Trixie in Boyland: Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is the perfect Boyland storybook: the romance of
masculine friendship, the road trips (and river trips) and earthen burrows and
journeys to the heart of the Wild Wood. Ratty's little house by the river
is the
perfect bachelor pad, his clothes are so practical, his equipment so carefully
made. Mole's house is also ideal, and Badger's: and there is Badger himself, a
classic introvert like all Trixie's favourite men: grumpy and solitary and
happiest when mucking about doing exactly what he likes, but impeccably
hospitable when visitors drop by unexpectedly, and absolutely loyal to his
friends, especially when they're in trouble. Then of course there's Toad, and
Toad Hall: the quintessential blowhard and the inheritance that assures him of
his sense of absolute entitlement as well as the freedom not to work but to
indulge one obsession after another. The caravan and the open road!! Messing
about in boats!! (Ratty shares this one but stays true to it all his life)
Motor cars!!
Buying, stealing, driving and crashing motorcars!!
This is a story with hardly a woman in it but the ones who appear are
strong and on their own and know exactly what they're doing: the jailer's
daughter who decides to spring Toad from prison though he is all undeserving,
her auntie the washerwoman who contributes the clothing to disguise him and
the bargewoman who throws him overboard into the canal because he refuses to
wash her clothes in return for safe passage on her barge.
More on Trixie's Biliography of Boyland another day