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The Borrowers

100 statements
18 feature instances
17 referencing feature instances

The Borrowers	type	TVTItem
The Borrowers	label	The Borrowers
The Borrowers	page	TheBorrowers
The Borrowers	comment	A series of children's fantasy books by Mary Norton (who also wrote Bedknob and Broomstick).Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Arrietty Clock lives with her parents under the floor in the house of a "human bean". They live by "borrowing" from the human beans (it's only "stealing" if you take things from another Borrower), but never anything that might be missed; a Borrower must never be seen by a human bean, or let a human bean in any way know they exist. Unfortunately, Arrietty is a little too curious for her own good, and ends up talking with a human boy. The boy ends up fetching little things that might help the Borrowers, things they couldn't get for themselves.Arrietty's parents, Pod and Homily, are frightened and upset, but eventually (if somewhat stiffly) accept that the human boy is going to help them and not harm them. However, soon enough the adults see the Borrowers too, so the family hides and has to pack up and leave the house. They head out into the wild — like Bilbo, they're not the adventurous type — and try to make it to a house their relatives moved to years ago.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })En route, they encounter Spiller, a loner who says little but sees much. He's a great hunter, and although their initial interaction is cool (as in "not quite frigid"), soon enough they warm to him. (At times it even looks like he and Arrietty might eventually get together, and the fourth novel, Borrowers Aloft, ends with the declaration that they will get married eventually and a fairly detailed description of their future home and life together — but this never happens within the series. The final book introduces the character of Peagreen as another romantic possibility for Arrietty but ends without any romantic resolution.) He helps them out of a couple tight spots, including when they're captured by humans, and eventually even shows them a miniature village they can live in (crafted by a human, but they stay decently hidden so he doesn't see them).Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })Aside from the first minor "captured by humans" bit, they are captured one major time, when a human husband and wife decide to put the Borrowers on display in a glass house where they will not be allowed any privacy. Luckily, they manage to escape.An enjoyable series that made for a pretty good couple of adaptations: The Borrowers (1973): A made-for-TV Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. The Borrowers (1992): A BBC Miniseries starring Ian Holm. The Return of the Borrowers (1993) The Borrowers (1997) The American film starring John Goodman (and featuring a young Tom Felton as Peagreen) that takes a far more urban setup, overturns the idea that the Borrowers have a low population, and in general is not as faithful to the books as the original movies were. Arrietty (released in the U.S. as The Secret World of Arrietty) (2010): An animated movie by Studio Ghibli based on the first book. The Borrowers (2011): A BBC TV movie adaptation released for Christmas, featuring Stephen Fry and Christopher Eccleston.
The Borrowers	fetched	2023-01-15T20:12:09Z
The Borrowers	parsed	2023-01-15T20:12:10Z
The Borrowers	processingComment	Dropped link to BorrowedWithoutPermission: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Borrowers	processingUnknown	Borrowed Without Permission
The Borrowers	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Borrowers / int_1044a759	type	Dying Race
The Borrowers / int_1044a759	comment	Dying Race: Arrietty is afraid that Borrowers may be dying out.
The Borrowers / int_1044a759	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_1044a759	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_1044a759
The Borrowers / int_1e1afc1b	type	Framing Device
The Borrowers / int_1e1afc1b	comment	Within the Framing Device story, all of the major characters might be considered this, since the main story takes place so long ago — though only the Boy (who was the younger brother of Mrs. May, who first tells "Kate" the story of the Borrowers) is actually confirmed to have died; the Borrowers themselves simply left and were never seen again.
The Borrowers / int_1e1afc1b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_1e1afc1b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_1e1afc1b
The Borrowers / int_209d0b5f	type	Wainscot Society
The Borrowers / int_209d0b5f	comment	Wainscot Society: Insofar as the thinly-spread Borrowers have a society, it is kept fairly scrupulously secret from ordinary humans. (There's even a family of Borrowers called the Wainscots, who live behind the wainscot. While it can't be proved that their name is an in-joke, the term "wainscot society" was established in sci-fi/fantasy circles a good fifteen years before the book was written, so it's not beyond possibility.)
The Borrowers / int_209d0b5f	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_209d0b5f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_209d0b5f
The Borrowers / int_221a4bf4	type	Iconic Sequel Character
The Borrowers / int_221a4bf4	comment	Iconic Sequel Character: Spiller. He doesn't appear at all in the first book, but becomes an important secondary character from the second book onward. He's considered one of the most memorable characters and always makes it into adaptations... even the Studio Ghibli movie, which is based only on the first book.
The Borrowers / int_221a4bf4	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_221a4bf4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_221a4bf4
The Borrowers / int_34642505	type	The Edwardian Era
The Borrowers / int_34642505	comment	The Edwardian Era: The time period when the series is set.
The Borrowers / int_34642505	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_34642505	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_34642505
The Borrowers / int_3d897748	type	Do Not Go Gentle
The Borrowers / int_3d897748	comment	Do Not Go Gentle: Often with Stiff Upper Lip.
The Borrowers / int_3d897748	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_3d897748	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_3d897748
The Borrowers / int_450d9b75	type	Scavenged Punk
The Borrowers / int_450d9b75	comment	Scavenged Punk: As a franchise, The Borrowers provides what is perhaps the Ur-Example of Scavenged Punk. The family, and borrowers in general, scavenge everything they need from humans and end up building a lot of cool equipment. Movie adaptations have provided some of the best ever visual examples of Scavenged Punk.
The Borrowers / int_450d9b75	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_450d9b75	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_450d9b75
The Borrowers / int_52748705	type	Bamboo Technology
The Borrowers / int_52748705	comment	Bamboo Technology: Borrowers use a lot of this.
The Borrowers / int_52748705	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_52748705	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_52748705
The Borrowers / int_54bb502b	type	Nobody Poops
The Borrowers / int_54bb502b	comment	Nobody Poops: There's never any mention of the Borrowers having toilets or even chamber pots. In a series where every aspect of the Borrowers' makeshift lives are described in exquisite detail, including how they take baths and how the need for access to water dominates their choice of living quarters, the omission eventually becomes significant.
The Borrowers / int_54bb502b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_54bb502b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_54bb502b
The Borrowers / int_6a3c49f	type	Direct Line to the Author
The Borrowers / int_6a3c49f	comment	Direct Line to the Author: The story of the Borrowers is presented as something told to the author when she was a child (she gives her younger self the name "Kate," to distance herself from the "wild, untidy, self-willed little girl who stared with angry eyes and was said to crunch her teeth" she apparently was back then), and which she wrote down for her own children when she was an adult. This is most clear in the first three books, where the Framing Device is the story of how "Kate" meets and talks to old people who either met or were told of the Borrowers in their youths. The latter books (and almost all the adaptations) drop this device, but still include people who could conceivably have talked to "Kate" many years later and told her the story.
The Borrowers / int_6a3c49f	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_6a3c49f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_6a3c49f
The Borrowers / int_6d7026fa	type	Punny Name
The Borrowers / int_6d7026fa	comment	Punny Name: Even names are Borrowed; for example, there are Stainless, Pod (the plant), Homily (a moralizing sermon), and Eggletina. Sometimes these end up as humorous spoonerisms, as most Borrowers are not literate: for example, Peagreen's name is actually spelled P-E-R-E-G-R-I-N-E (which itself is a Meaningful Name, since he is a wanderer). Surnames are often taken from where the family lives, such as the Clocks or Overmantels.
The Borrowers / int_6d7026fa	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_6d7026fa	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_6d7026fa
The Borrowers / int_76e24530	type	Delicate and Sickly
The Borrowers / int_76e24530	comment	Delicate and Sickly: The human boy is in the house because he is recovering from rheumatic fever, which even to this day is considered a dangerous and chronic disease.
The Borrowers / int_76e24530	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_76e24530	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_76e24530
The Borrowers / int_8b568cb7	type	Posthumous Character
The Borrowers / int_8b568cb7	comment	Within the main story of the first book, several Borrower families are described — all gone by now. The Posthumous Character who gets the most attention, however, is Arrietty's cousin Eggletina — it was her death that caused Uncle Hendreary and his family to leave the house for good. However, this is Subverted in the second book, when Eggletina proves to be very much alive.
The Borrowers / int_8b568cb7	featureApplicability	-0.3
The Borrowers / int_8b568cb7	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_8b568cb7
The Borrowers / int_a8298592	type	Mouse World
The Borrowers / int_a8298592	comment	Mouse World: The Borrowers exist on a mouse-sized scale.
The Borrowers / int_a8298592	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_a8298592	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_a8298592
The Borrowers / int_ca87e3ec	type	No Name Given
The Borrowers / int_ca87e3ec	comment	No Name Given: The human boy who befriends the Clock family.
The Borrowers / int_ca87e3ec	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_ca87e3ec	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_ca87e3ec
The Borrowers / int_e563bf09	type	Insistent Terminology
The Borrowers / int_e563bf09	comment	Insistent Terminology: The Borrowers aren't "thieves". It becomes a Brick Joke that both the boy and Mrs Driver respond to this terminology with "so that's what you call it!".
The Borrowers / int_e563bf09	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_e563bf09	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_e563bf09
The Borrowers / int_eeb4f505	type	Lilliputians
The Borrowers / int_eeb4f505	comment	Lilliputians: The Borrowers' defining feature.
The Borrowers / int_eeb4f505	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_eeb4f505	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_eeb4f505
The Borrowers / int_name	type	ItemName
The Borrowers / int_name	comment
The Borrowers / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
The Borrowers / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
The Borrowers	hasFeature	The Borrowers / int_name
The Borrowers / int_name	itemName	The Borrowers

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Borrowers (2011)	seeAlso	The Borrowers
The Borrible Trilogy	seeAlso	The Borrowers
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Animated Adaptation / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Borrowed Without Permission / int_61f5186d
Carnegie Medal	seeAlso	The Borrowers
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Children's Literature / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	English Literature / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Iconic Sequel Character / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Lilliputians / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Mouse World / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	No More for Me / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Peeve Goblins / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Scavenged Punk / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Sneakers of Sneaking / int_61f5186d
TheBorrowers	seeAlso	The Borrowers
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Wainscot Society / int_61f5186d
The Borrowers	hasFeature	Waking Up Elsewhere / int_61f5186d

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