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Ark Angels
Nov. 10th, 2018 12:13 pmDoes reading make you a better person? A few days ago I posted this video to Green Knowe appreciation group on Facebook. Watch it: it's about a Syrian refugee who was offered shelter in an English stately home, not unlike (it seemed to me) the way that Ping was offered shelter by Mrs Oldknow.
Most people got the connection, but perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised to find one commenting:
I went and checked - this is no professional troll, but someone who's posted several relevant links to the group over time, and clearly loves the books in his own way. But what way is that? Could he really not have noticed their continuing preoccupation with offering homes to the homeless, and particularly to refugees? I think the first comparison to the Ark occurs in the first chapter of Book One, and the theme only continues from there: Tolly, Jacob, Oskar, Ping, Hanno. They come from four continents, and all find a home in Green Knowe. It's a quintessentially English series, yes, and I'm not surprised Julian Fellowes got his paws on it, but if you miss its internationalism you're not looking closely enough.
Most people got the connection, but perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised to find one commenting:
our streets are full of English born homeless and a Syrian draft dodger ends up in a Stateley home - yeah thats sounds about right
I went and checked - this is no professional troll, but someone who's posted several relevant links to the group over time, and clearly loves the books in his own way. But what way is that? Could he really not have noticed their continuing preoccupation with offering homes to the homeless, and particularly to refugees? I think the first comparison to the Ark occurs in the first chapter of Book One, and the theme only continues from there: Tolly, Jacob, Oskar, Ping, Hanno. They come from four continents, and all find a home in Green Knowe. It's a quintessentially English series, yes, and I'm not surprised Julian Fellowes got his paws on it, but if you miss its internationalism you're not looking closely enough.