Ann again

[res23.livejournal.com]

I was just starting to re-read Falconers Lure, and noticed that Nicola tells Patrick that Ann keeps a diary (they are discussing rubbish presents, and there is the slight implication that diary-keeping is not something Nicola has much respect for).

I tend to think of diaries as being about one's hidden feelings, secrets, worries, speculations about other people, etc., rather than just daily records of 'what was done'.

Given that quite a lot of people didn't think Ann would even admit to herself that she had a family liking list, some of those subjects seem fairly off-topic for her.  What kinds of things do you think she'd put in it?  Just a record of what she did?  Or would she actually say what she thought about her family, things that went on, etc.?  Would she say anything critical about anyone?  Does she have a lot of worries about how the others are doing, and/or insecurities about herself - does she worry what people think of her? etc etc.

(fan fic anyone?)

If I'd had to pick one of them as being a diary keeper, I might have thought Nicola would - she seems the reflective sort as she gets older (though not, perhaps, in that first year when she's described as not being able to settle to a book or be calm about things, and I guess Falconer's Lure is still in that year).  Do you think she'd see more value in it as she gets older?  In some ways, the books feel a bit more like a diary from her because we see the internal workings of her mind already.

Comments

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

I suspect that in a diary Anne might deal with a desire to criticise any of her siblings by omission of any reference to what she objects to, and thrash out her feelings in prayer, which is more private still, and where she would try to be rigorously honest.

I also suspect that Nicola (even a lot older than in Falconer's Lure) wouldn't be so much for complete honesty, unless she'd made herself so miserable she had to thrash something out.

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

I can imagine Ginty starting a diary with some enthusiasm, but she'd never keep it up...

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Yes, I could so see Ginty keeping a diary - esp when under the influence of Unity thinggummy. And not keeping it up, or it turning into an account of rides and hunting and lists of Stuff Ginty Would Like To Have.

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

Definitely -- a diary belongs to her Period of Sensibility.

[smellingbottle.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, it would begin with Unity Logan as Sole Implied Reader and lots of stuff about how Fidele's Dirge will always be extra-specially about Jon for her etc etc, and end fairly abruptly when Ginty ditches Loganism as a way of life and gets back into Monica's ambit.

Mind you, I sometimes wonder what Ginty's appeal is for Monica, who's constructed as so commonsensical and no-nonsense, while Ginty is a bit of a flake...

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Her lovely face? Just because Monica is sensible doesn't mean she'd be immune (cf Nicola and Esther). Somewhere the fact that Ginty has (or can manifest) charm is also mentioned. Monica may also like the sense of being a protector?

[res23.livejournal.com]

I can imagine Ginty's diary being full of hard-done-by tales, versions of how she would have liked things to go (losing the diving deliberately to make someone else feel better, or whatever it was she did, etc.), and perhaps even total fantasy stuff starring her as the hero/victim/etc.

[smellingbottle.livejournal.com]

I always imagine Ann's diary-keeping stemming less from introspection than from from the fact that someone probably gave her one for a birthday present and, being the kind of person who assumes one loves one's relatives and appreciates their presents, she though it Must Be Used.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Although it would be intriguing to imagine that it was an outlet for her Inner Charlotte Bronte... it's probably books she has read and her thoughts on them, etc.

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. And then people would know that Ann Keeps A Diary and would keep giving her them.

[dunite.livejournal.com]

Patrick, however, thinks that Ann must have a lot of energy to keep a diary - he keeps a hawk log, but implies that to write anything else about his life would be more trouble than it's worth.

Diaries

[charverz.livejournal.com]

I kept a diary from about age 16 up to my late thirties. The early stuff is just a record of what I did in a day, with maybe an odd comment about it.

Ann's may well be of the journal variety.