Marlow Family Liking Lists

[childeproof.livejournal.com]

We know that Nicola has a fairly well-established Family Liking List, according to which she habitually ranks the members of her family, with Ann always coming last, presumably after Bucket, Tessa, and assorted Marlow horses. We might also assume that Giles tops the list, with Rowan close behind him.

My questions are (because I've just begun what looks to be hellish workday, full of politicking and collegial back-stabbing, and I fancy some Marlovian amusement on the side):

How do the rankings work in the middle of Nicola's list - who is next to Ann as second-last? Ginty? Does Lawrie figure as a kind of twinnish second-self or would she get her own independent liking ranking?

Also, f we imagine the other Marlows to have their own Family Liking Lists, how do they rank each other? (If Ann were to allow herself for a moment to be uncharitable enough to deviate from 'But of course I love them all the same - they are my family', who would she like most? Karen, who seems to be least unpleasant to her?) What does Giles really think of the Marlovian Lower Deck? Are we to assume Peter hero-worships Giles, or does his slightly-taken-aback reaction to no longer being the only male on the scene in Run Away Home indicate seething sibling-Naval rivalry?

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I've never thought Nicola had that much of an opinion of Karen, though they seemed friendly enough at the beginning of RMF and she's willing to go and drop off books for infant Dodds.

I think Lawrie's probably higher up Ann's list than Nicola because she isn't so prickly about being fussed over.

I have no idea how brothers work when there are that many sisters in the way - Giles is six years Peter's senior, which still leaves a bit of a window for Peter being old enough to tag along and not need nappies changing or the like whilst Giles is still at the Swallows and Amazons adventuring sort of stage, but he does, as you say, seem to react in RAH with clowning and unwillingness to be conscripted rather than relief at having another masculine ally about the place.

[childeproof.livejournal.com]

Yes, one can imagine a young Peter tagging along and being made to be the cabin-boy to Giles' Rear Admiral all the time. Which I suppose is in a way what happens in RAH (I can't use this acronym naturally, and keep wanting to shout 'Hoorah indeed!'), when Giles is quite frank about assuming Rowan will be his co-sailor in Surfrider, rather than his naval cadet brother, and then fairly brutal (in a classically Giles-and-Rowan way) about the fact that with Rowan, he wouldn't have to worry about whether she could 'cope'. I mean, I entirely see his logic, as Peter is both young and highly-strung, even if he is actually training as a sailor, but it says a lot about his opinion of Peter - and suggests no kind of sailors-together sense between them at all. (Is it frankly far-fetched to link this to Nicola's delighted surprise when Giles says 'Welcome aboard' when she says she might consider being a Wren, as Peter being in the same line of work doesn;t seem to register on his radar?)

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

It makes me want to go 'RAH, RAH, Rasputin'.

I'm always rather surprised that the Marlow heir and spare were destined for the Navy, actually, it seems a little redundant. Or possibly Peter had a Peter-like fit of grim determination that if Giles could get into Dartmouth so could he, despite not being particularly fitted for it.

[blonde222.livejournal.com]

i always thought (and I may have read this somewhere) it went: Giles, Ro, Peter-and-Lawrie-equal, then Gin, Kay and Ann.

But then, I think there's movement, particularly on the Binks front.

[childeproof.livejournal.com]

And the Ginty, surely? Or would Nicola, with her finely-tuned sense of 'outsiders' vs family, not allow the Patrick situation to have an impact on family rankings?

[forester48.livejournal.com]

I don't think Peter hero worships Giles, more nose slightly out of joint when Giles returns briefly and immediately assumes alpha male status. I agree that Ann would put Karen at the top of her list, then Lawrie because she lets Ann do all her jobs for her quite happily. It wouldn't occur to Giles or Rowan to rank their family members although they themselves are very close, of course.
I always found it very patronising of Giles in RAH to suggest that 'the infants' (Lawrie and Nicola, both agile and 14 and a half) wouldn't be able to manage a simple bit of rock climbing. I think Giles sees all his siblings, apart from Rowan, as not very capable and rather younger than they actually are. He never knows how old Nicola is, for instance. but then I can't stand Giles and never have been able to. Much prefer Peter.
My liking list, to digress, is: Rowan,Peter,Lawrie,Karen,Nicola,Ginty, Ann,Giles.

[(Anonymous)]

I think somewhere (Marlows and the Traitor perhaps?) Nicola says Lawrie is so much a part of her she'd never considered whether she liked her or not ...

I think her Liking List is:

Giles
Rowan and Peter equally
Ginty
Kay
Ann

and that Lawrie isn't classified. And I can imagine that Ginty and Kay swap places after Ginty moves in on Patrick ...

I think that Peter likes Nicola best, as Giles and Rowan put his nose out of joint by being too competent, and I think Rowan likes Giles far more than she likes the others as he's the only one we haven't seen her being mean to!

Caro

[(Anonymous)]

Peter is the sibling that Nicola likes best, after Giles, and as she's the one he likes best (after Giles) too, it all works out nicely. Or at least, it works out nicely in AF's prose as opposed to my half remembered mangling of it.

I think we get that comment in Marlows and the Traitor, before they go out and get rained on together. Possibly in the same para as the Lawrie comment.

[childeproof.livejournal.com]

Giles is the alpha-est of alpha males. He's practically a walking penis in a Fair Isle sweater, with sailing skills. And rapidly turning into his father, what with the similar thoughts on navy wives and a total inability to remember the ages, even roughly, of his younger siblings.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

practically a walking penis in a Fair Isle sweater

This explains, of course, why he has a refractory period after he collapses aboard Surfrider.