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Post by maxwalton on Jul 10, 2014 7:34:40 GMT -5
I just recently finished watching The Typewriter from Season 1 and it dawned on me how many times John Boy/Richard Thomas refers to his brothers and sisters as, "The Children". Now, I don't come from a large family but, I am the first born and I know that if I ever referred to my brother as "The Child" his ears would put out more steam than Flying Scotsman.  Does anybody else think this is odd or is/was this typical for large families? |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2014 8:59:17 GMT -5
Yes I saw this and wondered too. I would reckon the older ones Jason (for example) might just want a few words with John Boy over that.
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Post by JeriJet on Jul 11, 2014 6:39:28 GMT -5
Huh.... this is odd -- I know I replied here yesterday, but it didn't take -- so....
I think it isn't unusual for the eldest sibling in a large family to be given the role of "overseeing" much of what the younger children do at times.... And, with the fairly large gap in age between John-Boy and Jason (due to WWI) when JB was 14/15 and Jason maybe only about 12, that gap would have been huge maturity-wise.... Even with the burden of having to set a good example in so many ways, I doubt that JB would have started saying "the children" on his own-- it would have begun with his parents/grandparents referring to the younger kids that way when asking JB to help out.... Jason and MaryEllen may have resented it a bit, but that wouldn't have been permitted for very long !! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2014 7:43:51 GMT -5
There exists a clear hierarchy with regard to the children in the Walton family. As the children grow older, they each assume more responsibility and move up in that hierarchy. There is always an emphasis placed on how the boys are turning into men, how the girls are becoming ladies, and their preparation for adulthood.
In addition to John-Boy's documentation of life on the mountain and the struggles of his family during the Great Depression, the show is also about the coming of age of not only John-Boy, but all of the children.
I always thought that the show should have started with John-Boy at the age of 13 or 14. John-Boy graduates from high school in the second season of the show. By Season 2, John-Boy could easily be referred to as John-Man, or John-Young-Adult, or even John-No-Longer-A-Kid-And-One-Foot-Already-Off-The-Mountain, which would make signing his name very difficult, even if he used just his initials: JNLAKAOFAOTMW.
I would rather have seen how John-Boy decided he wanted to become a writer, what the reasons for his decision were, and why he became so interested in literature and writing in the first place. Also, a show with a younger main character could show, more fully, what it was like to grow up in that era with an even heavier emphasis on family life and traditions.
I know that the show does emphasize Depression Era family life, but I think a younger John-Boy from the start would have demanded a more intimate look into that era and the challenges families faced in preparing kids for adult lives of their own. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2014 11:18:44 GMT -5
Instead of referring to them as "the children", what would you rather they call that many children?
Do you want them to say "John-boy, where is Jason, ME, Erin, Ben, Jimbob and Elizabeth" every time they wanted to know where the children were?
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Post by april on Jul 11, 2014 15:04:20 GMT -5
I like that they were referred to as " children" instead of " kids" though..... John Boy did seem to take on a lot of responsibility with the children ... |
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Post by bucky on Jul 12, 2014 19:39:39 GMT -5
It could be worse ... I remember that we called the pre-school ones "The Babies" and we were all referred to as "The Kids". "The Children" sounds quite formal to me |
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Post by JeriJet on Jul 12, 2014 20:40:44 GMT -5
It could be worse ... I remember that we called the pre-school ones "The Babies" and we were all referred to as "The Kids". "The Children" sounds quite formal to me
You've got me trying to remember when people started calling children "kids"..... I know it wasn't true during my childhood (the 1940's to mid 50's).... in fact, if anyone did use the word kid, they were usually told that they were referring to a goat ! ... For many years, using the word kid instead of child was considered very bad form !!
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Post by Brenda on Jul 12, 2014 21:15:54 GMT -5
You've got me trying to remember when people started calling children "kids"..... I know it wasn't true during my childhood (the 1940's to mid 50's).... in fact, if anyone did use the word kid, they were usually told that they were referring to a goat ! ... For many years, using the word kid instead of child was considered very bad form !! I don't remember when it started either, but I do remember some of my elementary teachers telling us that we weren't goats whenever they would hear one of us say "kids." I often watch reruns of The Cosby Show from the 1980s, and I've noticed that Cliff and Claire Huxtable always referred to their offspring as their children. I don't think they ever used the word kids on that show. |
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Post by e knight on Jul 12, 2014 22:03:40 GMT -5
When I was in grade school, any use of the term "kid" or "kids would be met by the teacher's knee-jerk response that kids were goats, so stop saying that. We'd been tuned to check ourselves and say "children" whenever "kids" was on our pre-tongues -- except when conversing with the other 99% of The World. (Also, calling your parent's female siblings your "ants." Everybody pronounced it that way, excapt before a grammar-fascist like your teacher. There you had to say "Awwwnt Martha" like some British fancy-lad snotnose, and let the other kids laugh at you. But everywhere else, including to her own face, she was "Ant Martha," and she was fine with it, Gawd Bless You Ant Martha!) So, of course, John Junior II, the farm guy desperately wanting to sound like a sophisticate, says "the chilren." Curse you, John-Boy!  |
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Post by maxwalton on Jul 13, 2014 2:40:00 GMT -5
You've got me trying to remember when people started calling children "kids"..... I know it wasn't true during my childhood (the 1940's to mid 50's).... in fact, if anyone did use the word kid, they were usually told that they were referring to a goat ! ... For many years, using the word kid instead of child was considered very bad form !! I don't remember when it started either, but I do remember some of my elementary teachers telling us that we weren't goats whenever they would hear one of us say "kids." I often watch reruns of The Cosby Show from the 1980s, and I've noticed that Cliff and Claire Huxtable always referred to their offspring as their children. I don't think they ever used the word kids on that show. Interesting. For me it was just the opposite. If someone walked into a classroom and I was the only one there (as in detention hall, I spent a lot of time there.  and said, "Where are the children?", I would have been tempted to respond, "Check a playpen somewhere." For the most part, it was always, "kids." As for teachers, like Mary, I went to Catholic schools and the nuns usually referred to any assembly of humans as "people." "OK people, playground time is over, let's get to work." As for my family, my parents both come from big families but, neither was co-ed: Mom's family was all girls; Dad's all boys. Dad said, "When we were little we were referred to as "the men"; now (he's 81) they're referred to as "the boys." |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2014 8:34:01 GMT -5
My mom always used the word "children" when talking about us. When my friends came over, same thing. She never used the word "kids" . Even when we moved away and came back for Christmas, she'd say "the children are home "
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Post by clyde on Jul 14, 2014 11:39:00 GMT -5
I had the same experience with kids and children. I was invariably a "child", not a "kid". It did not carry over to me however, as I now call the little blighters "kids" with no feelings of guilt.
Regarding ants and awwwnts - in the rural South, that is pronounced like AINT! Right Forever?
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Post by carol on Jul 14, 2014 12:29:25 GMT -5
I had the same experience with kids and children. I was invariably a "child", not a "kid". It did not carry over to me however, as I now call the little blighters "kids" with no feelings of guilt. Regarding ants and awwwnts - in the rural South, that is pronounced like AINT! Right Forever? I was thinking of that pronunciation too like "Aint Bee" on Andy Griffith. |
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Post by e knight on Jul 14, 2014 18:57:01 GMT -5
Curiously, "ain't" was one other popular construction that ain't allowed in the classroom!
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and said, "Where are the children?", I would have been tempted to respond, "Check a playpen somewhere." For the most part, it was always, "kids." As for teachers, like Mary, I went to Catholic schools and the nuns usually referred to any assembly of humans as "people." "OK people, playground time is over, let's get to work." As for my family, my parents both come from big families but, neither was co-ed: Mom's family was all girls; Dad's all boys. Dad said, "When we were little we were referred to as "the men"; now (he's 81) they're referred to as "the boys."
