Children's Classics

The Wind in the Willows                                                                                    December 31, 2013.

The River swells with springtime pride.
Freed from Mountain's whitecapped yoke.
Marching through April meadows where Pan's song reminds,
Summer has a secret Winter can never be told. *


THE WIND IN THE WLLOWS written by Kenneth Grahame is an amusing children's fantasy. It is a story of four talking animal characters and their adventures in a pastural setting of Edwardian England. Unlike other anthropomorphic stories, Grahame's classic doesn't describe a world without grownups. Instead, it parodies a grownups world. The novel confirms the power of close friends and the courage to make a difference in the lives of others. It is an endearing tale of friends with real virtues contributing to each other's moral growth. Grahame creates an unforgettable, romantic community along the Thames River valley. It is everything that a children's book should be -- fun, safe, adventurous, and innocent. The true beauty of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS resides in its slow moving language, which captures a cozy familiarity of home, the rhythms of nature, and the simplicity of just "messing about in boats."
The role of instinct in the novel has a significant impact on the characters. Grahame demonstrates the importance of these powerful forces through the use of vivid descriptions of the characters reaction to the their environment, personification of various elements of nature, and by beautifully illustrating the characters behavior with their surroundings. For example, in the first paragraph of the novel, Mole's desire to experience a more affluent and carefree lifestyle is reinforced by the natural impulse he feels when, " something up above was calling him imperiously." The vibrations of " Spring moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing." (637) Mole rushes into the world and discovers the river, "this sleek, sinuous , full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, ...The Mole was bewitched."(637) He becomes a fixture along it's banks, and is transformed forever.
All the characters behave irrationally when they are not in their natural environment. When in a boat, Mole takes control of Rat's oars and capsizes the vessel. "How black was his despair when he felt himself sinking again."(642) When mole escapes the Wild Wood, he realizes and accepts "...that he was an animal of tilled field and hedgerow, linked to the plowed furrow, the frequented pasture, the lane of evening lingerings, the cultivated garden-plot."(663) Mole learns through trial and error to trust his true instincts and better judgement. When Mr. Toad tries to fit into an environment other than his own, he brings disaster upon himself. Whether through wrecking motorcars or pretending to be a washerwoman, he runs into trouble when doing things that are contrary to a toad's true nature. However, Toad's wild escapades are simply irresistible. The child-like character of Toad provides comic relief in the story. He is the circus clown devoid of any natural animal instincts. His delicious appeal is that he always bounces back. Like a modern cartoon character, he springs magically back to life after being folded, flattened and mutilated in some humorous way. He never seems to realize what the consequences of his actions will be until it is too late. The aristocratic frog is by nature an aquatic animal, but when he falls in the river, quite near his "Toad Hall," he has to be saved from drowning. Next, there's the romantic rodent Ratty, who is tempted to go south with the Sea Rat. His natural yet irrational urges to leave home are deeply ingrained in his instinct for adventure. He is "spellbound and quivering with excitement" as he is seduced by the Sea Rat's siren song. Only Mole can quell Ratty's deeper longings for "..., the haunting sea-voices that had sung to him." He recovers his composure enough to resume his duties as the river bank Poet Laureate. " The Rat was absorbed and deaf to the world; alternately scribbling and sucking the top of his pencil. It is true that he sucked a good deal more than scribbled; but it was joy to the Mole to know that the cure had last begun."(699) It is left for the pensive and reclusive Badger to be the voice of reason among his awkward friends. He is the sage, and senior citizen with a deeper understanding of the wide world. His instincts are rooted in the land where he lives, and in the history of civilization that surrounds the shire." There were badgers here, I've been told, long before the same city ever came to be. And now there are badgers here again. We are an enduring lot, and we may move out for a time, but we wait, and are patient, and back we come. And so it will ever be."(662)
The never ceasing river, like Grahame's poetic prose, is a powerful symbol in THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. It has multiple meanings. The beauty of the river's slow moving current is a metaphor for the unknowable depth of nature's influence. Grahame's prose ebb and flow like a voyage on the river's meandering path. The strength of the river that transports Mole and Ratty on their leisurely adventures is that it is unstoppable. The river is the timeless, tranquil, and nurturing source for all that lives in the rural river bank community. The river maintains a steadying influence over the story's characters. As if, the River must continually remind the four friends of their true harmonious connection to nature. Otter's son, Portly learns about life along the river banks. "And it was there he used to teach him fishing, and there young Portly caught his first fish, of which he was so very proud."(679) The lost otter's childish innocence attracts the guardian Piper, and sets the stage for Mole and Rat's rescue of young Portly from the island "at the Gates of Dawn." It is the dutiful River that ferries Mole and Ratty to the "Gates," and carries Portly back into the arms of his father.
"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" operates in Grahame's text like the background symphony in a theatrical performance. It is meant to seduce, invoke emotion and sympathy without interfering with the plot. Its purpose is to infuse wonder and mystery without interrupting Grahame's ever-intriguing world. The pagan Pan is an effective symbol for the tensions operating across Grahame's text. Critics have long questions the Chapter's validity in the story, and have wondered if the "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is even necessary. When the spirit of the Piper is evoked through frequent readings of the novel, chapter 7 becomes essential to the plot and the novel's poetic language. For a full appreciation of the language, the novel should be read aloud. In essence, Grahame's timeless work of art is meant to be experienced (either read or listen too) more than once in a lifetime. The frequent reader of Grahame's masterpiece develops a sensitivity to the journey of self discover needed to reach the "Gates of Dawn." That fleeting moment of mystery and wonder ---so much like the personal experience "as one wakened suddenly from a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it."(682) The mischievious Piper can be detected in the first paragraph of the novel as that subconscious sense of longing -- that profound sense of the sublime that Mole experiences upon leaving "Mole End." The Piper's brief appearance with Mole and Rat at "the gates of dawn" is thematic. The enchanting music of the Piper is captured in both imagery and symbol throughout the novel. His presence is marked by the character's own level of awareness of him. The Piper's melody is universally known, for it is nature itself. It is the source of all wind in the meadow, and the warm voice of Summer calling its flock and herd to migrate. It is that powerful motivating force inherent in the instincts of the animal kingdom. For even though the Piper disintegrates in the mists of dawn, the gift of "forgetfulness" is a subtle reminder of Nature's deeper magic lodged in the heart of all romantics. Pan's gift to Mole and Rat is both a fleeting glimpse of nature's immense harmony, " The two animals, crouched to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship."(682) and a reminder of the magnitude of the Humanist experience during Grahame's Georgian era.
In conclusion, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS is the perfect bedtime book, whether reading it to someone or just reading it alone. It is a book written about all four seasons of the year, and friendships that flourish throughout the changing years. It is a storybook fantasy that reminds us not of the dangers of "Wild Wood" nor "Toad's Adventures." Instead, it speaks to us of the powerful instinct of returning home. Like Rat, we must return to the essence of things. "With a smile of much happiness on his face, and something of a listening look still lingering there, the weary Rat was fast asleep."(684)

* Lars Hansen - December 31, 2013.