not like their own kind of fighting at all, but something much older and bigger and with emotions behind it of a kind they did not know.73
The behaviour of these two older boys shows them following adult patterns of behaviour more closely than Derek and his friends. Although the preparation that Derek and his friends put into a mud ball fight against a rival gang resembles a military operation, 70 They began their preparations the next moming and went on for most of the day.74 the fight involving the older boys, is much nastier than any fight the younger boys have been involved in, and shows how children, and perhaps to a greater extent young adults, are influenced by the war going on around them. The imagery the fight conjures up also reminds the reader of the wider battle being fought. The fight
looked like more than a kind of climax to years of enmity; almost as if the whole world had suddenly divided into two and the two halves were here flinging themselves one against the other.75
When the fight is interrupted by a daytime air raid, parallels between the boys' fight and the war being fought around them are underlined.
before anyone could do anything, the silence and the sunshine and the whole spring day feH to bits."
The negative effects of conflict encompass them. Derek and his friends stop watching one fight in order to escape being caught in the crossfire of another,
In conclusion, authors of children's fiction set during the Second World War continually emphasise the importance of peers in aiding children's psychological development. Friendships formed in wartime, in both junior and adult fiction, rarely last, though the Second World War does provide fictional children with the chance to meet others from a variety of different backgrounds. There is also a trend in children's fiction for the war to bring siblings closer together. Fictional children whose circle of friends does not change, often become involved in gang warfare, which involves them mirroring the behaviour of adults. Though children's novels set during the Second World War usually depict the world as "it should be" ,77 the depiction of gang warfare has provided Robert Westall with the opportunity to depict wartime Britain as a society in moral chaos.
71 Chapter four References. 1. Meadows, Sarah. Understanding child development. Psychological perspectives in an interdisciplinary field ofilUjuiry, 1986, p. 191.
2. Ibid. 3. Croall, Jonathan. A kind of schooling. In: 10nathan Croall, ed. Don't you know there's ci war on? The people's voice 1939-45, 1988, pp. 91-92.
4. Marwick, Arthur. The homejront: The British and the Second World War, 1976, p.6O.
5. Shakespeare, Geoffrey. In: Crosby, Travis, L. The impact ofthe civilian evacuation in the Second World War, 1986, p. 113.
6. Marwick, ref. 4, p. 60.
7. EggIeston, Kate. The state school girl. In: Jonathan Croall, ed. Don't you know there's a war on? The people:s voice 1939-45, 1988,.pp.93-96. .
8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. 10. Winnicott, D. The evacuated child. (A broadcast talk to foster parents 1945). In: Clare Winnicott, Ray Shepherd, and Madeleine Davis, eds. Deprivation and delilUjuency. D.w. Winnicott, 1984, pp.39-43.
11. Hirschfeld, Gerhard. German refugees in Great Britain 1933-45. In: Exile in Great Britain. Rejugeesjrom Hitler's Germany, 1984, pp. 11-28. 12. Hennessy, Peter. Never again. Britain 1945 - 51, 1992, p. 169.
13. Macinol, John. The evacuation of schoolchildren. In: Smith, Harold L. War and social change. British society in the Second World War, 1986, pp. 3-31. 14. Croall, ref. 3, p. 91. 15. Croall, Jonathan. A brave new world? In: Don't you know there's a war on? The people's voice 1939-45,1988, pp. 91-92. 16. Walsh, Jill Paton. The Dolphin crossing, 1967, p. 133. 17. Rees, David. The Exeter blitz, 1978, p. 96. 18. Ibid., p. 90.
19. Jackson, Carlton. Who will take our children • The story ofthe evacuation in Britain 1939-45, p.132. 20. Ibid. 21. Walsh, Jill Paton. Fireweed, 1969, p. 56. 72 22. Longmate, Norman. How we lived then. A history 0/ everyday life during the . Second World War, 1971, p. 191.
23. Ibid. 24. Ibid.
25. Walsh,ref.21,p.57. 26. Lewis, Peter. Apeople's war, 1986, p. 53.
27. Ross, Stewart. The home front, 1990; p. 24. 28. Minns, Raynes. Bombers and mash. The domestic front 1939-45,1980, p. 65.
29. Walsh, ref. 21, p. 40.
30. Ibid" p. 129. 31. Trease,Geoffrey. Tomorrow is a stranger, 1987, p. 3.
32. The world at arms. The reader's digest illustrated history o/World War Two, 1989, p.43.
33. Ibid., p. 189. 34. Ibid. 35. Trease, ref. 31, p. l35.
36. Delderfield, R. F. The avenue goes to war, 1971(first published 1958), p. 440. 37. Ibid., p. 382. 38. Ibid.; p. 620.
39. Ibid., p. 382. 40. Marwick, ref. 4, p. 60. 41. Ibid. 42. Ibid. 43. Ibid.
44. Walsh, ref. 21, p. l37. 45: Greene,Bette. Summer o/my German soldier, 199O(first published 1974), p. 152.
46. Hennessy, ref. 12, p. 53.
47. O'Sullivan, Emer. English and German national stereotypes in children's literature. International Review o/Children 's Literature and Librarianship, 1993,8(2),92.
48. Johns, Captain, W.E. Biggles delivers the goods, 1994(first published 1946), p. l3. 73 049. Tread·gold, Mary .. We couldn '1 leave Dinah, 1978(first published 1941) p. 227.
SO. Greene, ref. 45, p. 175.
51. Ibid., p. 170. 52. Westall, Robert. The Machine-Gunners, 1977(first published 1975).
53. Ibid., p. 63. 54. Ibid.
55. Ibid., p. 132. 56. Ibid., p. 173. 57. Bawden, Nina. Carrie's war, 1974 (first published 1973), p. 17.
58. Lively, Penelope. Going back, 1986 (first published 1975), p. 80.
59. Ibid., p. 87. ·60. Tread gold, ref. 49, p. 188. 61. Inglis, Fred. The promise of happiness: Value and meaning in children's fiction, 1981, p. 228.
62. Ibid., p. 228. 63. Flanagan, Frank. Bequeathing the Moral Vision. Children's books in Ireland, 1992, 7,7. In: Hunt Peter. An Introduction to Children's Literature, 1994, p. 186.
64. Richter, Hans Peter. Friedrich, 1987 (first published in Gennan as Damals War Friedrich in 1961), p. 136. 65. Flanagan, ref. 63. 66. Ibid. 67. Boyd, RacheI... Defence of-and by-Author Robert WestaU. In: Library Association Record, 1977,79(1),38. In: WestaU, Robert. Robert (Atkinson) Westalll929-. Children's Literature Review, 1987, 13,251.
68. Kirkus Reviews. A review of The Machine-Gunners, September 15th 1976, XLIV(18), 1046. In: Westall, Robert. Robert (Atkinson) Westalll929-. Children's literature review, 1987,13,251.
69. Westall, ref. 52, p. 63.
70. Ibid., p. ISO.
71. Ibid., p. 123.
72. Ibid., p. 186. 73. Cooper, Susan. Dawn offear, 1974(first published 1970), p. 116-117. 74 74. Ibid., p. 92. 75. Ibid., p. 117. 76. Ibid., p. 121.
77. Carpenter, Humphrey. Secret Gardens. A study of the Golden Age of children's literature, 1985, p. 1.
75 Conclusion
76 It remains to summarise the findings of the three main chapters and to highlight the themes and
.. issues that are raised through. the portrayal. of dislocation and children's relationships with their peers and parents, in children's noveis set during the Second World War.
I have looked at the portrayal of dislocation, by examining how child refugees and children who were evacuated, dealt with the changes in environment war forced upon them.
In chapter one, problems of evacuation are outlined. These problems, such as the financial hardships of evacuation, the prejudice evacuees and hosts displayed towards one another, the disruption in children's education and the necessity of adapting to a new environment, are all a . result of the dislocation caused by evacuation. The evaCllJ:e had to leave the known environment for the unknown. I have looked at the portrayal of these problems in children's fiction and the themes which derive from the plight evacuees faced. Despite the problems, the process of dislocation for fictional evacuees usually has no long term negative effect. The themes running through children's novels about evacuees illustrate the optimism evident in the novels. One theme is that of evacuees gradually adjusting to their new environment, in novels such as Carrie's war, How's business and In spite o/allterror. Fireweed, by JiII Paton Walsh is exceptional in that the reader is left with the impression that the runaway evacuee Bill, has been psychologically damaged by his experiences. Another theme evident in children's novels about evacuation is a that of self-improvement. Due of inadequate housing, clothing and a poor diet, evacuees often benefited from the improved surroundings evacuation brought. This is particularly evident in When the siren wailed and Goodnight Mister Tom and also in The Exeter blitz and The Dolphin crossing, in which evacuation is depicted as helping evacuees to achieve independence.
Authors writing since the end of the Second World War have the advantage of hindsight, in that they know the policy of evacuation saved many lives. Children's writers do illustrate this in novels such as How's business and Back to the blitz, where the hero, who has been evacuated, returns home to find that his home has been destroyed in an air raid. However they also create characters who are never evacuated, in stories such as How's business and Goodnight Mister Tom, and evacuees who return home prematurely, in Back to the blitz and When the siren wailed.
The other aspect of dislocation I examined was the plight of refugees during the Second World War. In the portrayal of these too there is a theme of children adapting to a new environment, as evident in Judith Kerr's novel, When Hitler stole pink rabbit. I have illustrated how, since the main purpose of children's fiction written during the Second World War was to boost morale, the subjects of evacuation and more particularly refugees, were not examined in depth until after the end of the war, as during wartime there was widespread suspicion offoreigners, and little public awareness of the Nazi's mass extermination of the Jews. It was not until the publication ofIan Serraillier's The silver sword in 1956, that children's authors began to explore the issue ofrefugees during the Second World War.
77 The theme of optimism in the face of adversity is apparent in such children's novels about refugees a~ lam David, The silver sword and When Hitler stole pink rabbit. The themes of optimism in adversity and of children adapting to a new environment are interconnected. The hope displayed by the main characters in these novels, also helps them to adapt successfully to their new environment but this optimistic theme has meant that some. novels such as When Hitlerstole pink rabbit, do not mention the possibility of capture by the Nazis.
Stories about refugees during the second World War give authors the chance to explore children's psychological development. A theme of self-discovery permeates these novels. In both I am David and The silver sword, the main characters undertake actualjoumeys which are also symbolic. They have to leam to survive in an unfamiliar environment with no adults to support them.
Prejudice against evacuees, based upon ridiculous preconceptions, is a theme evident in How's business, Fathomfive, When Hitler stole pink rabbit and The other way round.
In depicting children's relationships with their parents during wartime, children's authors are able to explore many issues which affected children's lives. Just as the growth in realism in children's fiction enabled authors to highlight the prejudice in British society against German Jews, it also enabled them to explore different attitudes to single mothers which existed. Some authors illustrate the difficulties single mothers of illegitimate children faced, in novels such as A little love song and In spite ofall terror, but not the problems of women whose husbands were killed during the war. I have illustrated how war changed women's and more specifically mother's lives by giving them the freedom to find work outside the home. The problems fathers faced readjusting to family life after demobilisation, are addressed through a theme of emotional readjustment, in novels such as, The war and Freddy, The Spitfire secret and Back home, as are children's feelings for their absent fathers in Keeping Henry and Over the wet lawn. As for children who were not separated from their parents during the Second World War, novels such as Dawn offear and The Machine-Gunners show them being brought closer together ..
There is a recurring theme that good parenting comes rather from an attitude of mind than a biological relationship. It is evident in those novels which concentrate upon children's relationships with substitute parents such as Goodnight Mister Tom, Storm warning, A time of fire, But can the Phoenix sing? and In spite ofall terror. Fictional children rarely lose a father who is away fighting but more often lose both parents, as happens in But can the Phoenix sing? The Machine-Gunners and A time offire.
There are some wartime issues which would have affected children's relationships with their parents which children's authors do not focus upon. Apart from in Fathomfive,fictional parents do not mention the social tensions present in British society during the Second World War.
78 Children's relationships with their peers also enable authors to explore various issues which 'affected children's lives. The theme of war bringing together children who would otherwise not have met, is apparent in novels which depict friendships "forged in the fires of war" ,I such as The Dolphin crossing, Tomorrow is a stranger and The Exeter blitz. In Carrie's war, We couldn'l leave Dinah and Going back, war is shown as throwing siblings together, creating a bond which weakens after the war has ended. This bond emphasises the importance of the family,just as in The silver sword, I am David and Storm warning, the family is important because it represents safety from Nazi oppression.
In depicting children's relationships with their peers, children's authors can emphasise the damaging effect of social isolation upon children, a theme which runs through Summer of my German soldier and The Machine-Gunners, as well as the dehumanisation of children whose circle offriends did not expand during wartime, as the characters in The Machine-Gunners and Dawn offear.
In conclusion, it can be shown that in children's literature set (juring the Second World War, authors have used the issues of dislocation and child-parent and child-peer relationships, to develop themes involving readjustment, self-improvement and optimism in adversity, in order to produce stories about children offifty years ago which fulfil the emotional and intellectual needs of children of today.
79 Conclusion
References
1. Delderfield, R.F. The Avenue goes to war, 1971 (first published 1958), p. 440.
80 Bibliography
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Children's books cited in alphabetical order of authors.
Bawden, Nina. Carrie's war. Middlesex: Puffin, 1974(first published in 1973).
Bawden, Nina. Keeping Henry. Oxford: Heinemann, 199O(first published 1988).
Brent.Dyer, Elinor. The chalet school at war. London: Armada,.l988(first published in 1941 as The chalet school goes to it ).
Burton, Hester. In spite of all terror. London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
Cooper, Susan. Dawn offear. Middlesex: Puffin, 1974(first published in 1970).
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Walsh, JiIl Paton. The Dolphin crossing. London: Macmillan, 1967. We stall, Robert. A time offire. London: Macmillan, 1995(first published in 1994). Westall, Robert. Blitzcat .. London: Macmillan, 1989.
We stall, Robert. Fathom Five. Middlesex: Puffin, 1982(first published in 1979). Westall, Robert. The kingdom by the sea. London: Methuen, 1990.
Westall, Robert. The Machine-Gunners. Middlesex: Puffin, 1977(first published in 1975).
Westall, Robert. The promise. London, Pan books, 1991(first published in 1990).
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