Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
"Swallows and Amazons" is a children's adventure novel by Arthur Ransome, published in 1930. Set in the Lake District of England during the summer of 1929, it follows the Walker children—John, Susan, Tatty (Titty), and Roger—who come to the area for a holiday with their mother and baby sister. The story begins when they discover a sailboat named Swallow and an uninhabited island, prompting them to seek permission from their father to camp there. The children embrace their imaginative roles as sailors, while also entering into a playful rivalry with local girls Nancy and Peggy Blackett, known as the Amazons, who sail the boat Amazon.
The narrative explores themes of childhood adventure, teamwork, and class dynamics, as the Swallows and Amazons negotiate their playful treaty of defense while facing challenges like a burglary involving Captain Flint, the children's uncle. The novel reflects the cultural context of interwar England, including elements of the class structure and gender roles of the time, while showcasing the innocence and creativity of childhood. Ransome's writing captures an idealized vision of adventure, and the novel sparked a beloved series that explores the ongoing adventures of its characters.
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Subject Terms
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
First published: 1930
Type of work: Adventure tale
Themes: Friendship, family, nature, and sports
Time of work: August, 1929
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: Lake District (Coniston Water), England
Principal Characters:
John Walker , the resourceful and dependable captain of the sailboat Swallow, who is about eleven or twelve years oldSusan Walker , the motherly first mate, who is about ten or elevenTitty Walker , a highly imaginative eight-or nine-year-old able-seamanRoger Walker , the ship’s boy, delighted at age seven no longer to be youngest and to be allowed to participateNancy Blackett , the eleven-or twelve-year-old captain of the sailboat Amazon, whose real first name is RuthPeggy Blackett , an Amazon pirate, who is nine or ten years oldJim Turner , Nancy and Peggy’s uncle, a writer and traveler calledCaptain Flint , by the childrenMrs. Walker , the Australian-born mother of the Swallows, who is resourceful and imaginative
The Story
During their summer holiday, the four oldest children of a high-ranking British naval officer come with their mother, baby sister, and nurse to the Lake District, where they stay with a farm family. When they discover a sailboat named Swallow and an apparently uninhabited island on the lake, they immediately write to their father in Malta for permission to sail to the island and camp on it. His telegraphed reply reads, “BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN,” and the Walker children begin their preparations. John, the oldest, is to be Captain, and Susan is to be First Mate. The imaginative Titty is Able-Seaman, and Roger, no longer the youngest, is Ship’s Boy. John and Susan are to be responsible for the younger two and take their responsibilities most seriously. The children draw up the ship’s articles, gather their supplies (with help from their mother and the friendly natives who own the farm), and sail to the island.
There they discover evidence of earlier campers and settle into a fine campsite. The previous inhabitants, however, were Nancy and Peggy Blackett, local children who sail the Amazon and hoist the Jolly Roger. Nancy’s real name is Ruth, but her Uncle Jim told her that Amazon pirates must be ruthless, and she quickly took a new name. During the previous summer, Uncle Jim had been a fine companion, teaching the girls to sail and even buying them Amazon, but this year he is busy writing a book and has forbidden them to bother him. The Amazons and the Swallows negotiate a “treaty of offence and defence,” which will enable them to fight mock battles with each other whenever they like and combine forces to attack Uncle Jim, whom they dub Captain Flint.
First, though, comes the war between the Swallows and the Amazons over who shall be Commodore and which sailboat shall be Flagship. The two crews agree that whichever captain captures the other’s ship shall win the honor, and the opposing captains plot their strategy. Meanwhile, burglars have broken into Captain Flint’s houseboat and stolen a locked trunk containing his book manuscript, as the Swallows had been warned by friendly natives would happen. Captain Flint had rejected John’s earlier attempted warning, suspecting him of a prank played on him by the Amazons. Titty, who captures Amazon almost by accident while playing at being Robinson Crusoe, overhears the thieves burying the trunk, but a search fails to reveal it. Captain Flint apologizes to John for his suspicions and for having wrongly called him a liar, and he agrees to join the pirate games as he had the previous summer.
The next day brings the battle, and Captain Flint is made to walk the plank. He then serves a sumptuous banquet and leads the Swallows and Amazons in singing sea shanties. Titty, however, has her heart set on retrieving the treasure she knows is still there. On their last day on the island, Titty and Roger go by themselves to find the trunk. When they do so, Captain Flint presents Titty with his parrot in gratitude. The Swallows and Amazons plan for their next year’s adventure, and a rousing storm completes the perfect summer holiday.
Context
Set in England in August of 1929, Swallows and Amazons portrays children of a particular class in a particular time. Between the world wars, England was struggling with the remnants of her empire, not yet having faced the inevitability of its decline. On the domestic front, the ancient class structure was still in force, though it, too, tottered on the brink of extinction. From a modern perspective, the reader sees strong elements of both problems in the text.
The Swallows are the children of a high-ranking naval officer. The boys attend private schools; the family takes its summers in the Lake District; they have a nurse to look after their baby sister. John and Roger automatically assume that they will follow their father into the navy; given the advent of World War II ten years later, this assumption takes on unintentional irony for a modern reader. Even the Amazons provide evidence of the class structure underlying the novel. Their family has a cook and presumably other servants. Their uncle gave them the expensive present of a sailboat the previous summer. These are not working-class people. At the same time, the working-class people whom one does see in the novel are all anxious to please their social superiors; there is even the young policeman who is bullied by Captain Nancy. While the children are not conscious of any class distinctions and treat everyone with the respect to which they are entitled, the reader cannot fail to notice the obvious distinctions that are drawn.
Similarly, the plot betrays a racism and mild paranoia that clearly marked England between the wars. There is much talk of “enemies,” “natives,” and “savages,” and the children almost automatically fall into a quasi-military “treaty of offence and defence” in imitation of their elders. There is also a strong element of sexism in the rigid roles that the Walker children assume (John is captain, while Susan does all the cooking, for example), although this is mitigated somewhat by the introduction of the Amazons.
It must be noted, however, that seeing these things in the novel requires a modern perspective; without knowing what was to come, Ransome was simply presenting a loving portrait of an ideal English childhood, using many of the conventions of the pastoral. Swallows and Amazons is best seen as representative of its time. Ransome went on to write eleven other novels in the Swallows and Amazons series, from 1930 to 1947, nine of which focus on the characters introduced here. He has been often imitated but never equaled. The Swallows were apparently based on a real family, and Ransome, a journalist and world traveler, arguably makes his own appearance in most of the books as Uncle Jim.