ABSTRACT
It is a truism of adolescent cultures that the importance of peer relationships often eclipses that of familial ones and that preteens and teens adhere more closely to the values and priorities of their friends than those of their parents; hence, the clichéd rejoinder of exasperated parents: “If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?” In an analysis of the enduring popularity of Noel Streatfield’s 1936 novel for girls, Ballet Shoes, Angela McRobbie considers the value of peer groups to girls and the appeal of stories about a trio of orphan girls who forge close bonds and emerge from poverty and insecurity to triumph. McRobbie notes that the book has been continuously in print since its original publication and that its popularity among girls in the 10 to 12 age range is neither race nor class specific. She concludes that
Ballet Shoes works as a text of transition and development. It simultaneously allows its readers to fantasise a family space unencumbered by sibling rivalry and parental dictate (a state of affairs experienced negatively in one way or another by boys and girls of all ages and social backgrounds) and to contemplate a future state of being which promises reward, recognition and happiness. The narrative also works through, in fictional form, the kind of psychic material which in itself is a product of the difficulty girls face in moving towards achieving a feminine identity. 1
Thus, the prospect of peer group membership represents, for girls, an opportunity to experiment with facets of identity and self-definition not available in a family context, and the phenomenon of girls bonding together as a group of equals is valuable in the process of navigating adolescence and incipient womanhood.