Resumen
Resumen de Querido Enemigo
Para quién es
For readers who love warm, witty comedy, stories told through letters, and gentle romance with a social cause behind it. Sallie's orphanage reforms and quarrels with a stubborn Scottish doctor bring children, affection, and humor together.
De qué trata este libro
Dear Enemy is a novel told wholly in letters, written by Jean Webster and published in 1915. It is the sequel to her earlier book Daddy-Long-Legs. That first book followed Judy Abbott, an orphan who grew up in the John Grier Home. This one hands the pen to Judy's old college friend, Sallie McBride, who is asked to run that same orphanage.
Webster had a clear purpose beneath the comedy. She cared about how institutions treat children, and she wanted readers to see what a kinder, smarter orphanage might look like. Sallie is quick, funny, and a little vain about her own cleverness. Her letters go to Judy, to a hopeful suitor, to suppliers, and to a Scottish doctor who disagrees with her about nearly everything. You get a lively voice, a household full of children, and a slow-burning quarrel. Let us begin with Sallie's arrival at the Home.
En este resumen
- 1A society girl takes over an orphanageFree
- 2Small practical reforms change daily life
- 3A stubborn Scottish doctor becomes her rival
- 4The children have stories of their own
- 5The letters give the book its voice
- 6What the book is really about
Idea clave 1 de 6
A society girl takes over an orphanage
Sallie McBride is a young woman from a comfortable family, bright, sociable, and used to having her own way. She has no training in running an institution. Her friend Judy, now married to Jervis Pendleton, a trustee of the John Grier Home, asks her to take charge for a time. Sallie accepts, partly out of friendship and partly out of boredom with the life laid out for her.
Her first letters to Judy are full of dismay and comic exaggeration. She arrives at a place that still runs on old habits. The children wear the same drab clothes, eat plain and dull meals, and move through the day by rule. The staff have grown used to doing things the way they have always been done.
Sallie also meets the people who surround the Home. There are trustees with opinions, a cook and other workers with their own ways, and the memory of the former matron, Mrs. Lippett, who looms over the place. Sallie sizes them all up in her letters with sharp and affectionate wit. She is honest about her own fears, which is part of her charm.
What begins as a favor for a friend slowly becomes something more. The letters show Sallie shifting from a visitor who jokes about the children into a woman who feels responsible for them. The change is gradual and believable, and it drives the whole book.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Querido Enemigo
What is Dear Enemy about?
It is about Sallie McBride, a lively young woman who takes charge of the John Grier Home orphanage. She writes letters about reforming it, about the children, and about her running quarrel with the Scottish doctor.
Is Dear Enemy a sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs?
Yes. Jean Webster wrote it as a sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs. It returns to the John Grier Home and follows Judy Abbott's college friend Sallie. Judy and her husband appear, but Sallie is the main voice.
Why is the book called Dear Enemy?
Sallie addresses her letters to Dr. MacRae with the words Dear Enemy because they begin as rivals. The phrase starts as a joke about their quarrels and slowly takes on warmer meaning.
When was Dear Enemy written, and is it a true story?
Jean Webster published it in 1915. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on real ideas of her day about orphanages, child welfare, and the care of children.
Do I need to read Daddy-Long-Legs first?
It helps but is not required. The book explains who Judy is and what the John Grier Home is. Reading the first book adds some pleasure in the recurring people and places.