Ginty and Patrick

[coughingbear]

Prompted by forester48's query about Patrick's O-levels, I picked up Attic Term the other day and inevitably re-read it. And noticed some bits and pieces about Patrick and Ginty's relationship that hadn't fully come through to me before. I'd seen Patrick as attracted by her looks, and them bonding over the role-playing in Peter's Room, and obviously sharing a passion for and skill at riding, but had not really thought of them as similar in character. But then I reread the scene when Patrick is arguing with his father about why he doesn't need to stay at school for A-levels:

'having any number of more or less outlandish notions vaguely in mind: as for instance, that he might join an expedition to the Himalayas or a dig at one of the local archaeological sites or become the Queen's Falconer or unearth incontrovertible conclusive proof that the two princes were alive and well and living in the Tower when Richard Third was killed at Bosworth...'

This struck me as remarkably like Ginty's imaginings, such as the Mother Teresa fantasy when she's staying in the san. And I also noticed how very sulky both of them can be with the adults, and what teenagers they are, and remembered how one bonds with other teenagers over the total awfulness of the grown-ups. I read Attic Term first as a student, I think, and felt rather guiltily at one with Ginty as she thought 'when she was suddenly famous and interviewed on T.V. she would say There's one thing I can never forgive my mother--' and embarrassed for her over the way she speaks to Mrs Marlow on the phone from the Merricks'. But this time it occurred to me that the text doesn't suggest Patrick reacts badly to her rudeness to her mother at all (though one can feel Mr Merrick silently judging). Patrick's attempts not to be introduced to Mrs Harman at the concert had a similar feel to me, and though I admit that he has had an exceptionally stressful day, it's suggested that this mainly means he doesn't have the stubbornness to stick to his refusal.

Also I had always thought of the moment when he realised that 'If it had been Nick, he wouldn't have needed to ring off...' as conclusive in the end of his feelings for Ginty, especially as it's followed shortly afterwards by the Kissing Of Claudie. I still think it's crucial, but in fact the letter saying he is 'yours devotedly' - addressed to both Ginty and Rosina - is written after that. (Protesting too much? Attempting to open up a new dimension to their relationship after his recent exposure to the joys of the flesh?) Anyway, it's Ginty's decision to go to Monica's that seems to be the final disaster. Of course this is her chameleon qualities working against her, because if Patrick had known about Monica as her best friend from the beginning, he might have accepted that decision. Instead it just looks like running away. Which of course it is, even though it's also the right thing to do.

Probably these are not new observations, but I thought I'd toss it out and ask what other people make of Patrick and Ginty.

Comments

[anstruther.livejournal.com]

I think Ginty really does have qualities in common with Patrick that he can't find in Nicola, namely her romantic, fanciful leanings, even if in the end Patrick discovers that honesty and trust (and courage?) are more important to him. For whatever reason, Nicola simply can't enter into the Gondal as whole-heartedly as Ginty, and I see Ginty's self-dramatising TV imaginings as further indication of her fantasist tendences (I bet she's got her funeral mapped out in her head too (the church would be packed)). I think Ginty's further along the spectrum than Patrick, but he has his moments too. Apart from the role-playing and the "outlandish" career ambitions, there's the bit in End of Term when he is enraptured by a vision of angels singing "Gloria", and I get the strong impression he enjoys the romance of his type of Catholicism.

I always feel a little bit sorry for Ginty when she blows it with Patrick by running away to a previously unmentioned friend; by failing to face up to her fears she unwittingly confirms Patrick's doubts about her honesty. And I don't mean to criticise her by calling her a self-dramatist, it's how she comes across to me, but not more so than Lawrie.

Bizarrely, I've always wondered whether Patrick and Lawrie might not be well-suited. She combines some of the qualities of both Nicola and Ginty, and she might stop him taking himself so seriously.

[coughingbear]

she unwittingly confirms Patrick's doubts about her honesty

Yes, I feel sorry for her too here, because in fact there's never any suggestion that she even thought of telling him the real O-level questions, however foolish she's being - her dishonesty was letting him think the phone calls were allowed. (And to a Boy! I'm always amused at Ferguson's surprise that Patrick is an approved friend - clearly she wouldn't be that astonished if Ginty came to a bad end.)

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Nicola, on the other hand, is the only Marlow to share his particular enjoyment of history - he saves up the factoid about Alexander's soldiers dropping coins in India for Nicola, because Ginty wouldn't appreciate it, and her reaction to Mass in Run Away Home suggests she likes the romance and aesthetics of trad Catholicism too. In Patrick that's all bound up with his romantic/fanciful side, which makes it odd that Nicola lacks so entirely a fanciful side herself.

And on a third hand, ankaret's Christmas story gave me shivers down my spine because, though I'd never seen it, of course neither Nicola nor Ginty can participate in his religion the way (perversely enough) Ann the staunch Anglican can.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

When I was younger, a friend of mine read Attic Term and was all indignant on Ginty's behalf - "Her younger sister is trying to steal her boyfriend!" and I tried to explain, "No, no. He was Nicola's friend first, then Ginty stole him! You're supposed to feel good for Nicola, not bad for Ginty!". But on re-reading now that I'm older, I'm not sure I feel that way, and I'm not even sure AF meant us to read it like that. For one thing, Patrick is quite as culpable, if not more so, than Ginty in the erosion of his friendship with Nicola.

[jen-c-w.livejournal.com]

I shall comment furhter on this later, but just wished to tell you I loved you because you have put in a ginty topic.

Yay for Ginty!

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

I like my characters interestingly flawed. Ginty's image-conscious, romantic girliness is great (the fact that I had elements of those characteristics when I was in my mid-teens has nothing, nay *nothing* to do with this, of course)