Malory Towers vs. The Chalet School
School stories – especially English school stories – exist in such great numbers that you could probably read nothing else all your life and still not run out of options. Nevertheless, there were two that were at the core of my growing up and they were so very different that I feel compelled to compare. There were, of course, Enid Blyton’s “Malory Towers” (perhaps the most popular of all English school stories from the era) and Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s “The Chalet School”.
The basic premise is a little different for each. ‘Malory Towers’ sees a young girl going off to a famous and established boarding school in the south-west of England for the first time and details her exploits there, whilst ‘The Chalet School’ sees a young woman take her sickly little sister to Austria to found a girls’ school of her own high up in the mountains. As such, ‘Chalet’ has a very different approach to schooling and structure than the more conventional ‘Towers’.
Malory Towers: 3/10 – minor uses of dated slang (e.g. “buck up”, “wizard”, “frightfully pi”) but nothing untoward
The Chalet School: 4/10 – more frequent uses of slang (e.g. “topping”, “golloptious”, “ripping”) in ways that might put the modern reader off slightly but won’t hinder their understanding
Datedness of Portrayal of Femininity
Malory Towers: 5/10 – high expectation for a certain standard of femininity to be conformed to and an expectation for demure clothes, properly kept hair, etc. HOWEVER lots of games and the expectation that many of the girls will go on to have successful careers in journalism, nursing or teaching
The Chalet School: 7/10 – huge amounts of assumption put towards women marrying and taking care of their homes, including the original headmistress leaving to do precisely this and any character who expresses alternative views soon being pushed to change her mind HOWEVER many of the girls do go on to higher education, are permitted to wear breeches, often climb mountains and sail boats and are rarely denied the wilder adventures available
Datedness of International Relations
Malory Towers: 5/10 – while not often mentioned, there is a jovial colonial sort of patriotism to it all that can be expected for girls raised in Britain’s imperial days and Americans are all cordially detested. Aside from that, there is no indication that any other countries exist, apart from France where everybody is apparently emotional and melodramatic.
The Chalet School: 3/10 – while some of the colonial aspects remain, the fact that it is an international school ends up showing a great deal of respect towards the variety of students from across Europe, the absolute condemnation of anyone who would look down on those who are not English and a reluctant acceptance of Americans. Later in the series, students arrive from as far afield as Kenya.
Malory Towers: 7/10 – the girls are frequently cruel, petty and use public humiliation as a means to force other girls to conform, though this does decrease slightly as the books go on
The Chalet School: 3/10 – a few girls show spitefulness at times but these are usually plot points to be dealt with and the general ethos of the school is towards sisterhood, friendship and understanding
Malory Towers: 7/10 – though some of the characters are very simplistic, there is depth and development there that is easy to appreciate as the series goes on
The Chalet School: 6/10 – though many characters are interesting, complex and very varied in their personalities, there is a certain chaos when it comes to which characters actually feature in the stories, with those who lead one plot arc vanishing from the narrative for the latter part of a book, which can be somewhat confusing
Malory Towers: 6/10 – emphasis placed on duty, responsibility and hard work as well as honesty and self-control HOWEVER a huge push towards rigid conformity and a tendency to accept petty and judgemental behaviour, or even encourage it
The Chalet School: 8/10 – though sometimes dated, the emphasis is always placed on kindness, courage and responsibility, with a side-line in thinking of others before oneself. There are also a great many subplots concerning compassion and empathy, and the importance of those in a position of privilege (e.g. moderately wealthy girls in a prestigious boarding school) to help those who are not so privileged (e.g. impoverished locals and the suffering people at the nearby sanatorium).
Malory Towers: 9/10 – though not dynamic or innovative, the structure of each book is straightforward and easy to follow with multiple subplots running through it and the series as a whole ties neatly together
The Chalet School: 4/10 – the plots are in chaos, with subplots appearing and disappearing at will, little consistency in which characters are taking centre stage and a tendency for incidents to just appear out of nowhere without even the barest hint of foreshadowing HOWEVER this can be overlooked quite easily so long as one knows not to get too deeply invested in anyone except perhaps young Joey Bettany and the Robin
Moments of Dramatic Tension
Malory Towers: 7/10 – for a school series, such dramatic incidents as Mary-Lou’s fall from a cliff, the incident with Amanda in the sea and so on are more than adequate
The Chalet School: 9/10 – the only fault here may perhaps be that some are too dramatic, with the mountainous environment providing the school with no end of lost or kidnapped students, blizzards, floods, buildings being struck by lightning and characters nearly dying of pneumonia
Malory Towers: 8/10 – often simple, but with one reliably occurring every term, pranks such as the deaf trick through to the magnet-and-hairpin trick are delightfully enjoyable
The Chalet School: 7/10 – though pranks are numerous and often creative, there is a tendency as the series progresses for students to repeat against one another tricks that have already been played before and none are presented in as much charming detail as those of ‘Towers’
Desire to Attend the School
Malory Towers: 7/10 – the buildings are beautiful, the days full of excitement, the surrounding countryside enchanting and the values mostly admirable HOWEVER the atmosphere could be deemed stifling in its rigid conformity and one single standard of achievement
The Chalet School: 9/10 – the surrounding lake and mountains are enchanting, the fiercely loyal sisterhood of the girls is appealing, their extracurricular activities busy and interesting and their relationship with the locals charming HOWEVER the chaos and untidiness of life at the Chalet would be impossible to live with
By my calculations, this gives Malory Towers a final score of 17 and The Chalet School a final score of 26, though what conclusions you draw from that, I have no idea.
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