In this article I re-examine Arthur Ransome's “Swallows and Amazons” stories together with the criticism that has been published about them and deconstruct both in terms of present day preoccupation with issues of gender, race, and class. Ideology of empire is implicitly present in the books, and so, too, is feminism. Criticism of Ransome's work in the past has queried whether some of the stories are fantasy rather than realism but I concur with Geoffrey Trease that they are all a mixture of the two (Approaching AR 147). It has also been suggested that the series forms a Bildungsroman, but I find difficulty in distinguishing a focalizing character in the books. A predominant theme is the portrayal of children alone away from the supervision of adults. I suggest that where an adult (Captain Flint) plays a part in the adventures he acts in a more childlike way than do the children, while the older children take on adult roles in looking after the younger ones. The children look on their play as more real than their daily lives.
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