May 2, 2008 – Alicia says: Call me weird if you like, but I always feel so sorry for Jo when I read 'Last term in Malory towers'. She never learnt anything - and she was so spoilt and such a brat - but there was a teensy bit of generosity in her. I mean, at least she shared her great fattening cakes with the girls - well literally shoving them down their throats but still. She was practically the first girl to get expelled - that's what made me feel sorry for her. She would have been a lot better if her parents had bought her up in a better manner - maybe just a little less gifts being showered on her. And I also think she wouldn't have run away with Deirdre if her parents had bought her up better. Okay, I'll stop ranting now.
May 2, 2008 – Fiona B says: I think you have a point Alicia, much of Jo's behaviour was due to her up bringing. However, as she shows, someone of her up bringing can change. At the end she chastises her father for the way he acts, and she realises she has behaved badly. There may be hope for her yet.
November 5, 2008 – Jane B says: How can you feel sorry for Jo - I mean she did deserve to be expelled!
November 7, 2008 – Jeni says: With behavior like Jo's, there would have been no choice but to expel her. Despite our 'upbringing' whatever it is and however it was, when we misbehave within society, a debt is then owed to society and it must be paid. That is why there are prisons - they exist for the absolutely worst, and sometimes unreformable, from society. Yes, lawyers introduce psychiatrists for us to analyze our past life and find what made the apple turn bad and all that, but the fact remains people still make their own choices in life, nobody forces anybody to do anything. When they make bad decisions, they really cannot blame anybody else and must face the sad consequences. I like Fiona's comment though: yes, there may still be hope for Jo, but that is if and only if, Jo herself wants to change her wayward ways.
February 21, 2010 – Jenny Burnett says: Well I would blame it on her dad. She has been spoiled.
February 22, 2010 – Alicia says: All of you are indeed heartless. . . But I think there is hope for Jo. I think she does realise how spoilt and irritating she is at the end of the book. And I think she also realised how embarassing her dad was.
July 6, 2010 – Muntsa says: The parents are to blame.
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