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.