|
Post by lsandthebooks on Aug 25, 2019 20:54:22 GMT -5
Is this ever explained fully? I know the books say that the parents went to the city, or even hint strongly that some parents died, but why were the kids left all alone...? I think the taxi driver brothers might mention that truancy officers are looking for them, but I don't remember any other kids saying that. Why aren't the kids in school or being watched by an adult? I know some kids went to Wade Academy, but after the drama with Hangfire, I think Lemony says the kids just laze around town...
|
|
|
Post by Foxy on Aug 26, 2019 11:57:34 GMT -5
I think most of the parents are either sick, depressed, or left town, or maybe like you suggested, some have died. I think the ones who are still alive aren't in a good enough mental or physical help to actually be of any use to their children. I think the closing of most of the stores and businesses on the city really took their toll on the adults. Maybe relate it to 1929 when the stock market crashed and people lost everything and couldn't function anymore or provide for their families.
It's really sad, when you think about it.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Sept 1, 2019 4:45:38 GMT -5
Stain'd-by-the-Sea is definitely a town suffering a Depression-style economic malaise, though I also think it's reflecting modern economic problems. But I would suggest that the general abandonment of children in particular is perhaps more of a plot device; Handler wanted to depict a setting where children were the major characters and had a strong degree of independence, and tidying the parents out of the way by one means or another made that far, far easier.
|
|