Swallows and Amazons

Susan, who seems to be around 11 or 12, is the mate of the Swallow and a somewhat maternal figure. She enjoys her job of cooking for the crew. She also sews Roger’s buttons back on and cleans the pots and pans. At the same time, she is an expert sailor, able to hoist the sails of the Swallow and steer it. Susan offers a nuanced view into Nontraditional Gender Roles by being simultaneously interested in activities like cooking and cleaning and skilled in sailing, camping, and strategizing.

Titty is around 9 or 10 and is the “Able-seaman” of the Swallow. She is highly imaginative, sometimes to the point that the other children think she is out of touch with reality. Enchanted with pirates and treasure, Titty gets many of her ideas from two classic novels, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883). She tries to behave as the fictional Crusoe does when she is alone on Wild Cat Island, and her ideas about buried treasure and pirates are drawn from Treasure Island. Titty’s adventurous spirit plays an important role at two points in the story: when she captures the Amazon and when she finds Jim Turner’s manuscript.

Roger is seven years old and is the “Ship’s Boy” of the Swallow. At times, he is fearful, as when he imagines sharks and octopuses in the water around the Swallow. For the most part, however, he is quite brave and helpful and readily takes part in his siblings’ imaginative games.

Nancy calls herself such because it is a pirate name and Amazons are “ruthless,” according to her uncle. She seems to be around John’s age or perhaps older, as she is taller than he is, and is captain of the Amazon. With her younger sister, Peggy, she is being raised by a widowed mother.

Nancy is the most impulsive of all the children. She shares Titty’s love of Treasure Island, naming her uncle “Captain Flint” after one of its characters and modeling the Black Spot that she delivers to her uncle after the one in that book.

Peggy, mate of the Amazon, is younger and more innocent than her older sister. She has a tendency to blurt things out, earning her insults from her sister in which she calls her a “donkey” or “goat.” Some of the information that the author wishes to convey about actions that have taken place when the Blacketts are “offstage” comes through Peggy’s chatter.

Peggy is not as brave as Nancy. During the storm, she is afraid of thunder but pretends not to be so that Roger won’t find out. To their mother and uncle, however, the sisters are peas in a pod. Mrs. Blackett and Jim Turner refer to them as “tomboys,” harum-scarums, and ruffians.

Mother falls right in with the children’s imaginative play, as when she pretends to talk to them in nonsensical words and calls Titty “Robinson Crusoe” after Titty greets her as “Man Friday.” She unobtrusively enables their adventures, giving them vital supplies they have forgotten, like matches and lanterns, and arranging for them to get their daily milk at a nearby farm. She also gives sound advice, as when she tells Susan that she will enjoy cooking more if the others wash the dishes, and she is as comfortable handling a sailboat as John and Susan.