Mary Poppins/Mary Poppins Returns Books

     I had never seen nor read Mary Poppins. My only exposure to the story was through the delightful songs that I heard my mother sing sometimes, or that would potentially come on the radio. I had built this picture of this sweet, pleasant nanny and children, but by the first chapter of the book I realized that what I had pictured the story being was completely different in reality. The Mary Poppins of the book is instead snobbish, entitled, vain, and downright rude to most people. She is constantly belittling others whether it be the children or the adults, and for some reason or another the others almost immediately back down from her. She seemingly does not care for the children much beyond keeping them alive and her position in the household (which honestly does not bother her much considering she is willing to leave in a drop of a hat).

     Another thing that shocked me is the way that the story is set up. It is almost like a new story every chapter that just uses some similar characters. It gives the book a unique storyline as the reader goes through the book. It also brings to question about the way that Mary Poppins interacts with the others during each ‘magical’ situation. In some of the stories she is almost demure while in others she is horrifically judgemental about it. Then when anyone discusses the situation afterwards she is always offended about it. Many would view her as a witch due to these occurrences and her hiding it, but to me it almost seems as if she is just truly connected with the world on an extremely deep level, as gift per say (druid perhaps?). However, she do to this she has become arrogant, but she also seems to wish to be normal more than anything else. Something that I am sure most can relate to in some way.

    Also, you have to remember that the book was not written for children either. It is truly a figment of the author’s imagination. It was geared for a reader’s pleasure, not specifically to entertain children (although children might enjoy it). This puts a different spin on the context of the story. You can deftly pick out the judgement on the actions of the other adults in the story that might mirror the views of the author, or he might be trying to get a point across to a specific set of people. With the children there is definitely a you do not know better attitude towards them throughout the book. It makes me wonder what was thought of children back then. Was it the you should be seen but not heard perspective? Was it not?

     Overall, the book was interestingly different from others I had read the before. I did enjoy reading the various stories that showed up in each chapter. They taught lessons in each one, though I may only agree to some of them. It brings a fresh writing style to the manotnesy of today’s popular novels.