Swallows and Amazons is another book that, for me, is crammed full
of memories. Every turn of the page reminds me of someone I know or an event I
have done. Whilst I read Swallows and Amazons I was surrounded by friends reading
it at the same time as me, consequently, as well as being an amazing book,
Swallows and Amazons holds a lot of sentimental value for me. I think
this is partly because I first read Swallows and Amazons as part of a
literature study with some friends.
Swallows and Amazons is one of the best
loved books on our shelves at home. As a sign of how much our family love
Arthur Ransom's book the copy we own is held together with tape, and some of
the pages are missing. To be fair our copy is from the charity shop but it
still has been read a fair few times by my siblings and I . The twelve Swallows
and Amazons books have been published world-wide, in hard-back and paper-back
format, and in multiple languages. They have never been out of print and
considered classics of children's literature.
From the very first time I read Swallows
and Amazons I loved everything about it. I loved the adventures they had
because they were realistic, they were games they had invented for themselves
rather than huge mysteries that involved police. They didn't discover vast
hordes of treasure, instead they did normal childhood things. Things like,
hanging out with friends and inventing their own games.
As part of the literature study we not
only looked at Arthur Ransom's amazing use of language to create such vivid
characters and scenarios, we also had a go at creating our own Swallow, I can't
remember exactly what we made them out of, or what colour the boats were, or
anything really. My sisters and I did discuss it but none of us completely
agree. I do remember that the boats were pretty cool and making them was great
fun- I can vaguely remember having VERY sticky fingers from all the glue we
used!
The characters that Arthur Ransom created
is another reason I love Swallows and Amazons. The Swallows, John, Susan, Titty
and Roger, are an extremely adventurous and close-knit family. When they decide
to go camping the children don't argue about where they want to stay instead
they have all agreed to visit Wild Cat Island. The Swallows are all natural
explores and they enjoy being outdoors, discovering new places and spending
time with one another. As well as group characteristics Arthur Ransome develops
each of the Swallows individually using aspects such as packing the Swallow and
the sorts of books they read. To Arthur Ransome his characters were real and
this is very clear through the amount of detail he puts into his characters.
The Swallows parents are very supportive
of them and their adventures. They allow them to sail on the lake on their own
because they trust them to be responsible and learn from their mistakes. Both
parents are also very active and outdoorsy which is one of the reasons that the
Swallows enjoy sailing and being outside so much. The father is a particularly strong
influence on the Swallows even though he is never actually present. He works on
a ship and is often discussed by his children who greatly admire and respect
him.
As much as I love the Swallows my favourite characters in Arthur
Ransome’s book are Nancy and Peggy, otherwise known as the Amazons. I like
these two girls because whilst being both responsible and practical like Susan
and John they are also highly imaginative and adventurous. Clearly most at home
on the lake, or at least in some form of mischief. For me I liked the balance
Ransome creates in these two characters. They aren’t overly responsible and
‘grown up’ like John and Susan, who at times can consequently miss out on some
of the fun, but also don’t go off and enjoy themselves leaving everyone else to
pack the boat or make lunch like Titty does.
I really advise picking up and reading this book. It is full of
memories and experiences that people of any age can enjoy.
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