“I can’t find my book,” said Elizabeth.
“Well, you had it yesterday,” said Miss Ranger. “Did you take it out of the classroom?”
“No, Miss Ranger,” said Elizabeth. “I hadn’t any arithmetic home-work to do. I just put the book back when I’d finished with it yesterday morning. But
it really isn’t here.”
“Take some squared paper from the shelf in the cupboard,” said Miss Ranger. Blyton, 1993: 65-66
The conversation above shows Miss Ranger’s effort to discuss with Elizabeth about her lost book. Although Miss Ranger dislikes this situation, she still
tries to confirm the problem with Elizabeth. She asks her to clarify the problem. It makes Miss Ranger come into a decision to forgive Elizabeth. She asks her to tear a
piece of paper so the class can be begun without any more delay.
c. As supporters
The child characters in the stories are often portrayed to be badly-behaved or confused in facing problems. The role of adults is important to help them figure out
the problem so they need to be supporters for child character. Acting as supporters is not by dictating the precise actions the child characters have to do but by giving
advices or suggestions. These advices or suggestions are useful to make them realize what lacks from them.
In The Six Bad Boys, the adult characters give some advices and suggestions. They tell the child characters what is better without forcing them. The biggest
problem faced by the child characters is when the six bad boys are judged in a court. This is a very hard moment for them to deal with. Fortunately, the magistrate as the
adult character in the court tries to support the boys by giving understanding step-by- step.
“Patrick O’Shea, what do you say about it?” asked the magistrate. “No, sir, I didn’t think it was wrong,” said Patrick at once. “It was found, sir.
And finding’s keeping, everyone knows that.”
“Finding is not keeping,” said the magistrate, sternly. “You know that as well as I do, Patrick. Come nearer to me. Now listen; if I gave you a ten-
pund note and you went out and lost it and somebody found it and kept it, without trying to find o
ut whose it was, so that you didn’t get it back, wouldn’t you think it was wrong of the boy?”
“Yes, sir,” said Patrick at once. “And what would you do to the boy if he were caught?” asked the
magistrate. “I’d want to see him punished. I’d thump him, sir,” said Patrick, fiercely.
“I’m glad you see what I’m getting at,” said the magistrate, dryly. Blyton, 2012:195-196
Patrick and the magistrate are talking about the stealing case Patrick has
done. At first, he does not know that a stolen thing is forbidden to keep by anyone. He stands with his stance that finding, which is the stolen money, is keeping for the
finders. Thus, when the he stole someone’s money, he shared it to his gang instead of sending it to the police. He thought that it was correct to keep the stolen money as
new keeping. It happened when Patrick was still with his gang. It was a condition when all of the gang members had problems with their own families.
When the case is brought to a court, the magistrate tries to help Patrick to understand the nature of stolen thing. He tells Patrick by using two acceptable ways.
First, the magistrate explicitly states that finding is not keeping thus it cannot be claimed as personal ownership. Second, he asks Patrick to imagine if the boy
becomes the one whose the money is stolen. Through this illustration, Patrick slowly
changes his mind. He wants the thief to be punished. These ways are successful to make Patrick understand step-by-step that keeping a stolen thing is unjustifiable.
The datum above shows the positive role of magistrate in the court. Instead of becoming a scary character for child characters being judged, he becomes a
tolerant one. Thus, those six bad boys will not feel burdened in the court. This positive and cooperative role makes him an example of supporter for child characters.
Being judged in a court is a very difficult problem for every person, moreover for child characters. Thus, a supportive adult character is needed to make these younger
characters understand their condition. In the second novel, The Naughtiest Girl Again, adult characters are
presented as teachers than parents. The role of the teachers is not involved very much in the story unless the students ask for help or suggestions. It is proven by the datum
below. “And I suppose the habit grew and grew until she couldn’t stop it,” said
Rita, interested. “Is that how bullies are made, Miss Belle?”
“It’s one of the commonest ways,” said the Headmistress. “But now, we must find out if Robert’s fault is caused in the same way.” Blyton,
1993:84 It happens in the Meeting. The monitors, who are still students, are unable to
solve the problem because it seems much more complicated than usual. Thus, they ask for suggestions from the teachers. Miss Belle, one of the teachers, tries to help
them. She tries to be wise in analyzing the problem. Thus, she advises the students to figure out the cause of Robert’s problem which makes him a badly-behaved student.
In other scenes, the teachers are not involved in the Meeting because all the students are able to solve their problem by having peer discussions. The datum above
happens when there is a very serious problem that needs to be analyzed. Miss Belle acts a supporter for her students to overcome the case. She helps calm their student
and advises them to figure out the problem by finding the basic cause of Robert’s bad
behavior. She aims to prevent the students from getting bad temper easily by having less understanding to analyze a very serious case.
It gives the result that Robert finally tells the cause of his unpleasant behavior. He blames himself for being unable to change his behavior. Another
teacher, Miss Best, supports him to enable himself to change to be a better one.
“Well, it can be helped, and you can stop it yourself,” said Miss Best.
“You see, Robert, once you understand how a bad habit began, and how it grows, you also understand how to tackle it. Now that we know why you
became a bully, I am sure that none of us really blames you. It was just unlucky for you.
You aren’t really a bully—you are just an ordinary boy who took up bullying because you were jealous of two small brothers.
You can stop any time, and change to something that is really you” Blyton,
1993:85-85 The monitors feels impossible to solve the problem at the Meeting. It is too
difficult for them because they are also the same students in the Whyteleafe School. They ask for the teachers’ help to figure out the problem. Miss Best gives her
guidance to solve Robert’s problem. She starts it by giving encouragement that the bully is stoppable and Robert can be assisted to be a well-behaved student. Then, she
tries to analyze the source of his problem which is his jealousy over his little sister. The result is Robert starts to open his mind and realize the source of his problem.
In Naughty Amelia Jane, the role of adult character is implicit only and not stated explicitly. The information is got from Amelia Jane who said that she feels
difficult to be good because she is not a shop-toy that learns good manners Blyton, 1989:41. Amelia Jane was once a doll in a house so she never learned how to behave
kindly. Meanwhile, the toys in the nursery are able to know and understand good manners because they are taught by the Nurse. This information is not available
expli citly through the Nurse’s action. However, it is an example of her role as a
supporter to make the shop-toys know positive manners. No matter how children try to be independent in exploring many things, they
still need guidance from adults. It is because they still lack of understanding in analyzing deep problems. To give guidance or help to child characters, adult
characters can play roles as reminders, partners in discussions, and supporters.
3. Children’s Independence Reflected in Characterization
