Exactly. It's complicated, and the more the story unfolds, the more complicated it becomes.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'no one seems to communicate at all with Edward'? The one thing that is crystal clear throughout the whole book is that Edward wants to go back to his father. What else did you need to know? And who would be communicating with him that the Marlows would know about it?
I think that the reasons the Marlows act in the way they do are fairly obvious too. First - it's what Edward wants. Second - being in care is clearly a worse alternative than being with his father, and being with his mother isn't a viable alternative. Third - once they've decided, they have to go through with it. Finding out later that Judith wasn't such a bad sort isn't going to affect their actions.
I also think that while, of course, they're Marlows and there is that sort of 'nothing better in life' arrogance, they're also (mostly) teenagers who do tend to see things in black and white terms. Rowan and Giles are clearly the most reluctant to get involved and that makes sense because they're older. And of course Giles acts in that way - he's not only the eldest of eight (and thus used to taking charge of much younger siblings whose opinions don't carry much weight, because, you know, there's eight of them), he's also a naval officer and the 'adult' at home during most of the book. I wouldn't expect him to sit round having conferences asking for opinions and holding votes.
One of the things I like about the Marlows is that they're such a 'normal' family precisely in the respect that they don't spend their whole time talking about their feelings and analysing their actions. They do things, sometimes they mess up, sometimes they have private doubts and regrets, and occasionally they find they need to talk to someone else about them - but NOT to burden that other person. The scene with Rowan and Nicola at night, for instance, I think is very well judged in terms of the level of confidences discussed but also the prohibition on repeating them further.
no subject
I'm not sure what you mean by 'no one seems to communicate at all with Edward'? The one thing that is crystal clear throughout the whole book is that Edward wants to go back to his father. What else did you need to know? And who would be communicating with him that the Marlows would know about it?
I think that the reasons the Marlows act in the way they do are fairly obvious too. First - it's what Edward wants. Second - being in care is clearly a worse alternative than being with his father, and being with his mother isn't a viable alternative. Third - once they've decided, they have to go through with it. Finding out later that Judith wasn't such a bad sort isn't going to affect their actions.
I also think that while, of course, they're Marlows and there is that sort of 'nothing better in life' arrogance, they're also (mostly) teenagers who do tend to see things in black and white terms. Rowan and Giles are clearly the most reluctant to get involved and that makes sense because they're older. And of course Giles acts in that way - he's not only the eldest of eight (and thus used to taking charge of much younger siblings whose opinions don't carry much weight, because, you know, there's eight of them), he's also a naval officer and the 'adult' at home during most of the book. I wouldn't expect him to sit round having conferences asking for opinions and holding votes.
One of the things I like about the Marlows is that they're such a 'normal' family precisely in the respect that they don't spend their whole time talking about their feelings and analysing their actions. They do things, sometimes they mess up, sometimes they have private doubts and regrets, and occasionally they find they need to talk to someone else about them - but NOT to burden that other person. The scene with Rowan and Nicola at night, for instance, I think is very well judged in terms of the level of confidences discussed but also the prohibition on repeating them further.
Anyway