Great-Aunt Thisbe assures Amabel that are plenty of museum jobs open in York, and that all that's needed to get one is "intelligence, the Queen's English and a pleasant voice and appearance" (p. 63). It seems unlkely to me that no one else wants to be a curator or museum guide; my SO was surprised for another reason: "They speak the Queen's English in York?"
Oliver goes to look for Amabel at her old home, and her mother shows her true Ungrateful Parent colors by telling Oliver, a stranger, that "The silly girl didn't like the idea of them [the dog and cat] being put down - left us in the lurch too" by not helping Keith with the gardening business (p. 68). He decides to drive up to York to see Amabel, not enquiring too deeply into his motives for so doing (though even a careless reader would suss them out, of course). He sees Amabel a few times, and hears about her wish to get a job. The catty Miriam unexpectedly comes to the rescue, gossiping about her friend in York who owns a shop, but who is impractical and needs an assistant. The chapter ends there, but one can guess what will happen in chapter 4.
By the way, Amabel's wish to get a job, but apparent cluelessness about the process, makes this book not only an ungrateful family story, but also a helpless woman story.
Showing posts with label helpless woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helpless woman. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
plots
So. I've just finished blogging about the first Betts on my list, so now it's time for me to work out names for the various plots. All Else Confusion is certainly the basic marriage of convenience. There's the slight twist that Jake doesn't realize he's in love with Annis straight away, and Annis has at least a chance of happiness with Matt, but that's it. The marriage of convenience nearly always has at least one of them in love from the get-go, it always features a shopping spree (though there's one book, which I might be misremembering, in which the hero pretends he's poor. It sounds so unlikely for a Betts that I'll assume I'm wrong for the moment).
There's also the helpless woman plot, in which the hero finds the heroine a series of jobs - or, occasionally, she finds them herself - and despite living almost hand-to-mouth, she spends most of her surplus income on jersey dresses and two-piece outfits. That comes in handy when the hero falls in love with her, of course, but it's hardly a sound financial strategy. Of course, because she's of good family, she rarely takes a job as a maid - though that does happen. And she never goes off to get training, or live on the dole for a while until she is trained for a career. Or go to university - Betts heroines are never, ever university girls. Occasionally, the heroine has her own business - I'm reminded of a Betts heroine who owns a teashop and never makes any money, which makes her a suitable candidate for rescue by the hero.
Sometimes the helpless woman plot is combined with the marriage of convenience, or with the fabulously over-the-top ungrateful family (exemplified in the book where her selfish sister doses some babies with sleeping pills so she can go to a fashion show, if memory serves me correctly). The ungrateful family plot is where one is most likely to find a Betts heroine doing work that's "below her station", such as cleaning houses, because she works and works just so her family can buy chocolates. Extravagantly. More rarely, the Betts heroine is the older sister and caretaker of her siblings.
The inappropriate fiancee plot is a favorite as well. The heroines rarely have interesting fiancees (they tend to be dull but worthy), but the hero's fiancee is nearly always thin, attractively dressed, selfish and mean. They make for interesting reading - I'm speaking on the Betts scale of interesting, of course. Funnily enough, the Betts heroines can be just as catty as the mean fiancees when provoked, but the hero always realizes the sterling worth of the heroine and persuades the fiancee to break the engagement. Often, she finds solace in the arms of an American - rich Americans, or overly friendly ones, are the only people from the States who ever show up in the books.
The medical plot can be combined with the inappropriate fiancee plot or the ungrateful family plot (as in the example with the sleeping pills above), but basically it's your doctor-nurse cliche. They work in the same medical setting, and through a series of dramatic events they realize they're right for each other,
There's also the helpless woman plot, in which the hero finds the heroine a series of jobs - or, occasionally, she finds them herself - and despite living almost hand-to-mouth, she spends most of her surplus income on jersey dresses and two-piece outfits. That comes in handy when the hero falls in love with her, of course, but it's hardly a sound financial strategy. Of course, because she's of good family, she rarely takes a job as a maid - though that does happen. And she never goes off to get training, or live on the dole for a while until she is trained for a career. Or go to university - Betts heroines are never, ever university girls. Occasionally, the heroine has her own business - I'm reminded of a Betts heroine who owns a teashop and never makes any money, which makes her a suitable candidate for rescue by the hero.
Sometimes the helpless woman plot is combined with the marriage of convenience, or with the fabulously over-the-top ungrateful family (exemplified in the book where her selfish sister doses some babies with sleeping pills so she can go to a fashion show, if memory serves me correctly). The ungrateful family plot is where one is most likely to find a Betts heroine doing work that's "below her station", such as cleaning houses, because she works and works just so her family can buy chocolates. Extravagantly. More rarely, the Betts heroine is the older sister and caretaker of her siblings.
The inappropriate fiancee plot is a favorite as well. The heroines rarely have interesting fiancees (they tend to be dull but worthy), but the hero's fiancee is nearly always thin, attractively dressed, selfish and mean. They make for interesting reading - I'm speaking on the Betts scale of interesting, of course. Funnily enough, the Betts heroines can be just as catty as the mean fiancees when provoked, but the hero always realizes the sterling worth of the heroine and persuades the fiancee to break the engagement. Often, she finds solace in the arms of an American - rich Americans, or overly friendly ones, are the only people from the States who ever show up in the books.
The medical plot can be combined with the inappropriate fiancee plot or the ungrateful family plot (as in the example with the sleeping pills above), but basically it's your doctor-nurse cliche. They work in the same medical setting, and through a series of dramatic events they realize they're right for each other,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
