trennels | Esther and Lawrie

Why does Esther think Lawrie is an ass? And, given how timid and diffident she is, why does she come out and say so in the Tim/Miranda Shepherd Boy altercation during the art lesson in End of Term? It seems so out of character, and all the other characters obviously think so, too.

Just because she's so fond of Nicola and feels she's defending her against an unjust accusation of being unfair in not relinquishing the role of SB to Lawrie? Or because Miranda has put her on the spot and she has to say yes or no to a direct question? Or does she actually think Lawrie is a bit of an idiot? If so, why? Because Lawrie is a performer, when Esther suffers agonies at the mere prospect of doing anything of that nature (apart from netball...), or because Lawrie whines and strops so much when she doesn't get her way, and unlike Esther, makes no effort to hide her incapacities ('I can't light gas. It bangs at me')?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

hooloovoo_42

I vote for the whining and stropping theory. I should think Lawrie is very dramatic in everything, especially her inability to do ordinary things.

From:

oursin.livejournal.com

Why shouldn't Esther think Lawrie is an ass? She may be quiet and diffident and have crippling public performance anxiety but presumably she is also capable of forming her own opinions. She might not have expressed the opinion without being put on the spot, however.

From:

bookroom.livejournal.com

No reason why not. It's just that I don't think we ever see her straightforwardly expressing another opinion. Even when someone catapults her into her worst nightmare - singing solo in public - she automatically says pleased-sounding things because those are expected. She's mostly a passive personality, with sudden lurches into evasive action. She runs away repeatedly - on the train on the way to school, from the Christmas play solos/ to try save Daks, from Nicola's possible wrath after the carol concert solo mess-up - rather than say things.

But more than that, it was the fact that her one roundly-expressed opinion involved Lawrie, who, apart from her acting talent, seems essentially harmless and a bit goofy, even, as well as being generally liked. I can easily imagine her disliking Tim, whose 'neat malice' she has suffered from, but if would have said that, if anything, Esther would be likely to sympathise with Lawrie's fears and fusses about the dark and lighting gas etc.

From:

penguineggs.livejournal.com

I think a lot of the school stories concern how various characters react to what I call the Marlow prestige. All of the Marlows have good looks, good intellectual ability and talent at sports. Naturally that's going to produce some jealousy and resentment, but there's another factor.

Some of the Marlows - Nicola, Rowan, Kay in the right circumstances, Ann when it comes to Guides - have a natural ability to command and to command a room. Other Marlows - Ginty and Lawrie - share (possibly to an unwarranted degree) in the expectation that they can do the same - it's a sort of collective Marlow prestige. It means they get noticed when other girls of no less talent or ability (at the things they're being noticed for) aren't. And I think that's what Esther reacts against; specifically because she shares Lawrie's fears, the fact that Lawrie is humoured to a degree she isn't must rankle.

From:

hooloovoo_42

Possibly because Esther has suffered Tim, while Tim is best friends with Lawrie, who Tim thinks Lawrie is the bee's knees, Esther thinks Tim is stupid for liking Lawrie, who whines and strops.

From: (Anonymous)

I'd say it's because Lawrie quasi worships Esther. Lawrie is Nick's mirror image but notably lacking in all the qualities - stoicism, team playing, good eggishness - that she so admires in Nicola. Plus, precisely the fact that Esther sees some of the aspects of herself she despises in Lawrie, cowardice for example. The double whammy's enough to provoke her to speak out,

From: (Anonymous)

It is also possible that Esther almost instinctively gives the answer her questioner wants to hear before really thinking through the effect.

From:

colne-dsr.livejournal.com

The last thing Lawrie said before the Tim-Miranda argument was "pretty awful, actually" - referring to Nicola's performance as Shepherd Boy. Which is definitely, positively, Lawrie being an ass. Nicola wasn't awful at all.

So maybe when Miranda put Esther on the spot and she didn't have time to think and get nervous - she came out with what she thought at that instant (especially with Nicola being her Best Friend). She wouldn't necessarily think Lawrie was an ass all the time.

From:

jackmerlin.livejournal.com

Quiet, shy people who try to hide their own fears do resent loud, noisy people who make a drama out of their fears/ problems, and get lots of attention for being useless. I think penguineggs has it spot on in saying Esther resents the attention Lawrie gets for making a drama out of her weaknesses and flaws. Although saying that Lawrie is an ass doesn't imply that Esther actually dislikes Lawrie, just that she finds her foolish or tiresome at times. Which is what everyone who knows Lawrie seems to feel, apart from Tim, who seems to indulge the foolish side of Lawrie, as part of her 'my best friend the genius actor' act. The people who like Nicola all seem to find Lawrie irritating - apart from Miranda, there are several references to Patrick finding Lawrie a pain.

From:

charverz.livejournal.com

Except that one time in RAH when Lawrie doesn't make a fuss about climbing over a garden wall - she just says she has to take her skirt offf. Even there it is restricted to "liked her better than he had."

Edited Date: 2014-01-29 02:21 am (UTC)

From:

nnozomi.livejournal.com

Esther might find it a great relief to be able to consider Lawrie an ass, I think; feeling generally incompetent at life herself (which she isn't, but I don't think she sees it that way) and being surrounded by the variously competent and confident Nicola, Miranda, and Tim, she might find it reassuring to have someone else around who is obviously an ass at times, whether through incompetence at practical things, saying the wrong thing out loud, etc. (I'm sorry, that was a ridiculously long sentence.)
A side effect of this discussion has been an unshakeable image of an older Lawrie cast as a gender-swapped Dogberry, perhaps momentarily harking back to that moment as she complains "Oh that I had been written down an ass!"

From: (Anonymous)

Great question - I always wondered that too.

I think the above comments are spot on re why Esther *thinks* Lawrie is an ass - she is fond of Nicola, Lawrie is actually an ass in this book, Lawrie and esp Tim have been quite bullying to Nicola re the SB role - but I am still quite surprised (and 'yay!') when Esther simply says 'Yes' to that question. Perhaps because she's put on the spot (I am a Confident Type but if asked a direct question I act like a five year old and blurt); perhaps because she's having a rare confident moment, or perhaps because she suddenly gets sick sore and tired of Lawrie's INCESSANT WHINING ABOUT THE SHEPHERD BOY.

I also think (this might be in fanfic; apols if not or in canon) that Esther is scared of Tim (rightly so, I think, as Tim Is Mean to shy types like Esther) and perhaps someone equally as strong such as Miranda challenging Tim gave her that confidence.

Also, Miranda/Nick are part of the 'inner group' as described in Attic Term; Esther is inadvertently part of that group because of Nick's kindness to her as a new girl in End of Term, but I think she always secretly disliked Tim in particular and Lawrie in general. So when a 'leader' of the group challenges another leader, and invites Esther to comment, she is happy to
do so as it criticises the leader she dislikes, and it's socially accepted this time to do so.

All hail Esther! I loved forrester48's Esther's Term if anyone can track it down, btw.