In thinking about the Christmas Play, it occurred to me that there are some similarities between the Shepherd Boy (at least in Lawrie's interpretation) and Marie Dobson. Marie is described as officious and far too eager to please. But from a more sympathetic perspective, we could read her actions as akin to the "desperate, propitiatory effort" of the Shepherd Boy to make his brothers laugh and like him. Marie also wants to be friends with her classmates but she has no idea how to go about it, and she too fails and goes too far. I don't know whether Forest wants us to draw this conclusion explicitly, by the way. But Marie is one of those characters who offers us glimpses that show she has been consistently misinterpreted by her peers.
I really feel for Marie. While I can understand why Nicola holds a grudge against her (though even Marie's lying WRT Guides has always struck me as far less appalling than Lois' behavior at the same time), there seems no reason for everybody else to dislike her so intensely. And I suppose that is what makes the depiction of this aspect of childhood so accurate and chilling. We see things from the side of the "in-crowd" and their casual exclusion and even outright bullying of Marie is presented as natural and perfectly reasonable to them (though I think Forest is somewhat less forgiving of the way they treat Marie). It makes me shudder, especially when the staff essentially collude in this behavior.
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timeasmymeasure
The Shepherd Boy and Marie Dobson
Date: 2014-09-23 02:37 pm (UTC)I really feel for Marie. While I can understand why Nicola holds a grudge against her (though even Marie's lying WRT Guides has always struck me as far less appalling than Lois' behavior at the same time), there seems no reason for everybody else to dislike her so intensely. And I suppose that is what makes the depiction of this aspect of childhood so accurate and chilling. We see things from the side of the "in-crowd" and their casual exclusion and even outright bullying of Marie is presented as natural and perfectly reasonable to them (though I think Forest is somewhat less forgiving of the way they treat Marie). It makes me shudder, especially when the staff essentially collude in this behavior.