THE PLAYGROUND MAFIA
Protagonist Caroline Gray
Protagonist single mother of Benjamin, Caroline Gray confronts a group
of women who intimidate and isolate other mothers who fail to play by
their rules and live by their values. Caroline is a gentle character,
saddened by life, a romantic who doesn’t believe in romance any more,
and who in many ways, lives vicariously through her son. She
understands why mothers become embroiled in playground politics but
wishes to remain immune to it.
The drama within the novel occurs within the environment of a
playground and amongst mothers but it could easily occur within other
environments – the office, the gym, another country, where other
‘mafias’ (aka bullies) exist and bullying is able to thrive. The
playground polarises the bullying and puts it into context – showing
the behaviour for what it is – nothing more than childhood spats under
a veneer of sophistication.
For example children may fight in the playground – they get told off by
the on duty playground teacher. Or at worst sent to the headmaster.
When grown ups fight as in this novel, they get sent to prison, to
court and arrested for GBH. The novel shows how the ‘grown ups’ may
have grown older but they have not grown up.
Caroline wants from the onset to keep a low profile, to not be noticed,
to be a ‘good girl’. She keeps the company of her friends, one of
whom is having an extra marital affair and warns her about the bullying
girls (the mafia). However, in the defence of her friend she
unwittingly makes an enemy of the mafia.
Heather is unhappily married, having the affair but is a very loyal
mother and bored with the mundanity of needing to conform to the
motherhood tradition of talking to other mothers whom she finds dull.
Eva is anxious about being a good mother and keeping her family
together, protecting her children and striking the right balance. She
is an interesting counterpoint to Caroline’s singledom, and Heather’s
care free attitude towards her marriage and affair.
The politics of the playground unlike that of the office is
particularly insidious. Children are observing and absorbing the
behaviour of the parents so the behaviour is potentially replicated.
Caroline remains true to her conscious throughout the novel, and
although she meets her ‘cameraman’ who is an observer on life and her
life in particular, she remains unchanged by the events which occur,
showing that the politics of the playground takes on far greater
importance than it needs to – it is ultimately the politics of
pettiness.
Sarah Flint, the ‘godmother’, Sheila ‘the heavy,’ and Karen, ‘the
spiteful short side kick’ are typical ‘mean girls’ who rule the roost
in the playground. They are every teenage girl’s nightmare and every
single mum’s nightmare as well. And they exist in every playground
in the country.
The novel was hugely successful and continues to be so. Highly
competitive parents (hippies – high impact parents) have failed to
achieve success in their own life and want to achieve it through their
children. They want their children to succeed but their success is
nothing to do with their children but an extension of their own
persona. Although published in 2006, an app (mummy mafia) 2010,
stage play 2011 has been produced and numerous articles on the issue of
playground politics and how to deal with it. The novel struck a cord
and continues to do so as parents continue to live vicariously through
their children and identify their over competitive behaviour as nothing
more than strategic parenting.
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