Let's talk about Tim

[antfan.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's time to talk about Tim Keith.  Don't think there have been previous threads about her.  

I was recently struck by a bit in the otherwise not especially informative Marlows and their Maker about the creation of Tim.  Apparently AF was writing Autumn Term without her, and her friend (GB Stern) said why shouldn't the twins make use of being the head girls sisters, and how she had always wanted to read a school story with a headmistress's niece who did take full advantage - and hey, presto, the character was born.  AF completely rewrote the book.  And AF commented that she never really felt that Tim was one of "her" characters as a result.

Reading Autumn Term and End of Term, especially as a child, I never liked Tim.  She could be so intensely, bitingly hateful to people (mainly Nicola).   But rereading the early Marlow stories recently as an adult - Falconer's Lure and Marlows and the Traitor - I have been rather off put by the feel of the books, the undiluted establishment-y feel of the naval/gentry Marlows, and I wonder if what I am missing is Tim's presence, which adds that subversive voice?  Without her, Autumn Term would be a very different book, and a lot duller.  Then again, I prefer Cricket Term of the school stories, where Tim has moved somewhat to the sidelines - been tamed, almost.  I'm not sure AF knows quite what to do with her, from that point.  Will she become head girl?  What will happen to her?

Any Tim haters/fans out there?  What do you think?

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I didn't read that as Tim actually expressing an interest in being best friends with Nicola - if so, she never follows it up, though they do seem to be quite happy to be alone in each others' company, cf the conversation about costuming for the Play - so much as teasing Nicola to see whether she could get a rise out of her, which, as it happened, she couldn't.

[antfan.livejournal.com]

though Tim has moved away from Lawrie in Cricket Term - no more ostentatious references to Best Friend, or support for her Caliban campaign. I thought maybe she was trying to arrange a realignment.

I've always thought it might have been interesting if Tim or Miranda had met up with Patrick! Patrick always seems to dominate Nicola rather easily - it would have been interesting to see what he made of Miranda/Tim or they of him! I'd much rather see him married off to Miranda than Nicola - lots of juicy Jewish/Catholic complications for one thing! (I've never ventured into fanfic so far - but has anyone ever written about that scenario?)

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

That's interesting about her lack of support for the Caliban campaign; I read it as a shrewd knowledge of realpolitik on Tim's part, in that, as Headmistress's Niece, she knows Lawrie has no chance of getting the part from Gerry Hume, and is perhaps slightly irritated that Lawrie refuses to know too.

But I don't see any evidence of a larger-scale withdrawal from Lawrie (though I would of course be fascinated if anyone could provide examples!) - come The Attic Term, she and Miranda are still described as being Lawrie and Nicola's friends rather than particularly friends of each other, for example.

I'm afraid I wouldn't know about Miranda / Patrick or Tim / Patrick fanfic. Sorry!

[ex-lizzzar998.livejournal.com]

I never liked Tim that much - although maybe I can see her eventually becoming a theatre director. I always thought that ultimately Nicola was too strong a character for her - although it certainly is implied that a good part of her friendship with Lawrie is related to common theatrical interests, and not just greater ability to dominate a less strong personality.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

In what way do you think Lawrie has a less strong personality than Nicola? As Nicola herself says to Karen, 'Honestly, you're like Lawrie [...] You're a budge-notter... not soft a bit...' (Sorry, am quoting from memory as book is downstairs, so I may not have it entirely correct, but the gist is there)

She certainly acts a lot younger than Nicola, particularly in the earlier books (though she's still flapping and exclaiming over having to carry part of the picnic down a foggy beach, and irritating Giles, by Run Away Home) and is content to let Nicola do the question-asking in Autumn Term, but I always see that as yet more of Lawrie's youngest-kid coping strategy of behaving as if she expects special treatment on the off-chance that this will make the special treatment show up.

[ex-lizzzar998.livejournal.com]

I think AF suggests that Lawrie's dramatizing gives her a less strong centre of self than the Traditions of the Service/ Marlow stiff upper lip Nicola. Tim appears pretty fixed in her opinions too - and she directs, not acts. However, I didn't mean to suggest that Lawrie isn't good at getting what she wants - and I think AF implies that she has the determination to eventually make it as an actress.