Scariest moment

There are quite a number of scary moments in the books.  Which do you find the scariest?

The "scariest moment" for me is in Pigeon Post, when the younger ones go into the hill and the walls collapse behind them. 

The scary moments in the "madeup" stories are not all that much scary, but place our dear friends in dire dangerous circumstances. They don't seem to be all that much frightened, but we as readers, get very aprehensive as to what might happen. I think of the times in ML, with Captain Flint locked away somewhere below decks on the pirate ship, communicating with Nancy & Peggy via TAPPING in MORSE. There were quite a few places in ML, where reference is made to the prospect of chopping heads off. In PD, our friends were actually shot at, with one bullet imbedding itself in Swallow, and later, another one cutting away part of their sailing gear just before the waterspout did in their enemy. Bill took some serious body damage in the fight as well. But one moment in which one of our beloved characters was badly frightened is when in SD, Titty dropped the was image of the GA into the fire, and she was afraid she had caused serious bodily harm to the GA herself.

Yes, exactly.  AR certainly plays down their fear, but the reader's imagination works overtime!  I also think we react differently as children and as adults.  As a child, I found Black Jack in PD very sinister indeed, and was also very concerned about the Egyptians crossing the Red Sea in SW.  But when I re-read the books now, as a mother, I find the aforementioned episode in PP the worst!   

I agree the fearsome things to a child are different when you are adult. Both the mine collapse and indeed the fire in PP as a child I was not worried about, I was sure it would all work out,

As an Adult and a parent one could see the horrors of what might have happened, certainly near distasters seem to happen in the books but of course they always have a happy ending regrettably that is not always so in real life. Any one of the adventures today would certinly have been curtailed by todays parents had they found out how close to disaster their children had come.

I distinctly remember feeling anxious when I first read that passage as a child. Anyone who had read a bit of Enid Blyton, as I had, would have come across the problem of being buried behind a rockfall before. But there was something about AR's handling of the incident that made it seem far more serious and believable and, just momentarily, without any realistic means of escape.

Re-reading AR's description, he really does handle the reader's emotions well. There's the gradual build up of creaking timbers and falling earth, as Titty tries to persuade the others to escape. Then, after they hear the tunnel collapse, AR simply tells us that "Roger and Dorothea flashed their torches on each other's faces". He doesn't need to tell us what they saw - somehow those simple words tell us so much about their reactions and thoughts.

When they go back to look at the rockfall, AR makes it very clear that there is no escape: clearing the rocks to climb out isn't an option; the able-seamen are genuinely trapped. For a moment it seems their only hope will be discovery by the others. And here AR turns the screw a bit more by showing us Titty's real fear - not being buried herself, but the worry that Susan will find the rockfall and think they were dead. (As I think Ed was suggesting in his post about the Candle-grease Aunt, somehow Titty's worry can seem worse than physical danger itself).

That's the moment I distinctly recall wondering "what now? How can they get out of this?" Whereupon Dick quite calmly, but entirely logically and believably, provides the answer. AR says that "Dick's words somehow surprised everybody" and I suspect that includes the reader, as well as the other characters. It's in the mould of the classic plot twist in a thriller, where the reader does a kind of double-take, and is left wondering "that makes sense; it works; so why didn't I see it coming?"

 

Previously Pippa wrote:

But when I re-read the books now, as a mother, I find the aforementioned episode in PP the worst!   

 

The moment that struck me as most realistic is when it's all over and John goes into the rockfall cave, coming out with a white face and the order to keep Susan away- that's when it really hit.

Previously Pam Adams wrote:

The moment that struck me as most realistic is when it's all over and John goes into the rockfall cave, coming out with a white face and the order to keep Susan away- that's when it really hit.

Yes, indeed. Perhaps its "power" lies in the way that all those involved act naturally, as we'd expect them to from what we know of their personalities?

Note; SPAM comments have been deleted from this conversation.

(adverts for illegal drugs, posting attempt by anonymous user)

From Susan's point of view, since at the time she did not really understand the "buried alive" prospects in PP (she was told later) perhaps the most terror she felt was when she thought she saw John fall overboard during the project of reefing the sail in WD. Also in WD, there is that apprehension of violating a rule defined by their adults that struck them hard when they suddenly realized that the tide had swept them by Beach End Bouy, and now, they were out to sea. It was not the horror of the personal danger to them that seemed significant at that time, but the dismay of breaking a promise to Mother.

(Hi Ed – greetings from a Tarboard exile - it’s good to be responding to a post by you – quite like old times!)

 

I agree with you about the significance of Susan with particular reference to the real horror that Susan shows in WD, and the imagined horror in PP. For me, the roof collapse in the Old Level is the most dangerous situation faced by the Swallows – all the more so because the horror is not actually expressed. The others imagine what Susan’s reaction would be, and try to hide things from her. This is a very clever way used by AR to convey the true horror of the Old Level – he doesn’t use lurid descriptions of what might have happened – just the thought of Susan’s reaction if she had seen the string leading into the mine. That is enough.

 

The thing that scared me the most as a child was being stuck in the middle of the Red Sea. It seemed to go on for ages. As usual, AR was excellent at portraying a 'sense of responsibility'. In this case it was Titty who was the eldest one present and felt responsible.

 

Previously Pippa wrote:

There are quite a number of scary moments in the books.  Which do you find the scariest?

The "scariest moment" for me is in Pigeon Post, when the younger ones go into the hill and the walls collapse behind them.

 

 

 

I still find the sailing in the dark episode in SA quite scary, more so as a parent. The chances of hitting a rock or being run down by a motor boat are high. The northern end of Windermere is very dark if you have no lighting. Roger being a new swimmer would be a problem.

These psssibilities actually became more real in SD and WD