Magic Faraway Tree Series Review

Enid Blyton is well known for her school stories and mystery stories. But she has also made her forays into the realms of fantasy. Most of her works in this genre are short stories. However she has at least two complete series in this genre – ‘The Wishing chair’ and ‘The Magic Far Away Tree’. She has also written a nice fantasy novel adapting John Bunyan’s ‘pilgrim’s progress’ for children. The ‘The Magic Far Away Tree’ was probably my first introduction to the fantasy genre though at that time as a 12 year old, I did not know it as a genre. At that time I had been so besotted by the book “The Magic Far Away Tree’, that I borrowed it from the library and read it on four different occasions and still did not have enough of it. So I actually tried to forge the library seal on a different book and exchange the books.

The series has 4 books – ‘The enchanted Wood’, ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’, ‘The Folk of the Faraway Tree’ and’ Up The Far Away Tree’. The stories take place in an enchanted forest in which a gigantic magical tree – the eponymous “Faraway Tree” – grows. The tree is so tall that its topmost branches reach into the clouds and it is wide enough to contain small houses carved into its trunk. The forest and the tree are discovered by three children named Jo, Bessie, and Fannie, who move into a house nearby.

The tree has lot of fascinating features and equally fascinating folks live in the small houses carved into its trunk. But all that pale in comparison to the interesting fact that the cloud happens to be a portal to alternate dimensions. The portal remains open for some days and then the portal closes and a portal to a new world opens. Some of these worlds are good, some bad, some even ugly but definitely none uninteresting. The land of topsy-turvy where everything is upside down, the land of spells where witches and goblins sell magic spells, the land of goodies, the land of dreams are just few of the lands. Of course the new worlds are simplistic compared to the kind of worlds visited by the star trek crew or the star gate team. But then one must remember the average age of Enid Blyton’s primary market segment. And one cannot but praise the amount of imagination that has gone into some of the worlds and the level of details. For instance I could relate to the description of the land of dreams where logic is thrown to wind and things keep changing so suddenly.

However interesting and imaginative a fantasy is, one cannot fully enjoy without relating to the characters. One feels a vicarious pleasure in reading a fascinating experience through the eyes of someone one can relate to. That is why a travelogue is much more interesting than a simple travel guide. Whereas a travel guide is just a set of dry facts, one really sees the land and people through the eyes of the traveler in the case of a travelogue. Same is the case with imaginary worlds. It not enough to just create interesting worlds but you need interesting people as well. Enid Blyton has excelled on this count as characterization has always been her forte. One should read the ‘St. Clare’ and ‘Malory Towers’ series to see the richness of her characterization. The Far away series has its own fascinating protagonists such as Silky the friendly fairy, who is simple and sensible, Moonface who is sensible but gets excited on occasions and acts impetuously leading to trouble, Saucepan Man, who is deaf and frivolous and a few other interesting secondary characters as well. The 4 children who are the main characters are like any others in Blyton’s mystery stories. Joe is the responsible elder brother. Bessy and Fanny are just two nice girls, hardly distinguishable from each other, maybe the only flaw in the characterization. Dick is mischievous and often gets into trouble.

Overall it is a must read for anyone who is tired of the rigors of the real world and wants to take a flight of fantasy. But, yes. It is strongly oriented towards a younger audience. Also the high priests of fantasy may not be too impressed as it lacks the element of myth and she has stayed clear of any details of the governance, economy, science (Surprised? Yes fantasy has its own science too, a fantastic science) etc. which serve to sustain these fantastic lands.

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The image of a young girl, a scarecrow, a tin man and a lion gamboling merrily along the yellow brick road has been immortalized by the 1939 MGM musical ‘The Wizard of Oz’. No other fantasy film captured the audience imagination like that until the ‘Lord of the Rings’ saga. The Oz books are no less enthralling. There are 14 of them written by Frank Baum. Due to its popularity the series is being continued even after his death. But I wouldn’t really consider them part of the series.

One fascinating aspect of the OZ series is its independence from any kind of Tolkienian influence. Understandably so given the fact that Tolkien must have still been at his nursery when the first Oz book was published. Most of the post Tolkien fantasy finds it difficult to go beyond elves, dwarves and goblins. The most endearing aspect of the Oz series is the gradual unraveling of the myriad of wonders of the Land of Oz. We travel to curious regions in the hinterlands of Oz and meet their equally curious inhabitants. We are introduced to races such as ‘The Flatheads’, ‘The Cutenclips’, ‘The Living Utensils of Utensia’, ‘The Fuddles’, ‘The China People’ and many others. The books also has an element of myth, with each new book revealing more about the history of the land of Oz.

Most of the Oz books are structured on a quest framework, wherein a fellowship is formed and travels to distant lands to accomplish a quest. Strange lands and their denizens are introduced as part of adventures encountered by the fellowship en route to the quest. The quest presents some intriguing challenges. The fellowship manages to overcome the challenges through a combination of courage, team work and innovation. The character of protagonists and their relationship usually evolves as a result of these experiences and finally there is a happy ending. This particular aspect does not come out really strongly in the Oz series. Each character has his or her own idiosyncrasies which they retain throughout and all the members of the fellowship are just good friends. However there is definitely a happy ending as a result of which all characters live happily till the nest book.

The series also has the popular good versus evil theme. But it is all laid out in black and white. A deeper exploration of values and ethical conflicts is definitely missing. Usually fantasy provides a fertile ground for exploration of value systems in an unbiased manner independent of the noise arising out of inbuilt prejudices due to the social engineering. But Frank Baum stays clear of this area. He is clear as to who his audience is and what he wants to achieve. Children are his audience and he wants to entertain. That he does well.

Overall I would say nothing like a dose of Oz to come out of one’s blues. Just go on a happy go lucky quest in the wonderful land of Oz and have fun.

 

If you liked this review, please click here to read my other reviews.

Center Stage at Baldwins

Public speaking is considered the greatest fear a person can have, even greater than the fear of death. However research shows that a significant factor in people being promoted at work is the ability to express one's self in public or at a meeting, concisely and effectively, no matter how large the gathering. Like all mothers my mother dreamed about me having a successful career right from my childhood. So she wanted me to develop my oratory skills by participating in elocution contests since my early school days. But I did not share her enthusiasm. However events conspired to give me my first stage appearance at the age of 12 that too in a grand way in front of an audience of 5000 people in a hall amidst pin drop silence and all eyes directed towards me.

But before we get there, first things first. Let’s start off with the dull, dreary details of the school I studied in when this occurred. The school was one of those Christian Missionary schools that have been running for more than a century and believe in things such as Honor, Traditions and Discipline. Well. Or at least that’s what I believe. They had some Latin motto and an emblem having a pictures of a lion and a crow. I hope the meaning of the Latin words and the symbolism of the crow and the lion was something on these lines. Anyways whatever they meant, it is more dramatic to put it this way in a Mohabatein style. Every morning started with an hour of traditional marching and an hour of moral lessons to teach us honor. Discipline was enforced by regular strokes with the cane now and then. Over the years the teachers at the school had perfected the art of canesmanship. The canes themselves had an aesthetic appeal, being made out of the finest wood with a nice handle and slowly tapering towards the end. The teachers were able to execute masterly strokes on the student's back side with the slight flick of a wrist. It would seem so effortless that one would have to be there and experience the feel of the cane on one's backside to really appreciate the effectiveness of the methods.

As far as the marching was concerned, we were divided into 6 groups for this purpose, each one having a color and names after some Christian saint. The groups know as houses would march together. Each group was lead by a prefect, yelling 'left right left' at the top of his voice. The prefects would be alert and watchful of any sign of indiscipline. The most common case of indiscipline was trying to establish any kind of communication with the boys standing near you. The slightest noise and the prefect hauled you away to the teacher for a feel of the cane. At the end of marching we were lead to the big school hall for the chapel. The chapel consisted of singing of Hymns, retelling of parables from the bible and prayer. Sometimes there would be some announcements as well. During this entire exercise we were still under the watchful eyes of the prefects. It was at one of these chapels that I made my first public appearance. And that I did with a bang.

Literally!

At that time Diwali had just ended and I happened to be in possession of a roll of roll caps used for the toy guns during Diwali. These roll cap toy guns used to be an immense source of joy for the children during Diwali times those days. I was no exception and so I always liked to carry a roll around. It so happened that someone had thrown a nice little button made of brass somewhere in the grounds and I had managed to retrieve the same. We were all seated in the hall and the chapel was about to begin. There seemed to be a slight delay. They say speech is silver, silence is golden. However extended period of silence can be quite unsettling. Not surprisingly even in prisons, they subject the worst criminals to silence by putting them in solitary confinement. It was really getting to my nerves and I began to fidget. Of course, when you’re fidgeting, nothing like a couple of objects that you can rub against each other. It is much more interesting than just rubbing your hands against each other. But it became a bit too interesting for my liking at that moment for the instant the brass button stuck the roll cap; the silence came to an abrupt end 'Boom'.

It was not long before the prefects had swooped down upon me and within moments I was on the stage in front of the whole school, the hero who abolished silence from their world. The vice principal was standing there in front of me. Though he was a master in canesmanship, this was a special occasion and needed a more personal touch. So he focused all his energy into his palm and executed a well directed slap on my face. The whole school looked on spell bound without uttering a single sound. With that my few moments on the center stage came to an end.

The silver lining on the cloud was that I had no stage fear from then on for what worse can happen on stage?