The Dolphin Crossing

Notes:

A short book, no more than 132 pages, this story draws a neat picture of several wartime concepts: evacuees and their relations with their hosts; the courage needed simply to sit at home and wait; the different courage to take in a small boat under fire; and the decision to object in conscience to fighting in a war. These themes are woven skilfully enough in a thin plot involving John's discovery of an unexpected generosity towards a refugee pair, and his growing realisation of the predicament of the British forces only a few miles away on the French coast.

Perhaps the weakest point about the book for the modern reader is the character of John and his London evacuee counterpart Pat. One looks for a character or characters with whom one is to identify. And here, the obvious candidates are John and Pat, but especially John. Now, such characters are usually either simplified, such as Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons or Alex Rider, or more complex, such as Robert Nobel, the Feather Boy or Darryl in Fly, Cherokee, Fly. John doesn't really fit either role. We know too much about his thoughts and insecurities for him to play the simpler, flattened role, yet his person — the tutored 17-year-old son of a well-to-do country family — is not easily identified with nowadays.

That said, John's thoughts and decisions inform the plot of the story, moving it along, and are perfectly coherent with his character. Nor is it Pat's part simply to play the sidekick. Each boy has his own competence and savvy, and in both cases, the other learns from him. Pat can mix cement and shift loads; John must learn the trade. John, however, can sail and navigate, but Pat must learn enough to take over when he's injured.

That war should bring together the slightly odd couple — the secure country older schoolboy and the deprived East Londoner — is no tremendous surprise. (A similar echo is found, for example, between Ralph's Dad and Basil Duke in Cuckoo in the Nest). But the alliance is achieved with good grace, although not without disagreement, and each contributes his strength to the other.

Family plays a background part in the story, not least one of contrast. John's family is well-to-do, Pat's is poor. John's father is a captain in the Merchant Navy, Pat's a footsoldier somewhere in France. John's mother is living as best she can in a gardener's cottage while Pat's is doing the same in a cleaned-out stable. (Pat's “mother” is not in fact his natural mother, who left Pat & his father. But he is as caring for her as if she was, especially now she's expecting a child). Finally, John's older brother is a conscientious objector, something which Pat hates and derides and which John is ambivalent about, torn between loyalty to his brother and his own desire to join the war effort.

This book, written in 1967, walks a delicate line on the subject of conscientious objection. 30 years before, anyone over 14 who wasn't trying to lie about his age to get into the armed forces was a coward; 30 years after, anyone who did was soon disillusioned (cf Private Peaceful, for example). But here, while John & Pat are both yearning to join up and fight, John's older brother Andrew has taken a stance in conscience against fighting, volunteering for hospital duty instead. And throughout the book, John stands by him, without really knowing why, especially when he sees a troop ship torpedoed by U-boats.

Ultimately, the story has the boys as unsanctioned heroes, John taking action as a means of overcoming his anxiety; Pat, a simpler personality, seeing in every soldier he rescues his own father, stranded somewhere in France. The question of whether Pat's final action is bravery or stupidity is left open.