Is Ruth the centre of Brookfield?

[Glyn Fullelove]

I’ve done a call in on this, so sort of repeating myself, but this is still bugging me. When Usha said Ruth was the centre of Brookfield on, I think, Thursday, my instant reaction was “no she’s not!” I have never been one of the “Ruth hating” fraternity, and my reaction actually surprised me. After all, this is a character who has been in the Archers for most of the period I have listened, has always lived in or around Brookfield and is a full farming partner in the Brookfield enterprise. However, I can’t see her as a “co-steward” of Brookfield in the way Jill was with Phil. The emotional contact with Brookfield isn’t the same.

I am not saying Ruth should be a carbon copy of Jill. Ruth has always been a farmer not a farmer’s wife. A better comparison would be with Pat, who I would say is a “co-steward”. By co-steward I mean someone who sees the farm as the “lasting reality” and their role is to safeguard it for the future. It may be harsh, but to me it seems Brookfield is where Ruth carries on her farming career. Recent stories haven’t helped her demonstrate any deeper connection of course, but taking a slightly wider view, she doesn’t seem to have ever really taken a significant role in the Ambridge community. Again, she doesn’t have to be a paragon of the WI, but what about, say, being a school governor? If I recall correctly, Phil managed to be a magistrate as well as run Brookfield, why not something like that? Has she ever had a role in one of Lynda’s productions? All I can remember her doing off the farm is Salsa classes. Again, perhaps this is being harsh, you can argue running the farm and having a family precludes much else, but the lack of a wider community involvement doesn’t square with her being the “beating heart of Brookfield”.

So, I don’t quite see where Usha was coming from

[Anonymous]

I think you are right – I don’t see her as the centre either. I think I see Brookfield in soap terms, in that Brookfield itself is the centre of Brookfield. The farm itself is the heart and anyone who runs it is maintaining that heart so it can go on beating.

I’m not sure I share your feelings about Ruth in that I don’t think she needs to necessarily ‘do’ anything else. I quite like the fact she’s slightly ‘other’ despite being in Ambridge for years. This rings true to me of village life, where you can be seen as an outsider/newcomer even if you’ve been around for decades and very active in the community.

I don’t dislike Ruth at all, even though she’s been a bit whiny at times over the years. I can’t say I’m particularly enjoying her current story. I used to quite like her scenes with Usha and also when Jill was being a bit Alpha Kitchen Goddess with her. I like the fact she works hard, and doesn’t go arseing around like David does sometimes getting his knickers in a twist.

I suspect Usha absolutely sees her friend as the heart of Brookfield though. So that rings true, in a way, from Usha’s perspective at least.

[Glyn Fullelove]

I am sure you are right that Usha sees Ruth as the heart of Brookfield; but if her comments were meant to be the “voice of the listener”, this listener instinctively disagreed, and is trying to work out the reason why. However, perhaps I am over-analysing!

[Spare Mousie]

Ruth is quite business-like about Brookfield, unlike David. She and Pip were planning how to spend the compo they’d get if Route B went ahead, not to mention Ruth’s complete lack of soul-searching before she came to the astounding conclusion that moving the family and farm hundreds of miles north to be near Heatherpet was their only choice! Pity Phil didn’t appear to her in a dream and stop all that nonsense before it started and spare us the Great Non-Move story.

It’s interesting that Pip speaks so cheerfully of Ruth being relegated to Hearth and Home, leaving Pip free to strut around the farm giving orders to David. David did say rather gloomily that that ‘mustn’t happen’ but he’s putty in his daughter’s hands.

Ruth is going to have to watch it.

[Author]

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