Thursday, September 29, 2016

Character Sketch: Edward Travilla

Using Allan Leech's Tom Branson for my inspiration of Edward Travilla.
     If you are unfamiliar with Edward Travilla, then here's a basic summery. 

     Edward Travilla is the husband of the beautiful and devout Christian heroine, Elsie Dinsmore, in The Elsie Dinsmore book series written by Martha Finley in the late 1860s. The Elsie Dinsmore books were the most popular children's books for decades, especially amongst Christian readers. In the early 2000s there was a revival in the series, when A Life of Faith took the original twenty-eight novels and condensed them into eight updated novels. 

      Edward Travilla can be placed into two categories. He is either the irresistible and noble Christian hero of the 19th century antebellum south; or a controversial fictional character whose crime was being twenty years older than his wife as well being as her father's best friend. However one may sum up Edward Travilla, he was written to be a man devoted to God, his family and the people around him, and a hero that can easily stand next to Mr. Darcy and Matthew Crawley.

     Yet, to understand Edward, you must first understand his beloved Elsie. For years, Elsie Dinsmore has been hated by both Christian and secular audiences alike because of her moral minded Christian beliefs, her inability to stand up for herself (as a child at least), and her sappy, crybaby nature. While Elsie may seem too good to be true at first, people can be a little more understanding of her dire circumstances of living with a family that hates her for her wealth and beauty, a completely incompetent father who mistreats her in the beginning and how her faith in God is her only sanity. 

     Also, most audiences view Elsie from a modern day POV and should realize that Elsie is at the mercy of the people who despise her. She has no choice but to submit to the cruelty of her family and at the times she does stand up for herself, she's is punished. Elsie is forever caught between a rock and a hard place no matter her situation, so a little mercy to this kid isn't too much of a hardship. 


      So, now we can finally get to Edward! Edward is the best friend of Horace Dinsmore and meets Horace's daughter Elsie when she is eight years old. Afterwards, Edward becomes a loving older brother figure to Elsie and overtime, falls in love with her, in spite of their twenty year age gap.* While people nowadays consider this the nature of a pedophile, then I would ask, how is Edward's relationship with Elsie any different from George Knightley's relationship with Emma Woodhouse in Jane Austen's novel "Emma"? Sixteen years age difference, good friends with her father and always looking out for her? There is really no difference at all between the two men. 

     Like Knightley, Edward is handsome, wealthy and well respected. Edward's father died when he was young and he has no brothers and sisters. So, he understands loss and loneliness from an early age and can identify with Elsie on that matter. While Edward tends to mind his own business, he is not above calling out his best friend on his mistreatment of his daughter in the first couple of books. Edward is the only person in the stories not afraid to stand up to Horace and tell him the hard truth about the heartless monster he tended to be.

     Edward never sets off to be the romantic hero, that's just who he is. As a Christian he believes in the responsibility of standing for those who cannot stand up for themselves and respecting human dignity.** On many occasions, Edward is forever coming to Elsie's rescue when she is being hurt, abused or manipulated. I know I can't be the only reader who has reread the chapter "A Friend To The Rescue" from book three, Elsie's New Life, over and over again, because Edward finally did to Elsie's uncle what no one else in the story has had the guts to do. Edward then proceeds to rescue Elsie from running away with a conman and saves her reputation (how very Mr. Darcy of him). And while Elsie is under Edward's influence, she grows and blossoms in confidence, strength and faith.

    While Edward Travilla may seem an obscure character to many modern readers, for the small Elsie Dinsmore fanbase (that are brave enough to admit that they enjoy the books), Edward is a picture of a good Christian man that like Elsie herself, may seem to perfect to be real, but still gives a decent picture of the character qualities we should strive to live for and should also strive to see in others.

* Probably one of the reason why the books haven't been made into films yet.

** Of course, this comes into questioning because Edward is a plantation owner and, until the Civil War, owned many slaves, but that was also staying true to history and Edward is described as being a very generous and kind master.


5 comments:

  1. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who loves Elsie Dinsmore. Problematic? Sure, but no piece of media is 100% flawless. I reread the part where Horace is saved over and over, like, you wouldn't believe. I'm not even particularly religious either. I just love catharsis, and a lot of present -day media doesn't fill that need

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    1. Elsie Dinsmore isn't a perfect story, but there are so many layers with the characters that you can't always take them at face value either. I just love the books so much! It's good to meet another fan as well!

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  2. As a wee lass of about seven, I quite enjoyed these books, but upon a more recent reread I spotted a couple things that rather disturbed me. I appreciate your defence of them and the characters, though—and I’m glad you agree that they certainly aren’t perfect. Edward is, I think, the least problematic character, though the 20-year-age-gap is unnecessary.

    But as for the titular character herself, I’m not sure what to say. As a kid she’s weepy and excessively subdued, but you can give her some slack because she’s an eight-year-old Southern girl living at the mercy of her sadly depraved relatives. But when she grows up and sees more of the world, you get the feeling that she ought to be a little (*cough* a lot) more mature. For instance, after her marriage, there’s this scene when she and her husband are preaching the gospel to their slaves at her mother’s plantation. (Which is great and all, but why don’t they free the slaves? I’m not a huge expert on this by any means, but this seems like an idealised depiction of life as a slave in the South.) And then there’s this pretty disturbing comment that either she or Edward (I forget which) makes, going something like “even black people can be saved, and you’ll be white in heaven!”

    Ahem. Now, I’m not a huge fan of all of the “modern wokism” going on today (that’s putting it lightly), but this is taking it Way Too Far. God made everyone in His image, and while that image is flawed because of sin, skin colour does mot matter. Whatsoever. So why…?

    Anyways, that’s not the only thing, but it is an example. Another thing is the strange fear and complete butchering of the Catholic doctrine in the earlier books (I’m not catholic and don’t know a whole lot about their beliefs but I do know that it’s portrayed rather inaccurately in these books).

    Well, all that aside, I do agree with most of what you write in this post, and appreciate it quite a bit! What are your thoughts on some other issues in these books, such as what I mentioned above? I’d love to know your thoughts!

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    1. I read the updated versions that omitted all of the questionable content. So whatever I read I never had a problem with. While comments like what either Elsie or Edward are considered racist, you have to keep in mind that these were different times over 200 hundred years ago. The ideas and morals we have today were not applied in the same manner as they were back in the 1860s South. If you continue to apply your modern day thinking to historical times, then you will never fully grasp who the people and the society were; nor fully appreciate at how society has advanced since then.

      As far as the Catholic prejudice, that's two fold. Martha Finley was a Scottish Presbyterian and Protestants and Catholics were not always on decent terms with one another. Also this is the South as well and there dies tend to be Catholic prejudice the farther South you go, especially back then. Once again you need to adjust your thinking from modern day to the time period itself and in more ways be open minded to customs and cultures of the past.

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    2. Thanks for the insight! That’s quite informative. I’ll keep it in mind!

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