The Borrowers
by Mary Norton
illustrated by Diana Stanley
The
Borrowers
Week of
Chapter 14:
Arrietty has been "seen" by her father whilst talking to "that boy"!!! He is so upset with her he can barely speak. Homily is mortified when she finds out; and Arrietty realizes that her parents are not only very upset with, her but they are extremely frightened. Even when Arrietty tried to explain that things would be okay and produced the letter from Uncle Hendreary, her parents didn't seem interested. First and foremost in their minds was that they were exposed. The boy knew where they were, just from hints that Arrietty let slip out when she spoke with him. They tried to make her realize that trying to keep in touch with Uncle Hendreary and his family was useless. They lived in a badger set two fields away and just trying to get there would be extremely dangerous what with field mice and crows.
The chapter ends with Pod telling Arrietty to stay
away from
human beans because "No good never really came to no one from any human
bean."
DISCUSSION:
Arrietty must feel terrible that she has upset her parents so much, especially when she realizes how frightened they are. Even when she produces the letter from Hendreary, she is surprised that they are not excited about it. She never thought about the difficulties of the family getting together, but with two fields between them, Pod explained that it would be impossible.
Poor Homily. Her mind is racing as to what to do, where to go. Will they have to live in a badger set, or worse?
And where is Aunt Lupy? First Eggletina disappeared, and now Aunt Lupy. I hope the author doesn't let them just fade into the sunset and we never find out what happened to them.
The chapter ends with Pod telling Arrietty to stay away from human beans because "No good never really came to no one from any human bean." I wonder if the boy will be able to change Pod's feelings so that he can look at humans in a different light. I hope so.