Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School (W & R Chambers, Edinburgh, 1930)
Chapter:
1
A future new girl, recently-orphaned Eustacia, is introduced. [Note
the use of the "New Girl" plot device
and the complete absence of parents]
2-4
The characters of Madge, Jo, the Robin and Mdlle Lepattre are introduced,
together with the Tirolean setting.
5
Term starts, and through Eustacia the school setting and the other
characters are introduced. [Note how the "New Girl" plot device
is being used to introduce the characters and settings of the series]
6-13
Eustacia will not submit to the rules of the community, and comes into
conflict with it. Examples include sneaking on the rest of the class and
being told off by their mistress as a result; taking the key to the library
without permission and being told off by the prefects; arguing with Matron,
a figure who symbolises authority; and being snobbish and unpleasant about
a sick peasant child. (11-12: Eustacia begins to feel the influence of
the Chalet School, enjoying a music lesson and a snow-fight.)
14-20
Eustacia comes into deeper conflict with the school. She causes a division
between two forms and causes a school party to be trapped in a mountain
hut overnight by a blizzard, leading to a teacher sustaining a broken foot
and the Robin to become ill with worry, and is eventually ostracised by
her peers. [Note the first use of the "Illness/Injury" plot device]
21
The Fourth and Fifth forms play tricks on each other. The Fourth empty
all of the Fifth's inkwells, and the Fifth retaliate by messing up the
Fourth's clothes, removing buttons, covering blazers with cat hairs and
so on. [Note the use of the "Tricks and Amusing Incidents" plot
device
to break up the tension]
21-23
Eustacia runs away, causing the school a great deal of worry [ie the
community has not rejected her; she has rejected the community]
24
Eustacia is trapped on the mountainside by a flood and only narrowly
escapes death.
25
Eustacia, left temporarily disabled and in a great deal of pain as
a result of her actions, is reconciled with the school, symbolised by a
reconciliation with Joey. [Note how the "Illness/Injury" plot
device
provides a vehicle for character change, allowing Eustacia to be reconciled
with the community]
The Chalet School and the Lintons (W & R Chambers, Edinburgh, 1934)
Chapter:
1
Joyce and Gillian Linton, future new girls, are introduced. Their mother
has TB (their father is dead), and will go to the sanatorium while they
go to the Chalet School. [Again, note the absence of a father and the fact
that the mother is unable to be an active parent because of her illness,
as well as the use of the "New Girl" plot device]
2-3
The girls travel to the Tirol and meet Joey, Madge, the Robin, Grizel
and Eustacia (now Stacie; her continuing ill-health means that she is being
looked after by Madge in her home, thus her accident has been a passport
into the heart of the community). [The "New Girl" plot device
allows some of the main characters and the Tirolean setting to be introduced]
4
The girls go to school [where the use of the "New Girl" plot
device
enables the school setting and other characters to be introduced]
5-7
Gillian is quickly assimilated, but Joyce comes into conflict with
the community, passing notes in class which results in her being punished
by the prefects, and holding a small midnight feast which results in her
being extremely sick.
9
The Lower Fifth cook lunch for the school, but due to a mistake by Cornelia
Flower, flavour half their apple pies with garlic rather than cloves, to
the school's disgust. [Note the use of the "Tricks and Amusing Incidents"
plot device
to break up tension]
12
Joyce organises a rebellion against a young teacher's authority, and
is severely punished by the Head.
13-14
Joey intervenes, and Joyce starts to behave.
15
Thekla, a new girl the previous term who has never been assimilated
into the community and who has joined forces with Joyce, tries to blackmail
Joyce into ending her friendly relationship with Joey. She is discovered
and expelled.
17-18
The Lintons' mother becomes seriously ill, believing that Joyce, too,
has been expelled. Joey is able to make her understand that Joyce is now
obeying the rules of the school, both written and unwritten, and so she
recovers. [The "Illness/Injury" plot device,
this time affecting someone close to the person who is resisting being
assimilated into the community rather than the person herself, is once
more used to facilitate a new girl's reconciliation with the community]
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