Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome
"Pigeon Post" is a children's novel by Arthur Ransome, first published in 1936, that stands out for its unique perspective, being primarily narrated from the viewpoint of children. The story follows siblings Roger and Titty Walker as they embark on an adventurous camping and prospecting journey in the hills, where they employ a system of messaging through carrier pigeons named Homer, Sophocles, and Sappho. Initially unaware of the pigeons' purpose, the children gradually learn to communicate with their adult friends through cryptic messages. The narrative intertwines themes of childhood exploration, friendship, and the challenges of interpreting adult messages, as seen when the children misinterpret a telegram from their friend, Jim Turner, alias Captain Flint. The plot thickens with the introduction of an adult character whom the children perceive as a rival, and their subsequent realization of his true connection to Jim. Ultimately, the story culminates in a dramatic rescue aided by their pigeon post, showcasing their growth and understanding amidst the backdrop of adventure. "Pigeon Post" is well-regarded in children's literature, receiving the Carnegie Award and compared to classics like Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," both exploring the transition from childhood innocence to adult realities.
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Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome
First published: 1936; illustrated
Type of work: Adventure tale
Themes: Coming-of-age
Time of work: The early twentieth century
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: The English lake district
Principal Characters:
Roger and Titty Walker , recent arrivals to thelake countryNancy and Peggy Blackett , who, despite their apparent familiarity with the local scene and family sentiments, totally misinterpret the most vital part of their uncle’s messageDick and Dorothea Callum , who despite their apparent youth, demonstrate single-minded preoccupations with higher learningSusan , andJohn , who are considered old enough to keep the camp in working order and mature enough to enter a mine ahead of the othersMrs. Blackett , the all-supporting resident of Beckfoot, the home base of the children, the pigeons, and of her brother, Jim TurnerSlater Bob , a wise old miner with a considerable talent for spinning tall talesTimothy , aliasSquashy Hat , the children’s dreaded rival, a friend and partner of their absent adult hero, friend, and uncle, Jim TurnerMrs. Tyson , the resident of Tyson farm, the site of the children’s second campRoger Tyson , Mrs. Tyson’s adult sonColonel T. E. Jolys , of the Fire BrigadeJim Turner , aliasCaptain Flint , brother of Mrs.Blackett, uncle of Nancy and Peggy Blackett, and the adult friend and hero whose absence is sorely missed by all the residents of the children’s campHomer , the first carrier pigeon acquired at Beckfoot, a gift from Uncle Jim; named “Homer” because he was a “homing pigeon”Sophocles , andSappho , two subsequently acquired pigeons, named for other Greek poets; until the end of the story, when she delivers an important message in record time, Sappho is seen as a misfit
The Story
In addition to its plot and setting, which are unique in themselves, Pigeon Post can be distinguished from most stories for and about children in that it is seen, perceived, and told almost exclusively from the children’s point of view. Not only is the children’s viewpoint as a whole the dominant feature of the story, but the perspectives and values of some of the children are also distinctive. The appearance of siblings Roger and Titty Walker at one of the junctions of the little branch train line is used to introduce the principal device in the communication between children and adults, the pigeon post. Named Homer, Sophocles, and Sappho, the pigeons are carried by the children throughout their prospecting and camping sojourn in the hills and sent off to their adult home base with a variety of more or less cryptic messages about their activities.
Unlike their playmates of previous vacation summers, however, who have already been initiated in the art of pigeon posting, Roger and Titty are ignorant at first of its basic purpose—to deliver a message. If there is any doubt about the importance of work involving the encoding and delivery of airborne messages, the children are faced with the no less challenging task of decoding a South American telegram sent by their adult friend Jim Turner, alias Captain Flint, shortly after their arrival at the pigeon’s home base. The pigeons are housed at the residence of Mrs. Blackett, the mother of the two sisters Nancy and Peggy, and the sister of their absent hero, Jim.
Like many messages in literature, the content of the telegram may have been clear to the sender, but its literal meaning is confused by the receiver. Interestingly enough, it is not the figurative (“This wild goose lays no eggs”) but the literal wording of Jim’s telegram (“Starting home be kind to Timothy give him the run of my room”) that is misinterpreted by the children. Based on their expectations of and fascination with exotic lore and their assumed understanding of the sender’s intentions, they identify “Timothy” as an armadillo that is tame enough to risk giving him “the run” of Jim’s room. The children are almost as distressed by the absence of their promised exotic animal friend as they are preoccupied by Jim’s failure to appear.
They are soon distracted by the exacting demands of the tasks at hand, by their nostalgic remembrance of the good old times they had with Jim, and by their frustrated expectation of the arrival of the exotic armadillo. Their goals include the establishment of a pretend “seamen’s and prospectors”’ camp as far removed as possible from the habitations of the “natives” (adults).
After consulting Slater Bob, an old miner who assures them that there is still gold to be found in the hills, the children succeed in persuading Mrs. Blackett to allow them to move their first camp from the Blackett’s orchard to the Tyson’s estate, a little farther off their home base and close to the “High Tops,” the ultimate destination of their prospecting enterprise. Yet when Titty, one of the youngest of the prospectors-to-be, finds herself so gifted with the use of a dowsing wand that she is able to uncover a hidden well on the ground of an abandoned charcoal burner camp, the children are finally allowed to move closer to the High Tops on their own.
Despite their success in removing themselves from the inspection of neighborly “natives,” there is one adult intruder whose sudden appearances in the vicinity of the old mining sites they have been prospecting proves particularly disturbing. The presence in the area of Jim’s prospecting partner Timothy, whom the children call “Squashy Hat,” makes the children anxious. When Roger falls into an old abandoned mine and announces that he thinks he has found gold, anxiety changes to fear, and the children take an oath against Timothy. Only later in the story do they learn of his relationship with Jim and that this is the man Jim had asked them in the telegram to give “the run of his room.” Dick, called “professor” by his fellow child prospectors because of his glasses and intense interest in natural science, is sent back to Captain Flint’s lab at home base to ascertain whether the yellowish pieces of ore really contain gold. He is sorely disappointed to discover that they do not. Upon the sudden return of Jim Turner, Dick is consoled by the realization that the ore actually found, copper, is what Jim and his partner Timothy were originally hoping to find in the hills.
The dry fells on the mountainside catch fire, meanwhile, as a result of the carelessness of some touring motorists. Despite their animosity toward Timothy, their perceived rival who has become their sworn enemy, the children save his life and succeed in sending a message by pigeon post to home base, which alerts the fire brigade and saves the entire region from a major conflagration.
This time, the message is unmistakable: “FIRE HELP QUICK.” Sappho, hitherto the least reliable of the three pigeons, reaches home base in record time, as though she knew that this message really mattered.
Context
Although it is but one in a series of juvenile adventure books by the same author, with essentially the same cast of characters, Pigeon Post has been the most widely read. Since its first publication in 1936, it has had twenty-six additional reprints, the last of which, in 1983, featured a revised edition.
A recipient of the Carnegie Award, Pigeon Post is Ransome’s most distinguished work of fiction. It is, in the words of the Evening Standard, “In a class that out-tops by head and shoulders and half a body the customary stuff.” All these are qualities that make Ransome’s book comparable to another all-time classic of children’s literature, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).
Like Mark Twain’s differentiation between the claims of a world of imaginary adventure, pretense, and make-believe (typified by Tom Sawyer’s outlook) and Huck Finn’s growing realization of the existence of an adult world of genuine values and heartfelt commitment, Ransome’s story presents a fitting dramatic embodiment of the rites of passage in a setting illuminated by the magic lantern of childhood expectation to the approaching dawn of adult reality. While Twain’s novel features the concerns of one adolescent for the welfare of but one adult, however, the children’s camp of Pigeon Post manifests more widespread and all-encompassing sentiments.