The Borrowers, originally published in 1952, was Mary Norton’s next and best known foray into fantasy after the Bedknobs and Broomsticks collection. What is remarkable about the Borrowers is that they do not show the distinctly paranoid society of Bedknobs and Broomsticks but one where the society of normal people is one where they need to “make do and mend”.
Norton worked for the Ministry of Food in the war and the first Borrowers book (there are six in all) shows this. Austerity had been introduced during the war to deal with the lack of raw materials and War of the Atlantic which was preventing Britain getting supplies from the US. Post-War Britain had a massive deficit and had to maintain rationing through until 1955 as Britain reconstructed itself.
Kate, the narrator, is talking to Mrs May who tells her about the small wainscot creatures whilst they discuss the missing items in the house such as safety pins and needles. Norton takes the common wondering where daily items disappear to and remakes them into the Borrowers taking them to re-use them. Homily Clock, Pod’s wife, is distraught when a cup is broken by Arrietty, the only child, and she remembers that “there’s the rest of the service … in the corner cupboard of the schoolroom” (Complete Borrowers, p21). When telling Arrietty about the world of Upstairs, to which she is about to be exposed, she muses on the fate of the Overmantels who relied upon the drawing room being used for afternoon tea and so lost their Borrowing skills and were forced to move when the room ceased being used humans.
Indeed she is proud that the Clocks live under the Kitchen. It reinforces the domestic struggle that is in place to make do with what can be found. Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska discusses gender during the Austerity years and discusses the “make do and mend” campaign which was brought in by the Board of Trade to give “advice on preservation, renovation, and repair of clothing and other household items” (Austerity in Britain, p 120). Shortages continued after the war and so the advice was maintained. At some level, Norton uses Homily as cipher to discuss the campaign and hold her up as a shining example of what happens when the household is frugal though her actions regarding the broken cup show that she is encouraged by the finer things in life to brighten her day up despite her awareness of the fate of the other Borrowing families who have all been overtaken by some catastrophe.
In contrast, Arrietty is keen to visit the Upstairs world and is not afraid of the Human Beings. When she is seen, she talks to the Boy and helps him read in return for help in getting a message to one of the “lost” Borrowing families. This is helpful when the mistress of the house sees them and calls in the rat exterminator and the Borrowers flee. Homily and Pod still long for the old, unchanged world but Arrietty is willing to take on the new world and its new challenges.
The Complete Borrowers
Secondary
Austerity Britain 1945-51, David Kynaston (Bloomsbury, London, 2007)
Austerity in Britain
Tags: borrowers, mary_norton