Bobby is a very complex character for being so young. She’s been through a lot and sees things many people haven’t. Her strange upbringing set her apart from most other children, yet at the same time in the essentials she is just a regular ten year old. There are several aspects that contribute to her odd view of the world.
Wild Child While not a true ‘wild child’, Bobby is about as close as one can get while still having a loving family. She states near the beginning of the novel that she’s lucky because she has a mother who doesn’t care what she does. She can sneak out in the middle of the night and sleep under the stars and spend all day by the brook or riding the neighbour’s horses and neither her sister nor her mother seem to care. They obviously love and care for her, and took enough time to teach her to read, write, and count, but they are too busy with their own work to pay much attention to her on a day to day basis. Bobby never had much interaction with anyone apart from her mother and sister growing up. She mentions spying on the farm hands next door, and that they acknowledge her presence, but other than that she never seems to spend time with any other people. Nor does she seem to think of this as a bad thing. She spends her days with the horses, watching them and learning to be like a horse herself. She has a much better understanding of horses than people. Because of her lack of human interaction at a young age, she views events and people in a slightly detached way. She still has very strong feelings and acknowledges them, but she somewhat perceives them as a strange force within herself that she doesn’t entirely understand. When her mother dies, she is confused by her own grief, stating that ‘she must have loved her’ but not realising it at the time. She often behaves oddly, jumping and shrieking and generally drawing attention to herself, and she even states in her narration that she isn’t sure why she does it.
Like a true Wild Child, there is nothing Bobby fears more than being trapped. When her father puts her in handcuffs, she completely loses control. She talks about how she’s suddenly frightened and wants to touch everything just because she can’t. It culminates in her collapsing on the floor and banging her head against the carpet until she throws up and passes out. Her father never tries it again. She also hates doing anything because she’s told to. Her father is very controlling of everything Bobby does, telling her how to behave and act and what to eat all the time. She talks about how her father wants her to eat an orange every day because they’re good for her, and even though she likes oranges she doesn’t want to eat them because she has to.
Being a Boy Bobby grew up with everyone thinking she is a boy, and it has shaped her outlook on the world greatly. Her father is so deranged in his need for a son that he simply assumed Bobby was a boy as soon as she was born. We know that Bobby’s mother lost several boys before Bobby was born, and she was obviously afraid enough for the welfare of her baby to keep up with the ruse. Before she dies she apologises to Bobby for naming her Roberta, but she couldn’t dare call her anything but Bobby. At the beginning of the novel, Bobby doesn’t really think much of everyone thinking she’s a boy. She has short hair and wears men’s over-alls all day so everyone just assumes. It doesn’t affect her much since she doesn’t spend time with other people. She mentions at the beginning that she sometimes confuses herself, and forgets that she won’t grow up into a man, like when she takes a ride in the Doctor’s car. But then decides to have a car when she’s grown up even if women don’t have cars.
She doesn’t have any model of what it’s like to be a girl growing up other than Jocelyn. As she meets characters like Rosie and Aunt Tilly in the book, she becomes more confused about what being a girl is like. Her father is always telling her that boys are tough, but Rosie and Aunt Tilly are the toughest people she knows.
When her father is trying to teach her to play baseball he keeps telling her she throws like a girl, and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to throw like a boy if she isn’t one. Eventually her father is satisfied she can ‘throw like a boy’ and she ponders what it says about her that she can. She wobbles back and forth between wanting to become a boy, mostly for her father’s sake, but also so she can do the things she likes to do that girls can’t, like be in the magic show. But mostly she’s scared of her father finding the truth. When her father whipped her, she talks about wanting to have turned into a bird so she could fly away, but really if she could turn into anything it should be a boy.
The day she steals a dress and goes out dressed as a girl is almost an experiment to herself, just to see what being a girl is like. She states that she doesn’t really want to wear dresses. She likes having trousers. But she wants to see what really makes her a girl. By the end of the book, she sort of accepts a happy medium with herself. Aunt Tilly gets her boy and girl toys so she can have a mix. She gets boys clothes, but is allowed to wear ‘Wilhelmina’, Aunt Tilly’s mink stole. She can knit and do magic. By the time they move back home she’s happy not to have to pretend any more. She’s glad she can be a girl, but in her own way by what’s she learned from the women around her, rather than by what she’s told boys or girls are supposed to be like.
Resourcefulness and Intelligence Despite her limited exposure to other people at the beginning of the book, Bobby is very intelligent for her age. She still has a great deal to learn about emotion and feelings, but she is very savvy at understanding situations and how to work them. She is a planner and able to think well in a crisis. She’s learned about the world by watching and listening, and in many ways is more knowledgeable than her much older sister. Bobby is able to find their father’s gun and the hidden money, and keep them successfully concealed from him for months. She’s patient and sneaky, meaning she can easily evade capture and stay hidden when she needs to. She steals both the doctor’s clothes at the beginning and a dress from a girl in their hotel in Los Angeles. She is able to fight off her attacker in the park by using her flash paper, a brave and intelligent move. She also has an understanding of social norms and relationships that must have come from her mother. She is able to guess at Jocelyn’s love for Mister Boots right away, and makes sure to explain to him the importance of them being proper and getting married.
Despite having wisdom for her years, she still is a little girl and there is only so much she can cope with. Aunt Tilly becomes a welcome addition in her life, becoming the loving mother figure she never had. Aunt Tilly is the first person in Bobby’s life to pamper her and buy her toys, treating her like the child she is. Bobby’s father and even sometimes her sister seem to forget how young she really is and how much love and support she still needs. Her friend Rosie also helps her understand being a child again. They play make believe and games like normal ten year old girls. Rosie is her first friend and the first person to play with her on her level.
When Rosie’s mother dies, Bobby takes it entirely upon herself to look after her, showing a strong protective and nurturing streak. Rosie is the only person Bobby gives any of her mother’s money to, and the only person she wants to spend money on. She views herself as Rosie’s protector and wants her to be happy more than anything.
Background:
[TW: this book deal with domestic and child abuse, as well as attempted rape]
Bobby was born in the Californian desert in the early 20th century. She grew up with one sister ten years older then her and her mother, who both left her largely unsupervised for much of her childhood. Before the age of three their father still lived with them and was attempting to teach Bobby to be his assistant in his magic show. Bobby doesn't remember any of this, but she retains scars from when he whipped all three of them, and a elbow that doesn't straighten when he broke her arm. He left them shortly afterwards. She can only remember flying, and thinks maybe she used magic to escape him.
At the start of the story Bobby is ten, and very happy with her life. She loves the freedom she has to do what she wants all day and that her mother and sister don't make her do any of the knitting. Jocelyn and Bobby's mother sell knitting to earn money, and have to work all day long just to scrape by. Bobby's favourite activity is riding the neighbour's horses. In her mind she has a 'magic' that brings the horses to her and lets her ride them without any saddle or bridle. She is riding a horse to her favourite tree when she finds Mister Boots, a ragged and naked man lying almost dead on the ground. She brings him food and water and clothes, and eventually he tells her that he's actually a horse who can turn into a man when he needs to. He's a man now because he broke his ankles, and as a horse he'd get shot. At first Bobby just believes that they're playing, as she pretends to be a horse all the time, but eventually she believes him. Mister Boots assumes Bobby is a boy, just like everyone does, because she wears men's over-alls and doesn't act like a girl. She doesn't really mind, but wishes some people would be able to tell.
Their mother was sick for a while, and eventually starts getting bad enough that they have to fetch a doctor. Jocelyn says she should ride into town to find him, but Bobby is worried about her shy and sheltered sister riding on one of the neighbour's horses. So she finds Mister Boots, who she nicknames 'Moonlight Blue' and asks him to carry Jocelyn to town as a horse. Jocelyn bonds with Boots right away in horse form, and rides into town. Bobby goes inside to wait with their mother. She tell Bobby there is something very important to tell her, and that she's sorry for naming her Roberta, but she couldn't dare call her anything but Bobby. Bobby is confused by this, but before she can get any answers her mother dies.
Jocelyn returns with the doctor in tears, telling her that Moonlight Blue collapsed as soon as he got her into town and that he is going to be shot. The doctor pronounces their mother dead and asks if Bobby and Jocelyn will be alright. They try to look for where their mother hid the extra money but can't find it, so pay the doctor with a knitted afghan of their mothers. Bobby asks for a ride back to town to find Boots.
She finds him in human form again and steals a horse to bring them both back to their house. When they arrives Jocelyn can tell right away that Boots is the same Moonlight Blue who took her to town. She over-come with a need to look after him, and Bobby begins to realise that Jocelyn is falling in love with him.
The doctor comes back for their mother's body and treats Boots' injuries, thinking Boots is a friend of their father's. He tells Bobby that Boots will be crippled for life. That evening Bobby asks Jocelyn about her mother's last words, and Jocelyn explains to her that their father thought Bobby was a boy. He was obsessed with having a son and heir. Several baby boys died between Jocelyn and Bobby being born. He was so deranged with his need for a son that he just assumed Bobby was a boy and their mother was too scared to correct him. Bobby never went to school or into town so that their mother could retain the secret in case he ever came back.
The next day Bobby goes out riding and finds a man and a horse camping near her tree. She quickly surmises that this is her father and he returned because of hearing of their mother's death. Jocelyn reacts with fear at seeing their father again. He states that he came to collect Bobby to travel with him and teach him how to become a stage magician. He assumes that Boots is Jocelyn's husband and she doesn't correct him.
Bobby dislikes her father, but she wants to learn magic enough that she says she will go with him to Los Angeles. Jocelyn keeps telling their father that 'he' can't go, because he will surely discover Bobby's secret. Their father attempts to threaten them with a gun, but later Bobby manages to steal and hide it. He also attempts to cuff her, but Bobby reacts suddenly and violently, banging her head into the floor, throwing up, and finally passing out until they're removed. While hiding from her father, Bobby manages to find the hidden money, a whole $500. She hides it with the pistol and doesn't tell anyone about it.
The doctor returns to see Boots, and is enraged to see Robert Lassiter. He says that their mother's corpse had evidence of being whipped, and he wants to examine Bobby and Jocelyn for signs of abuse. Their father forces them to leave.
He spends several days with them, teaching Bobby magic tricks and trying to teach her to be more like a boy by taking her fishing and teaching her baseball. Whenever Bobby misbehaves, their father attempts to whip her or twist her arm behind her back, but Boots always comes to her rescue by turning into Moonlight Blue again for half a second, just long enough to leave their father stunned.
Eventually Jocelyn realises that he will never leave without Bobby, and agrees that they can all travel together as a family. Robert agrees if he can make Boots do his horse trick on stage.
They begin traveling around the state together performing. Bobby discovers that she loves the stage and is good at magic. She even finds she likes her father when she sees him on stage, as he's a completely different person. They travel constantly staying in fancy hotels and making lots of money. Eventually Robert wants Boots to perform his magic trick on stage, but even Bobby can't make him transform at will.
Her father is enraged by being made a fool of on stage, and takes Bobby far out of town at night so he can finally punish her. He makes her strip naked and lie on the ground, and at first she's terrified he's going to discover her secret, but he is too angry to even notice. He uses a leather whip and beats her until she has an out of body experience and thinks she can fly away like she once did. She finally passes out and wakes up back at their hotel. Her father leaves her alone for a long time after that.
For a while they camp in a lot of other artists - circus people and vaudeville performers. There Bobby makes her first friend, a Mexican girl her age named Rosie. They play just like small children for the first time in her life. They are also joined at the camp by a buxom woman who asks them to call her 'Aunt Tilly'. They discover that she is actually their father's wife, and that Jocelyn and Bobby are in fact illegitimate children. Aunt Tilly tells them that she refused to have children, so Robert went elsewhere to try and produce his heir. She is very kind to both Jocelyn and Bobby, and is the first one to treat Bobby like a real little girl. She wears a mink stole named Wilhelmina, which Bobby loves. Aunt Tilly lets her sleep with it as a teddy.
Canon | Bobby Lassiter | Mister Boots | No reserve | 2 of 3
Bobby is a very complex character for being so young. She’s been through a lot and sees things many people haven’t. Her strange upbringing set her apart from most other children, yet at the same time in the essentials she is just a regular ten year old. There are several aspects that contribute to her odd view of the world.
Wild Child
While not a true ‘wild child’, Bobby is about as close as one can get while still having a loving family. She states near the beginning of the novel that she’s lucky because she has a mother who doesn’t care what she does. She can sneak out in the middle of the night and sleep under the stars and spend all day by the brook or riding the neighbour’s horses and neither her sister nor her mother seem to care. They obviously love and care for her, and took enough time to teach her to read, write, and count, but they are too busy with their own work to pay much attention to her on a day to day basis. Bobby never had much interaction with anyone apart from her mother and sister growing up. She mentions spying on the farm hands next door, and that they acknowledge her presence, but other than that she never seems to spend time with any other people. Nor does she seem to think of this as a bad thing. She spends her days with the horses, watching them and learning to be like a horse herself. She has a much better understanding of horses than people.
Because of her lack of human interaction at a young age, she views events and people in a slightly detached way. She still has very strong feelings and acknowledges them, but she somewhat perceives them as a strange force within herself that she doesn’t entirely understand. When her mother dies, she is confused by her own grief, stating that ‘she must have loved her’ but not realising it at the time. She often behaves oddly, jumping and shrieking and generally drawing attention to herself, and she even states in her narration that she isn’t sure why she does it.
Like a true Wild Child, there is nothing Bobby fears more than being trapped. When her father puts her in handcuffs, she completely loses control. She talks about how she’s suddenly frightened and wants to touch everything just because she can’t. It culminates in her collapsing on the floor and banging her head against the carpet until she throws up and passes out. Her father never tries it again. She also hates doing anything because she’s told to. Her father is very controlling of everything Bobby does, telling her how to behave and act and what to eat all the time. She talks about how her father wants her to eat an orange every day because they’re good for her, and even though she likes oranges she doesn’t want to eat them because she has to.
Being a Boy
Bobby grew up with everyone thinking she is a boy, and it has shaped her outlook on the world greatly. Her father is so deranged in his need for a son that he simply assumed Bobby was a boy as soon as she was born. We know that Bobby’s mother lost several boys before Bobby was born, and she was obviously afraid enough for the welfare of her baby to keep up with the ruse. Before she dies she apologises to Bobby for naming her Roberta, but she couldn’t dare call her anything but Bobby. At the beginning of the novel, Bobby doesn’t really think much of everyone thinking she’s a boy. She has short hair and wears men’s over-alls all day so everyone just assumes. It doesn’t affect her much since she doesn’t spend time with other people. She mentions at the beginning that she sometimes confuses herself, and forgets that she won’t grow up into a man, like when she takes a ride in the Doctor’s car. But then decides to have a car when she’s grown up even if women don’t have cars.
She doesn’t have any model of what it’s like to be a girl growing up other than Jocelyn. As she meets characters like Rosie and Aunt Tilly in the book, she becomes more confused about what being a girl is like. Her father is always telling her that boys are tough, but Rosie and Aunt Tilly are the toughest people she knows.
When her father is trying to teach her to play baseball he keeps telling her she throws like a girl, and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to throw like a boy if she isn’t one. Eventually her father is satisfied she can ‘throw like a boy’ and she ponders what it says about her that she can. She wobbles back and forth between wanting to become a boy, mostly for her father’s sake, but also so she can do the things she likes to do that girls can’t, like be in the magic show. But mostly she’s scared of her father finding the truth. When her father whipped her, she talks about wanting to have turned into a bird so she could fly away, but really if she could turn into anything it should be a boy.
The day she steals a dress and goes out dressed as a girl is almost an experiment to herself, just to see what being a girl is like. She states that she doesn’t really want to wear dresses. She likes having trousers. But she wants to see what really makes her a girl.
By the end of the book, she sort of accepts a happy medium with herself. Aunt Tilly gets her boy and girl toys so she can have a mix. She gets boys clothes, but is allowed to wear ‘Wilhelmina’, Aunt Tilly’s mink stole. She can knit and do magic. By the time they move back home she’s happy not to have to pretend any more. She’s glad she can be a girl, but in her own way by what’s she learned from the women around her, rather than by what she’s told boys or girls are supposed to be like.
Resourcefulness and Intelligence
Despite her limited exposure to other people at the beginning of the book, Bobby is very intelligent for her age. She still has a great deal to learn about emotion and feelings, but she is very savvy at understanding situations and how to work them. She is a planner and able to think well in a crisis. She’s learned about the world by watching and listening, and in many ways is more knowledgeable than her much older sister. Bobby is able to find their father’s gun and the hidden money, and keep them successfully concealed from him for months. She’s patient and sneaky, meaning she can easily evade capture and stay hidden when she needs to. She steals both the doctor’s clothes at the beginning and a dress from a girl in their hotel in Los Angeles. She is able to fight off her attacker in the park by using her flash paper, a brave and intelligent move. She also has an understanding of social norms and relationships that must have come from her mother. She is able to guess at Jocelyn’s love for Mister Boots right away, and makes sure to explain to him the importance of them being proper and getting married.
Despite having wisdom for her years, she still is a little girl and there is only so much she can cope with. Aunt Tilly becomes a welcome addition in her life, becoming the loving mother figure she never had. Aunt Tilly is the first person in Bobby’s life to pamper her and buy her toys, treating her like the child she is. Bobby’s father and even sometimes her sister seem to forget how young she really is and how much love and support she still needs. Her friend Rosie also helps her understand being a child again. They play make believe and games like normal ten year old girls. Rosie is her first friend and the first person to play with her on her level.
When Rosie’s mother dies, Bobby takes it entirely upon herself to look after her, showing a strong protective and nurturing streak. Rosie is the only person Bobby gives any of her mother’s money to, and the only person she wants to spend money on. She views herself as Rosie’s protector and wants her to be happy more than anything.
Background:
[TW: this book deal with domestic and child abuse, as well as attempted rape]
Bobby was born in the Californian desert in the early 20th century. She grew up with one sister ten years older then her and her mother, who both left her largely unsupervised for much of her childhood. Before the age of three their father still lived with them and was attempting to teach Bobby to be his assistant in his magic show. Bobby doesn't remember any of this, but she retains scars from when he whipped all three of them, and a elbow that doesn't straighten when he broke her arm. He left them shortly afterwards. She can only remember flying, and thinks maybe she used magic to escape him.
At the start of the story Bobby is ten, and very happy with her life. She loves the freedom she has to do what she wants all day and that her mother and sister don't make her do any of the knitting. Jocelyn and Bobby's mother sell knitting to earn money, and have to work all day long just to scrape by. Bobby's favourite activity is riding the neighbour's horses. In her mind she has a 'magic' that brings the horses to her and lets her ride them without any saddle or bridle. She is riding a horse to her favourite tree when she finds Mister Boots, a ragged and naked man lying almost dead on the ground. She brings him food and water and clothes, and eventually he tells her that he's actually a horse who can turn into a man when he needs to. He's a man now because he broke his ankles, and as a horse he'd get shot. At first Bobby just believes that they're playing, as she pretends to be a horse all the time, but eventually she believes him. Mister Boots assumes Bobby is a boy, just like everyone does, because she wears men's over-alls and doesn't act like a girl. She doesn't really mind, but wishes some people would be able to tell.
Their mother was sick for a while, and eventually starts getting bad enough that they have to fetch a doctor. Jocelyn says she should ride into town to find him, but Bobby is worried about her shy and sheltered sister riding on one of the neighbour's horses. So she finds Mister Boots, who she nicknames 'Moonlight Blue' and asks him to carry Jocelyn to town as a horse. Jocelyn bonds with Boots right away in horse form, and rides into town. Bobby goes inside to wait with their mother. She tell Bobby there is something very important to tell her, and that she's sorry for naming her Roberta, but she couldn't dare call her anything but Bobby. Bobby is confused by this, but before she can get any answers her mother dies.
Jocelyn returns with the doctor in tears, telling her that Moonlight Blue collapsed as soon as he got her into town and that he is going to be shot. The doctor pronounces their mother dead and asks if Bobby and Jocelyn will be alright. They try to look for where their mother hid the extra money but can't find it, so pay the doctor with a knitted afghan of their mothers. Bobby asks for a ride back to town to find Boots.
She finds him in human form again and steals a horse to bring them both back to their house. When they arrives Jocelyn can tell right away that Boots is the same Moonlight Blue who took her to town. She over-come with a need to look after him, and Bobby begins to realise that Jocelyn is falling in love with him.
The doctor comes back for their mother's body and treats Boots' injuries, thinking Boots is a friend of their father's. He tells Bobby that Boots will be crippled for life. That evening Bobby asks Jocelyn about her mother's last words, and Jocelyn explains to her that their father thought Bobby was a boy. He was obsessed with having a son and heir. Several baby boys died between Jocelyn and Bobby being born. He was so deranged with his need for a son that he just assumed Bobby was a boy and their mother was too scared to correct him. Bobby never went to school or into town so that their mother could retain the secret in case he ever came back.
The next day Bobby goes out riding and finds a man and a horse camping near her tree. She quickly surmises that this is her father and he returned because of hearing of their mother's death. Jocelyn reacts with fear at seeing their father again. He states that he came to collect Bobby to travel with him and teach him how to become a stage magician. He assumes that Boots is Jocelyn's husband and she doesn't correct him.
Bobby dislikes her father, but she wants to learn magic enough that she says she will go with him to Los Angeles. Jocelyn keeps telling their father that 'he' can't go, because he will surely discover Bobby's secret. Their father attempts to threaten them with a gun, but later Bobby manages to steal and hide it. He also attempts to cuff her, but Bobby reacts suddenly and violently, banging her head into the floor, throwing up, and finally passing out until they're removed. While hiding from her father, Bobby manages to find the hidden money, a whole $500. She hides it with the pistol and doesn't tell anyone about it.
The doctor returns to see Boots, and is enraged to see Robert Lassiter. He says that their mother's corpse had evidence of being whipped, and he wants to examine Bobby and Jocelyn for signs of abuse. Their father forces them to leave.
He spends several days with them, teaching Bobby magic tricks and trying to teach her to be more like a boy by taking her fishing and teaching her baseball. Whenever Bobby misbehaves, their father attempts to whip her or twist her arm behind her back, but Boots always comes to her rescue by turning into Moonlight Blue again for half a second, just long enough to leave their father stunned.
Eventually Jocelyn realises that he will never leave without Bobby, and agrees that they can all travel together as a family. Robert agrees if he can make Boots do his horse trick on stage.
They begin traveling around the state together performing. Bobby discovers that she loves the stage and is good at magic. She even finds she likes her father when she sees him on stage, as he's a completely different person. They travel constantly staying in fancy hotels and making lots of money. Eventually Robert wants Boots to perform his magic trick on stage, but even Bobby can't make him transform at will.
Her father is enraged by being made a fool of on stage, and takes Bobby far out of town at night so he can finally punish her. He makes her strip naked and lie on the ground, and at first she's terrified he's going to discover her secret, but he is too angry to even notice. He uses a leather whip and beats her until she has an out of body experience and thinks she can fly away like she once did. She finally passes out and wakes up back at their hotel. Her father leaves her alone for a long time after that.
For a while they camp in a lot of other artists - circus people and vaudeville performers. There Bobby makes her first friend, a Mexican girl her age named Rosie. They play just like small children for the first time in her life. They are also joined at the camp by a buxom woman who asks them to call her 'Aunt Tilly'. They discover that she is actually their father's wife, and that Jocelyn and Bobby are in fact illegitimate children. Aunt Tilly tells them that she refused to have children, so Robert went elsewhere to try and produce his heir. She is very kind to both Jocelyn and Bobby, and is the first one to treat Bobby like a real little girl. She wears a mink stole named Wilhelmina, which Bobby loves. Aunt Tilly lets her sleep with it as a teddy.
[cont]