TRC's Theme #2: Resourcefulness

Based on the Form 3 novel, “The Railway Children” by Edith Nesbit, there are many themes which could be uncovered in the story. For example, they are family life, friendship, kindness and lastly, resourcefulness. In this story, I think that resourcefulness is the most important theme amongst the others.
Firstly, we could discover this theme in Chapter 3 of the novel, The Old Gentleman. One day, Mother was ill so the children called Dr. Forrest. The doctor told Bobbie that Mother needed rest and some special items, and gave Bobbie a list. When Bobbie showed the list to Mother, she laughed and reminded Bobbie that they were poor now. The children racked their brains to come up with a solution and succeeded. The next day, as the 9.15 train came out of the tunnel, the gentleman saw Peter who was pointing to a sign asking him to look out at the station. As the train was about to leave the station, the old gentleman saw Phyllis running towards him. She pushed a letter into his hand as the train started to move. The old gentleman read the letter. It was from the children telling him that Mother was ill. They had listed out the items she needed to recover. The children asked him to leave the things with the Station Master and the children promised that they would pay the old gentleman back. Later, Perks, the Porter brought a box for the children. It had everything the children had asked for and some extra items as well. From this chapter, I feel that the children were resourceful enough to find a way to get the things Mother needed for her recovery.
After that, this theme is also shown in Chapter 4, Bobbie’s Ride. Someday, Bobbie took Peter’s toy engine to the railway. Instead of the station, she went to the lines, where the engineers were. When the next train came along, she tried to talk to the engine drivers and the fireman but they couldn’t hear her. She climbed on to the steps of the engine but the train suddenly moved and she fell inside. She cried for help but the men still couldn’t hear her so she reached out and touched the driver. He spun around and shouted at her, asking her what she was doing there. Bobbie burst into tears. The two men were worried and they calmed Bobbie down. Bobbie showed them the engine and asked if they could help fix the toy. The men were quiet for a while and then said they could help her. In this chapter, I think that Bobbie was resourceful and brave when she boarded the train and got the engine driver and the fireman to repair Peter’s broken toy engine.
Afterwards, the chapter 5 of the novel, Saving the Train also revealed this theme. One day, the children were walking by the railway fence. Suddenly, they heard a noise and a tree started moving downwards. As they watched, grass, stones, rocks and ultimately, half the hillside crashed down till it was a pile on the railway lines. Peter realized that the 11.29 train hadn’t gone by yet and Bobbie pointed out that it was too late to let the people at the station know what happened. Then, Peter suggested that they wave something red because red means danger and train would stop. Phyllis and Bobbie’s petticoats were red so they used them. Peter took a knife and cut the petticoats into six pieces and put them on sticks. They pushed two of the sticks into piles of rocks they had set on the lines. Bobbie and Phyllis took a stick each while Peter took two. All of a sudden, the lines began to shake. Peter told them to wave but not to stand on the lines. Bobbie realized that nobody on the train would see them so she ran ahead and stood on the line, waving frantically. The train finally came to a stop just twenty meters in front of Bobbie. From what happened in this chapter, I suppose that the children were resourceful because they managed to find a practical way of stopping a train during a landslide and this prevented a tragedy.
As a conclusion, I believe that it is very important to be resourceful. This is because by being resourceful, we could prevent bad things from happening besides finding ways to solve a problem quicker. So, this is why I think that resourcefulness is the most important theme in the novel.

TRC's Theme #1: Kindness

Based on the novel “The Railway Children” that was written by Edith Nesbit, I came across many different themes. One of them is kindness. There are many acts of kindness which could be found in this story. The children were kind to everyone and there were others who were also kind to the children.
First of all, we could hit upon this theme in Chapter 2 of the novel, Peter And The Coal. One day, the rains came. Although it was cold, Mother said they couldn’t light a fire as coal was expensive. Peter had an idea and two nights later, he asked the girls to help him. They went to the hill just above the station where there were big stones in the grass. Between the stones, there was coal. The girls helped Peter carry it to their house and told nobody about it. Later, the Station Master was waiting for Peter in the station yard. He saw Peter take the coal to fill a bag. He shouted at Peter and grabbed his coat. When he told Peter he was taking him to the station, Phyllis and Bobbie stepped out. Bobbie told the Station Master that they were also involved. They had known where Peter was getting the coal from. The Station Master recognized them and asked them why they were stealing coal. Peter told him that they wanted to have a fire and was about to say more when Bobbie stopped him. The Station Master was silent for a while and then told them he would let them go this time. He said taking a coal from the middle of the pile was still stealing and the children knew he was right.  I think that the Station Master was kind enough to forgive Peter when he stole the coal and was even kinder when he told Peter to forget the whole incident and to drop by the station whenever he pleased afterwards.
After that, this them can also be discovered in Chapter 6, A Birthday for Perks. One morning, Mother told the children that she had sold another story so they could have cakes for tea. The children asked if they could have it on Thursday instead as it was Perks’ birthday. Mother agreed but Bobbie thought that cakes alone weren’t exciting. So the children decided to ask others in the village if they wanted to give Perks presents as well. Some people were kind, but Mrs. Ransome did not want to give anything for Perks as it was her birthday the next day and no one would remember so she did not see why she should bother with Perks’. The next morning, the children put some roses and one of Bobbie’s prettiest handkerchiefs with a note explaining it was for Mrs. Ransome for her birthday. They took the box to the Post Office and left it at the door when the old lady wasn’t looking. Thursday came and the children went to fetch the items that the other villagers had promised. Mrs. Ransome was standing outside when the children passed by. She thanked the children for the gifts and gave them back their box, now filled with apples. She also gave them a pram which was a gift for her grandchild but the child had unfortunately died after 6 months. The children placed the presents in the pram and pushed it to the Perks’ house. Mrs. Perks was surprised to see them and the presents. She told them that Perks had never had a birthday like that. The cakes and presents were put on the table and then the children hid in another room. They wanted to surprise Perks. From this chapter, the children were good and kind to Perks and organized a birthday party for him with the help of the villagers.
Later on, this theme could be learnt in Chapter 8, The Boy in The Red Shirt. One morning, Bobbie told the others that the boys from a school nearby were going to have a paper-chase that day and suggested that they go and watch. The children waited at the railway line and soon, the first boy, the ‘hare’, appeared. The rest of the boys, the ‘hounds’, were supposed to chase the hare. The hare had a bag containing pieces of paper which he dropped for the others to follow. He quickly ran into the tunnel. Then, the hounds appeared and they followed the paper trail into the tunnel. The children decided to go across the top of the hill to see the boys come out at the other end of the tunnel. After a while, they spotted the hare coming out of the tunnel with hounds following shortly behind. Peter remarked that the last hound in the red shirt had not come out yet so the children waited to see him. When he did not appear after a while, the children got worried. Peter thought he might have had an accident so they decided to check. Soon after, they found the boy in the red shirt on the ground beside the line. The boy tried to walk but the pain was too bad. Then, he sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. Bobbie told Peter and Phyllis to get help while she stayed with the boy. When the boy woke up, Bobbie introduced herself and he told her his name was Jim. Peter and Phyllis went to a farm and asked for help. Bobbie suggested taking him to their house so a doctor could look at him first. At the house, Mother called Dr. Forrest and sent a message to Jim’s school and his grandfather. I assume that Mother was also kind to Jim and was willing to house him and nurse his injury later.
As a conclusion, I believe that kindness is one of the most important themes in this novel. This is because by being kind, people would respect us more and they would also help us no matter what kind of situations we are in.