Catherine wrote: > I liked Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows as a > kid but recently, when i went back to read them, I was > a bit disappointed - they're all so darn guy-centred, > like some snooty English boarding-school disguised as > the woods or the meadow. I read once that A.A. Milne > originally had all his characters in the Pooh books - > including Kanga - be male... until someone reminded > him that in order for a kangaroo to have a baby roo in > her pocket, he would have to be a she.
It's hard to believe now, when you read the stories - Kanga is such a typical "mother". I always laugh thinking about the story of when Rabbit and Pooh kidnapped Roo, and Piglet took his place - Kanga giving him a bath, and Christopher Robin not recognising him because he's a different colour, and renaming him Henry Pootel! I guess it's not so surprising, though, given that the stories were based around his son's toys. I wouldn't imagine a six-year-old boy in the 1920's would have many "female" toys! And that would also explain the "male" orientation of the stories. His poems are far more general. Hell NPIMH - Dave Dobbyn - Language ____________________________ "To have great poets, there must be great audiences too." - Walt Whitman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hell's Personal Photo Page: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell/main/personal.htm Visit the NBLs (Natural Born Losers) at: http://www.nbls.co.nz
