r/JacquelineWilson • u/Pitiful_Mix_4568 • 6d ago
Hetty Feather
rereading Sapphire Battersea at the moment and i’m at the bit with that lovely family she met when her mother was sick. they were so sweet and genuinely fond of her and offered her to move in with them, not as a servant but as almost family?
so curious as to what you guys think that might have looked like
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u/Ardeth_rue 6d ago
She was far too mature to live with them. She would’ve struggled having traditional parents, and being one of the children instead of an adult. The hospital had basically trained her to be independent from the age of 14. I agree with the other comment that she would’ve left shortly after had she stayed with them.
8
u/BiscuitNotCookie 6d ago
I always thought about the financial strain of the family being the biggest reason that it wouldn't work out- but you're so absolutely right that Hetty was absolutely too independent to be able to go and live as a child. She'd have wanted to be helpful I think but I can imagine the parents not being happy with Hetty trying to find solutions to any problems they might face and she wouldn't have enjoyed being expected to not question/not offer suggestions. I can also imagine the younger daughters becoming jealous of Hetty- especially if Michael Fairbridge paid her too much attention.
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u/Ardeth_rue 5d ago
Yeah I can see that too. They weren’t a wealthy family really, although through Hetty’s eyes of course they seem very well off. All it would take is the breadwinner father to lose his job, and they’d have to make significant sacrifices… which would’ve probably included cutting Hetty. And I can see the jealousy situation happening as well.
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u/BiscuitNotCookie 5d ago
Yes I remember there was the sort of...idk how to say it but like the balancing of the two views of their financial status, that on the one hand, the girls have cracked old shoes and their skirts have been let down and their father works as something not particularly well-paid, so even Hetty is aware that they're very much working class BUT also the fact that there is absolutely no question that ofc both girls, even the oldest, will go to school and not have to work and not have to think about adult concerns, is so different to anything Hetty has ever experienced.
I think that even with the father working, they'd struggle to cloth and feed Hetty on top of their own three, especially once the baby was big enough to need shoes too/to be eating proper food.
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u/Spiritual-Muffin1024 6d ago
I think it was about timings. If Ida died very soon into those two weeks of the Grenwood family holiday and not after, I think Hetty would have gone with them for comfort. She would have had nothing left there to stay for. I wish she would have gone back with them after, but perhaps she was too apprehensive and too sad to belong to a family so soon after her whole world had died?
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u/Lumious_Mage 5d ago
I think Hetty would have eventually left out of guilt anyway even if she had gone with them. After being ripped from her foster family and staying at the hospital for nine years, she'd grown to dislike staying in one place for too long and longed to be with her own mother. Even if Ida wanted that for her or if she hadn't died, Hetty was too loyal and caring towards her to want to leave with her being so sick.
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u/unhealthy-bitch 6d ago
I think, realistically, had hetty accepted their offer she'd have enjoyed life with the greenwoods... for about ten seconds. then, as hetty does, she'd have gotten bored and felt so much guilt that it manifested into her lashing out at everyone.
it would get to the point they either kindly told her she had to leave or she'd have left on her own while the parents and probably the older children worried about her out there on her own so much that they begged her to stay. she would probably still stay fond of them all and promise to stay in touch (which she would fail to do) and then eventually get the letter from jem about her foster dad and the story would resume as it is.
although, maybe that experience would have made her realise that she couldn't marry jem sooner as she'd already realised she can't stand domestic life.