Is Roy within his rights to tell Jennifer not to sub Phoebe?

[Janispope]

I am enjoying the Phoebe storyline, she seems to have reverted to a more childlike state on her return home, manipulating her grandmother and moping about. I have sympathy for both her’s and Roy’s views on whether Jennifer should be subbing her.

Phoebe is likely to have developed friendships with people who do not share the financial constraints Roy has and she will want to keep up with them, even if this is just from a desire to spend time with them, doing what they take for granted. She has obviously felt under pressure to keep up with her work and keep up with her friends.

I am unsure how much reading she will be expected to do over the summer, but she revealed a new sense of snobbery in her reluctance to do any manual work at all during the long break.

I can see where Roy is coming from in wanting Phoebe to work during the holidays and Jennifer explained this well. However despite behaving like a child, Phoebe is an adult which makes me question whether Roy was within his rights to request Jennifer stops giving her money, surely it’s between them?

Also shouldn’t Roy have had this conversation with Phoebe as an adult rather than behind her back?

I do not agree with Jennifer offering to secretly sub Phoebe, if she wants to, she should have been upfront with Roy about this.

[Purple Pumpkin]

I completely agree with you that the adult thing to do would be all three having a conversation together, in which they agree what a reasonable amount of ‘gift’ is, and also hopefully Jennie agrees that Phoebe needs to do work to earn more during the long vac. But how good a storyline would that make?

I’m afraid it strikes me as slightly cheap to suggest everyone at Oxford is well off and flashing the cash, but also realistic to think phoebe needs to learn about managing her money.

And of course, she also has a mother and stepmother who seem to be completely forgotten about. Hayley would surely be sensible about this if she still existed!

[Kosmo]

I think Roy was entirely right to talk to Jennifer about her behaviour without Phoebe present. What amazed me was Phoebe’s rapid volte face. In my view given how much she hates Roy for splitting the family I am surprised she listened to him at all. We all know Kate is a chocolate teapot – but Hayley ought to have been needed to solve the problem.

[fatffriend]

Good points, everyone. I don’t like it when a character gets a personality transplant. One term at Oxford and Phoebe has almost become Kate.

[Author]

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