Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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definitely settled. Helena Richie and Robert Ferguson have different opinions on the matter, and we are left to ours. Nina's lover feels that he is justified in his course, and there is much justice on his side. Why should he not say it was nobody's business what his father did, that he had a right to lead his own life regardless of the past and let the dead alone? Then, too, in keeping silence, he is doing only what his mother had done to him. Mrs. Deland's custom of ending a novel with a doubt in the mind of the reader as to the final outcome of the story is in direct contrast to Mrs. Burnett's method. Mrs. Burnett, as well as most other writers, does not venture to leave a story with an unhappy ending, she would think it unsatisfactory. A broken engagement, a disappointed young man, a sad and heart-broken girl are not her idea of a proper ending for a story. Yet it is this ending that gives the story its effectiveness. The ending of the Awakening of Helena Richie is not simply the happy clearing up of all troubles. It is not with light-hearted joy, but with grave doubts and responsibilities resting upon her, that Hel- ena Richie leaves Old Chester. To Mrs. Burnett, a satisfactory ending must settle things to the discomfiture of the evil doers and the happiness of the good, as in the marriage of J oan and Derrick, Betty and Lord Mount Dunstan, and the victory over Dan Lowrie and Sir Nigel. To Mrs. Deland, a satisfactory ending requires the settling of a problem, -the awakening of Helena Richie, the determination of Nina's happiness, the course of Elizabeth and David. The great weakness of Mrs. Burnett's books lies in their unreality. Good and ad- mirable women do not always fall in love with equally good and admirable men, marry, and live happy ever after. Wicked people do not always meet with swift and proper punishment. No person like Betty Vanderpoel ever existed. If we could believe in her existence, it would not be a help nor inspiration to us to do so. She is so far above possibility that it would be of no use for anyone to try to be like her. People suffering from want do not always meet some one who is able and willing to supply all their needs and give them what they want most. In life, the suffering and poverty go on forever, and if in a few chance cases, things are made better, it makes little difference to the general mass of sufferers. Nothing could be more unlikely than the story of the Dawn of a Tomorrow. When did a rich man ever swoop down among a selected group of wretched but deserving poor, receive inspiration from them, and in retur11 carry out all their wishes? Mrs. Burnett depends upon wealth for most of her transformations rather than upon natural influences, as Margaret Deland does. Her characters do not change essentially, as Margaret Deland's do. Joan Lowrie is a good and admirable woman, whether she reads the Bible or not. 'fGlad never becomes any better or worse than she is before she meets Sir Oliver Holt, except that money enables her to lead a less wretclied life. Not a character in the Shuttle changes in any important particular. Mrs. liurnettls sct.tings, English and Scotch, are less familiar to us, and she uses a great deal of Scotch dialect and American slang. These features ought to make her books more interesting, and they do make them more interesting than they would be without, but Margaret Deland, with ordinary settings and no unusual language, is really the more fascinating of the two. It is the reality which makes her so. She shows what ordinary people can do in ordinary circumst.ances. It may be objected that Dr. Laven- der was too good to exist. Margaret Deland did not mean him as a character to be emu- lated. hat rather as an influence. lt is the human, erring, struggling ones, and most of hr-r characters are such, in whom we see our likeness. NVith them we can turn to Dr. Lavendf-r tn settle Holm- of our problems for us. As keen as George Eliot in reading character because she is able to see all sides at once, and as skillful in portraying it be- cause she does not have to depend upon direct characterization, Margaret Deland has infused a strong purpose into her works and has made them a powerful influence. 22

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The Novels of Margaret Deland and Frances Hodgson Burnett The author of a novel, if the novel is to be worth while, writes with some purpose in mind. According to the worthiness of the purpose and the effectiveness with which it is carried out, the book is considered strong or weak. The purpose may be making historical scenes real, it may be the study of character, or it may be social reform, but whatever it is, the treatment ought to be convincing. A marked difference in the books of Margaret Deland and Frances Hodgson Burnett is noticeable. Margaret Deland aims at the study and development of character, her books are personal rather than social. Mrs. Burnett, on the other hand, does not aim at character development, she takes almost all her characters ready-made and made, too, to suit her purpose. The principal characters of Mrs. Burnett's books are mainly divisible into two classes: the good, for instance, Betty Vanderpoel in the Shuttle, Joan Lowrie and Dei- rick in That Lass 0' Lowrie's, and the bad, like Sir Nigel Anstruthers and Joan Lowrie's father. The good are generally the strong, the bad, the weak. There are also a few characters who are weak and helpless, but not essentially bad, as Rosa Vanderpoel in the Shuttle and Polly in the Dawn of a Tomorrow. The story consists of a struggle be- tween the good and bad characters, resulting in the victory of the good, the marriage of the hero and the heroine, the alleviation of the suffering of the poor from some plentiful source of wealth, and the protection of the weak, who are not bad. In Margaret Deland's books we find, instead of decidedly good or bad characters, good and bad characteristics in the same character often contrasted with good and bad characteristics of an opposite nature in another character. Mrs. Maitland is strong, but rough and coarse, Blair is weak, but refined and sensitive. The result is to arouse our sympathy for both. This is far truer to life. It is not in life the case of all good against all bad which brings perplexing results, it is rather the pitiful blunders and misunder- standings of such people as Blair Maitland and his mother, each with good qualities capable of development, but each capable of the faults most irritating to the other and incapable of understanding the other. It was no wonder that Blair called it ugly-the house, the orchard, the works-even his mother, in her rusty black alpaca dress, sitting at her desk in the big, dingy dining-room, driving her body and soul, and the bodies and souls of her workmen-all for the sake of the little shrinking boy, who wanted a bunch of flowers on the table. In the Awakening of Helena Richie, there is a similar combination of qualities in the same character. Mrs. Burnett would not have ventured to make a merely weak char- acter the principal character of a book. She leaves the weak characters to occupy sub- ordinate positions. Helena Richie is decidedly weak, rather unmoral than immoral. She would not seem to many writers an interesting character to write about, yet Mar- garet Deland has made her interesting. She takes care to arouse our sympathy for her so that we really care about her and her happiness. In the same way, in the Hands of Esau it is the struggle within one character which we are concerned with. No one who reads the book can doubt that Nina's lover is a de- cent, respectable young man. He seems worthy of his good fortune. His weakness is only slight, hardly amounting to a fault. It is shown in not more than three places, and in these it seems almost excusable. So thoroughly are we in sympathy with him that, when it comes to the question of whether he will or will not tell Nina the secret, we are almost inclined to believe that he will. It is just this that holds the attention of the reader,-this uncertainty so like the uncertainty of real life. There is also some ques- tion as to which side is right. Both the Iron Woman and the Hands of Esau are left in the same uncertainty, which sets us thinking. The question in the Iron Woman is not 21

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If it is said that Frances Hodgson Burnett cannot be fairly judged by the same standard because the aim of her books is social rather than personal, let us consider, for example, the Shuttle, where this seems most likely. Why should she wait until the problem is settling itself comfortably before showing it up? lVhy waste two-thirds of the book over the love affair of Betty and Mount Dunstan, which has nothing at all to do with it? Ilvhy, above all, make characters and circumstances so unreal that, whatever aim she has, it is but ineffectively carried out? H. P. G. Memories of Childhood Although I can remember very few things connected with my early life, those few things stand out vividly in my memory. Up to the time when I was tive or six years old, I had a second mother under the guise of my next door neighbor. She was a married woman of middle age, but childless. Although I loved her devotedly and was always eager to show her my new frocks, I was bashful and could, under no circumstances, be persuaded to go inside her house alone. My sister, two years my senior, was always induced to accompany me, and at such times she was forced to carry on the conversation, for I refused to talk. I can see myself now, seated on the couch in Mrs. Craigie's neat sitting-room, wear- ing a brand new dress, while Hortense fwhom my father very properly nicknamed Gossip j sitting beside me, told Mrs. Craigie the news , and I maintained a golden silence. On such visits, I invariably stayed until I was given something to eat, and then made an abrupt departure. One other thing I remember about my very early life. When I had occasion to come up the street crying-which was very often-I always waited until I reached the very gate of my house before I formally burst into tears. My motive was doubtless to prevent any possibility of my supply of tears being exhausted before I reached home and mother, for mother was the only person who could be absolutely relied upon to sympathize with all my little troubles. As I grew older, I associated more and more with people and gradually lost every vestige of bashfulness. I was a very homely child, but I don't think I realized just how homely I was, for strangely enough, I was very vain and proud. But pride comes before a fall and many a fall did my poor pride suffer. One experience in particular I shall never forget. It was a cold day and snow covered the ground. A number of my class- mates in the schoolyard were occupying the time before the bell rang to no greater advan- tage than rubbing their cheeks with snow to make them red. I immediately followed suit, and entered school at the beginning of the afternoon session with my cheeks aglow -at least in my imagination! I can't remember just what the first lesson of the after- noon was, but I do remember that I made it convenient to go up and down the aisle sev- eral times during the lesson for no other reason than that my rosy cheeks seemed to be attracting considerable attention. This attention was so very gratifying to me that I could not see that their gaze was not directed at my cheeks. What was my dismay when the teacher's short Take your seat! was followed by the information, scornfully contributed by a classmate, that-my petticoat was coming off 3 The floor did not open up and take me in, but oh, how I wished it would! Xever was an afternoon so long, as I sat there oblivious of surroundings, thinking only of what a ridiculous picture I must have made! When the session finally came to a close, I ran home with all speed and closeted myself in my room until supper time. I had learned a lesson. Although the more I think of it, the more laughable it appears, I hope I shall never again experience horrible feelings of shame and fallen pride, as on that afternoon. The following incident I shall never forget-because my sister will never allow 23