The End of Elsie Dimwit

[GenerationCedarchip]

I just got the Vision Forum announcement that Elsie Dinsmore is being discontinued.

I guess blind obedience to a child abuser, constant weeping, and marrying your father's creepy friends just isn't capturing the imagination of today's SAHDs-to-be. Who woulda thunk?

Oddly enough, the folks at VF say this is their best selling girls' series ever - but it's still time to pull the plug. I wonder what will come next.

[MamaJunebug]

What's passing weird about Elsie is that an atheist acquaintance LURVS her.

Just loves her, srsly. Her face shines and her eyes become sparkly, and her shoulders hunch in glee and her voice gets a little higher and quicker as she explains how much fun the books are to read.

It's why we're acquaintances and not friends - there are other too-confusing things about the lady. I just have to wonder what in heaven's name delights her about ED. Her explanations to date haven't made sense. Ah well.

[Trynn]

Unfortunately it probably still isn't the very end --someone else will keep publishing this trash.

[hoipolloi]

The ED books have been in the public domain for some time so VF has only been ripping of its customers by selling the shite - and what else is new?

[Artemis]

That won't be why they're discontinuing it, I'll bet my bottom dollar. Getting rid of Elsie signals a TIGHTENING of control not a relaxation. The books are very subversive of the SAHD movement, seriously. Here's a few of the many reasons why:

Elsie defies her father by refusing to sing a secular song for him on a Sunday. Therefore, although it appears she is putting God's law above her a-religious and unbelieving father, she is effectively defying her father by not assenting to his command. This does not set a good example for SAHDs, who might get the idea that they can claim to know God's will better than their headship.

When her father rejects her because of her disobedience, she makes herself ill with hysteria and refusing food, eventually becoming so ill that she nearly dies (in the original book of Elsie at Roselands, she does actually die), then returns miraculously to life when her father repents and admits he was wrong. Again, not the model you want for a good SAHD.

In Elsie's Girlhood, Elsie gives her heart away to a specious rogue who's wooing her for revenge and her money. She conceals the extent to which she is attached to this man from her father, and when her father finds out and confronts her, she admits she has given her heart away and tries to get him to change his mind.

When Elsie does agree to marry Travilla, who is her father's friend, she does it without reference to her father, and Travilla approached Elsie first. Furthermore, when they marry, he chooses not to ask her to obey. Travilla indulges her and pets and cossets her, treats her as an equal - oh, and SHE is the richer of the two - she never does a hand's turn in the house, and whatever she wants, she gets.

There are more aspects of Elsie that fundies won't approve of - believe me, I could go on ad infinitum - but it may be a mistake to think that Elsie is being withdrawn because SAHDs are bored with her. On the contrary, given some fundie pronouncements about SAHDs and the way the movement is going, Elsie is a dangerous radical with extremely subversive ideas . . .

[GenerationCedarchip]

That won't be why they're discontinuing it, I'll bet my bottom dollar. Getting rid of Elsie signals a TIGHTENING of control not a relaxation. The books are very subversive of the SAHD movement, seriously. Here's a few of the many reasons why:

Elsie defies her father by refusing to sing a secular song for him on a Sunday. Therefore, although it appears she is putting God's law above her a-religious and unbelieving father, she is effectively defying her father by not assenting to his command. This does not set a good example for SAHDs, who might get the idea that they can claim to know God's will better than their headship.

When her father rejects her because of her disobedience, she makes herself ill with hysteria and refusing food, eventually becoming so ill that she nearly dies (in the original book of Elsie at Roselands, she does actually die), then returns miraculously to life when her father repents and admits he was wrong. Again, not the model you want for a good SAHD.

In Elsie's Girlhood, Elsie gives her heart away to a specious rogue who's wooing her for revenge and her money. She conceals the extent to which she is attached to this man from her father, and when her father finds out and confronts her, she admits she has given her heart away and tries to get him to change his mind.

When Elsie does agree to marry Travilla, who is her father's friend, she does it without reference to her father, and Travilla approached Elsie first. Furthermore, when they marry, he chooses not to ask her to obey. Travilla indulges her and pets and cossets her, treats her as an equal - oh, and SHE is the richer of the two - she never does a hand's turn in the house, and whatever she wants, she gets.

There are more aspects of Elsie that fundies won't approve of - believe me, I could go on ad infinitum - but it may be a mistake to think that Elsie is being withdrawn because SAHDs are bored with her. On the contrary, given some fundie pronouncements about SAHDs and the way the movement is going, Elsie is a dangerous radical with extremely subversive ideas . . .

And that is a scary, scary thought! :o

[ThisOlGirl]

I just have to wonder what in heaven's name delights her about ED.

For a second there, my brain read "ED" as erectile dysfunction and I thought to myself, "Yeah, who gets excited about that?". See, this is what I get for skimming instead of reading. Derp.

[Trynn]

For a second there, my brain read "ED" as erectile dysfunction and I thought to myself, "Yeah, who gets excited about that?". See, this is what I get for skimming instead of reading. Derp.

My first thought was eating disorder.

[desertvixen]

I enjoyed reading them free on the Kindle, just to see where the trainwreck would go...

[Hane]

I enjoyed reading them free on the Kindle, just to see where the trainwreck would go...

Me, too. I ripped through them, incredulous. How on earth did they ever get so popular, back in the day? Of course, it tickled me when one of the characters in an (outrageously funny and brilliant Edwardian-era) E. Nesbit novel made fun of them.

[Trynn]

Oooh which novel is that? I like e Nesbit, and I fascinated by all thins Elsie, especially negative.

[docmom]

I love E. Nesbit too! A woman ahead of her time and her books have really held up. I've read some of them to my kids. They love the wouldbegoods series! Even the pretty staid Chalet School books make fun of Elsie and they have a pretty heavy dose of religion. I think that by the turn of the century (that would be the 20th century) they were considered ridiculously old fashioned. I only ever made it through the first book and that was tough!

[roddma]

It is amazing how many people defend these books. You point out the almost incestual relationship between Elsie and her father and they say kids do much worse these days and so forth. Exuse me but near -grown woman sitting in her father's lap is creepy no matter what century. Yes you can be affectionate toward parents, but not to the level of a lover. Horace improvds but he stil controled her. I miss the blog Forever in Hell that used to snark on her. I am on Elsie's Womanhood.