The Railways Childern: John Escott
The Railways Childern: John Escott
The Railways Childern: John Escott
2011
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6. Website Buku
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7. Sinopsis Buku
Yang Dibaca: Roberta ( also known as Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis live in a comfortable
home in London with a wonderful mother and father as well as a maid.
One day their father leaves home with two men. He is actually taken
away to prison but the children do not know this at first. When he leaves
and does not come back, they have to move to a poor cottage in the
country (rural area) near a railway station. The children become familiar
with the passing trains, the workers at the train station and signal-box,
and life in a small town while their mother struggles to make ends meet
by writing stories. They learn to live with what little they have and they
get used to being poor. They also learn not to steal coal from the railway
station, even if they have so little to keep warm. They have various
adventures - stopping a train when a landslide covers the tracks, finding
an injured older boy in the train tunnel and getting help, while dealing
with the mystery of their father's disappearance. Sometimes they argue
and have crises, but in time they make many new friends. They also
experience amusing adventures aplenty which happen near the railway
and the canal. The children develop the habit of waving to the train as it
goes past and sometimes the people in the coaches wave back. Their
friendly gestures forge a special friendship with one person in particular,
who goes by in the train. He then eventually gets to know them, and
helps them out in various ways. Then, one day a train calls at the station
and the children are pleasantly surprised to see their father. They are
finally re-united.
The novel teaches us to be able to stand proud even when we are poor.
1. The Mother has a very strong sense of moral conviction that she does
not see the need to seek help from others as long as she can hold the fort.
„Now listen, it‟s true that we‟re very poor,‟ she told them, „but you
must not tell anyone. And you must never, never ask strangers to give
you things.‟ (p 21)
2. Perks may be poor, but he does not want charity. “I‟m not having any
of it. We‟ve managed all these years, asking people for nothing and I‟m
not going to start taking things now. We may be poor, but we don‟t need
charity.” (p 38)