Enid Blyton - what changes are/are not OK?

[VictoriaOKeefe]

My example:
Jo-Jo in the Island of Adventure - i think Jo-Jo should have been kept as a black villain but with the "rolling eyes" and "nigra" speech removed. Changing him to a white man sends the dangerous message to children that a member of a marginalised group cannot be a nasty, small-minded jerk (as TPratchett put it). Women are marginalised but i wouldn't pee on my cruel abrasive mother if she was on fire.

I'm not particularly aggrieved I just don't remember everything about some books I read over 40 years ago. I am sure I would notice the racism if I read them now.
And the point I was making was that we should read them now in the original form so that we can see the prejudice in them but that they are not good books to read to young children.

Gnashingofteeth She wrote a story called "the little black doll", it was about a doll, a black, curly haired stereotype called Sambo. All the other toys hated and Ostracised Sambo despite him doing nice things for them until he left and returned having been washed white whereupon they loved him.

Then there's the golliwogs of toy town and Chink in the wishing tree ones, so yes they're in the more fantastical rather than the famous five/secret seven books, but I think you would clearly recognise it as racist. I don't think any of the really overt racist ones have been republished since the 60's (and they were slated even then thankfully)

I lived in the US till i was 12 so I didn't encounter Enid Blytons books till that age. I recall plenty of stereotypes based on country of origin (untrustworthy french girls, Hollywood obsessed American girls etc) but not race based. I was absolutely astounded by the sexism and classism though.

Maybe the racist stuff was more prevalent in her books for younger readers. I mostly read her boarding school stories and the famous five.

My view is that if you don't see the racism in Enid's books then it might be because the things said seem normal to you. You are desensitised to them and at first glance they do not strike you as odd. Take for instance The Black Doll mentioned by SirFred. What more can be said about that story? Golliwogs were a constant in some of her stories.

As to sexism and foreigners; my good friend reminded me the other day that white women are not the only women on earth. She asked me to consider the world of a black or brown foreign woman. Triple whammy of racism, sexism and xenophobia experienced in one. Imagine if you had to grapple with all three. Defend yourself against all three every day of your life, multiple times a day.

Gnashing

Imagine if you had to grapple with all three. Defend yourself against all three every day of your life, multiple times a day.

This is me, Gnashing. Sometimes I struggle to be heard.

My boss is harder on me than colleagues. I dream of escaping to a small house by the sea. Like many people I guess

I had never heard of the Little Black doll until this thread. And didn't at the time see anything to do with Chinese people with the pixies name. The noddy stories on TV are goblins now.

I can't remember any racism in Famous Five, I wouldnt even have known what racism was then, was it very blatant?

There was racism against gypsies if I remember rightly.

Several books sneering at gypsies for being thieves and violent.

And smelly.

There was racism against gypsies if I remember rightly

I remember Carlotta the gypsy girl in Mallory Towers? St Claires? cant recall was a "good egg" though.

I do remember reading the story about the Carlton's who were snobby and the Taggertys who lived next door and was quite critical of the Carlton's

I loved the books

Carlotta was only half gypsy, her father was a gentleman. And she'd been in a circus. EB was a bit obsessed with circus folk.

Sorry meant to put the word gentleman in quotes!

Carlotta was a circus girl, not a gypsy. EB seemed to be well-disposed towards circuses (e.g. the Galliano books). Interestingly, she apparently wrote about the Galliano circus as an adult novel, but it was rejected, so she rewrote it as a children's book. I'd love to read the adult version.

You are right about gypsies - EB was heavily prejudiced.

x-post with Seren

Also EB's villains were never middle class English people, they were either working class, occasionally nouveau riche (as in Get Into Trouble) or foreigners of some sort.

I wouldn't censor books. I learned so much as a teenager by reading books from all periods from Shakespeare onwards - it gives us such a glimpse and knowledge into the particular age and we all read it as how it was in its time.

I do remember reading the story about the Carlton's who were snobby and the Taggertys who lived next door and was quite critical of the Carlton's

Those Dreadful Children. I reread this as an adult recently and cried at Patrick’s school report comment from his form tutor after he’d bucked his ideas up.

Also loved Hollow Tree House and Six (? Five?) Bad Boys with the benefit of a adult viewpoint. (Although the Bad Boys one was shockingly sexist)

Oh and Children at Green Meadows. How could kids be so good and virtuous yet you still rooted for them? And the ending was so lovely 😊

Really interesting thread. I read, and loved, Twins at St Clare's, Malory Towers, Faraway Tree, Cherry Tree Farm series, FF and SS, and apart from Ann being tested like a second class citizen, I didn't notice anything? Are these unlike some others or have I just forgotten? I do remember golliwog in noddy but just thought of him as a doll.

What are the excellent books you'd recommend for children now? Ds is 6 and I admit I'm drawn to EB because of nostalgia and not always knowing what else is good.

Talking of Carlotta (awesome name I would have used this if I had a daughter 😃) remember Claudine and her sister Antoinette? And indeed Mam’zelle, their aunt? Seemingly all French people were a bit dim, lazy and with no principles 🙄

The other Mam'zelle (duPont?!) was not like that though! (possibly MT)

Change nothing. Blyton isn’t ‘literature’ exactly, but changing texts is a bad precedent. Where they show racist/sexist views from the time they were written, we should have a discussion with children about why Blyton thought it was ok and why we now know better. Children need to know the attitudes which caused issues in the past to understand why they are wrong and to help them avoid the mistakes of the past

This times a million. Don't censor, explain.

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

The other Mam'zelle (duPont?!) was not like that though! (possibly MT)

St Clare’s had one Mam’zelle who was a bit of a buffoon. Then the other series had Mam’zelle DuPont who was pretty much the same, then Mam’zelle Rougier who was less easy going and therefore hated.

There was a chapter where Belinda draw some comics where MR was trying to murder MD as the girls took MD’s side in an argument. And yet MR was supposed to take this in good humour 😳