Pippi Longstocking annoys me to death, but I'd still choose her over Pollyanna.
I HAVE a confession to make: I detest Pollyanna. What a child! So happy, so eternally optimistic! I know it’s good to look on the bright side of things, but surely it’s not human to be so entirely free of morbidity and doubt.
Give me free spirits over saints
When Pollyanna gets hit by a car and loses the use of her legs, she is momentarily depressed about her predicament, but quickly bounces back again, glad that she, at least, had legs that used to work!
No, I have to say that Eleanor H. Porter’s Pollyanna books have never been my favourites. I prefer fictional females who struggle to be positive; do stupid and dangerous things just because they can; get mad and even.
Yes, give me free-spirited tomboys, rebellious adventurers, bad-tempered romantics and non-conformist dreamers over prim, saintly do-gooders anytime.
Laura Ingalls, Jo March, Katy Carr were my heroes when I was a child. They explored (sans permission and sun bonnets), defied their elders, did rash and brave deeds. The problem is that all three eventually learnt to keep their hats on, cease whistling and, generally, behave.
I wish someone would write an alternative ending for Good Wives in which Jo marries Laurie (or does not marry at all), becomes a famous novelist and leads an exciting, fulfilled life travelling the globe, hands in pockets, exclaiming “Christopher Columbus!” at anything that makes an impression!
Jo’s spirit and her talent should not have been wasted on a school for boys. I respect the fact that it is her decision to marry Professor Bhaer and spend the rest of her life “drying tears and bearing burdens” and concede that she may very likely have “found the applause of her boys more satisfying than any praise of the world”. However, how satisfying it would be if Jo had been allowed to continue going her own way and be a role model for unconventional girls who choose a career over a family, and the comfort of strangers over the familiarity of family.
Laura (not actually a fictional character) and Katy too end up wives and mothers, but the former does end up a successful novelist. The choices these women make have much to do with the times in which they lived in. Then a woman was expected to marry and raise a family. Pre-pubescence was the (only) time for running wild and free. It was probably also not in the best interest (i.e. detrimental to sales) of the authors to create characters who defied convention as adults. You can blame a lot on immaturity and high spirits, but respectable parents, the fear of God and a sound education (which all three girls are blessed with) should set you on the straight and narrow once you become an adult.
Interestingly, a more recent fictional hero, Lyra Belacqua of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, has morally ambiguous parents; is barely educated; and is instrumental in the destruction of the Kingdom of Heaven. I’m looking forward to seeing how she turns out (Pullman has revealed that he is working on a novel about the adult Lyra).
As much as I like little girls who do as they please and not as they’re told, I have never warmed to Pippi Longstocking, the character created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren for her daughter and first published in 1945.
Pippi is the strongest girl in the world (she can lift a horse), an orphan who, apart from her pet monkey and horse, lives alone and does exactly what she likes, always.
Pippi’s silly jokes, outrageous lies and indifferent housekeeping (she makes Jo March look like Martha Stewart) get on my nerves. I think this is one naughty girls who goes a tiny bit too far, but I daresay I am a big old stick in the mud for not being very amused by her quirky habits (she sleeps with her oversized shoes-clad feet on her pillow) and smart-ass quips. She has a great many fans and the books (Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, Pippi in the South Seas, Pippi on Holiday, Pippi's After Christmas Party, Pippi Longstocking in the Park) are enormously popular all over the world.
Pippi is assertive, creative and cheeky. What an inspiration she must be to a child who suffers constant nagging and a rigid schedule. Pippi tricks and embarrasses authority figures and (this I do like) never learns any lessons from the adventures and scrapes she gets into: Lindgren was against moralising and was a passionate believer in children’s rights to imagine and explore freely.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the author’s birth and one of the ways this has been marked is the publication of a new translation, by Tiina Nunnally, of Pippi Longstocking, illustrated by Lauren Child. As the author of the Clarice Bean and Charlie and Lola books, Child is no stranger to little girls with attitude and she has depicted Pippi with a twinkle in her eye, a spring in her step and pigtails that scream individuality.
Pippi Longstocking (Viking Children‘s Books, 208 pages, ISBN: 978-0670062768) would make a colorful and stimulating Christmas gift for anyone who spends too much time moping in front of the telly.
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