Five Children and It

Called “Bobs,” Robert is the middle boy in the family. He is often thoughtless, as when he wishes that everyone would want the Lamb or tells the leader of the besieging army in Chapter 6 that he isn’t real. He is quick-tempered and often quarrels with Cyril. Nor is he quite as honorable as his older sister and brother since he sneaks off to see the Psammead for a wish without consulting the others. However, he redeems himself in Chapter 7 when he bravely stands up to the invading soldiers.

Though Nesbit does not portray Robert particularly positively, both he and Cyril get more wishes, three apiece, than their sisters do. Both, however, thoughtlessly waste several wishes, whereas the girls at least try to have fun or worthwhile adventures.

Nicknamed “Panther,” Anthea is the older of the two girls and is kindhearted and tactful. When the Psammead or Cyril becomes cross, it is Anthea who mollifies them; when Jane cries after the children are stranded in the church tower, Anthea comforts her. She is the Lamb’s favorite; he calls her “Panty.”

Anthea is also obstinate, as when she insists that the children try to buy a horse and carriage after their gold coins have been turned down nearly everywhere. However, she has excellent ideas. The wish for the children to have wings comes from Anthea. She also saves the day when Indigenous Americans surround the house in Chapter 10 and when Jane’s wish in Chapter 11 accidentally makes it look as if Mother had received stolen jewelry.

Also known as “Pussy,” Jane is “always a hopeful child” and very honest (46). She tells the truth even when it is not convenient, as when she tells the stable master in Chapter 2 that the guineas came out of the gravel pit. In the scene with the vicar and his wife, as well, she admits that she hasn’t told them the whole truth about their adventure but that she can’t tell them the rest.

Jane is also very affectionate and easily upset. She overcomes a tricky moment at the vicarage in Chapter 5 by throwing her arms around the vicar’s wife. When things go very wrong, she bursts into tears. Jane is the only one of the children who makes a wish on behalf of someone else, their mother. The wish goes wildly wrong, but she means well in making it.

The Lamb’s real name is Hilary, but he is never called this in the novel. At age two, he is both endearing and, as a spoiled child, annoying to his siblings. When he grows up suddenly because of a thoughtless wish, he becomes an Edwardian dandy who speaks in affected tones, prompting his siblings to be grateful that they will have years to come in which to teach him proper manners.

The Lamb is more of a vehicle for the children’s adventures than a fully developed character. As such, his treatment by his siblings goes far beyond anything that an annoying child would deserve. Under the children’s watch, the baby gets caught in the bar of his highchair and hangs by his head, “choking and purple” (56). Later in the same chapter, due to Robert’s thoughtless wish, he is nearly kidnapped by the Roma. Nesbit does not, however, portray the children’s attitude toward the baby as callous. Rather, because of the way the magic works, the children know that everything will come out all right at sunset.

The Psammead is the “it” in Five Children and It; the name comes from the Greek word psammos for “sand,” where the creature lives. Nesbit puns on this fact when Anthea learns the Psammead’s name and says, “That’s Greek to me” (19). Also called the Sand-fairy, it is grouchy and vain. Anthea quickly learns that she can get it to do as she wishes if she flatters it.

Anthea and Robert wonder if the Psammead is trying to sabotage their wishes, but it maintains that the problem is that their wishes are silly, not useful. A symbol of tradition and common sense in the novel, it thinks that they should wish for large prehistoric monsters to eat, like megatheriums (elephant-sized ground sloths), as the children of its own day did. When they wish for gold, it mutters, “But it won’t do you much good—that’s one comfort” (37). In a conversation with Cyril, it declares that the children have “no more sense than so many oysters” (161). Though the children sometimes view it as an antagonist, the Psammead thus functions as a vehicle for teaching them The Importance of Responsibility When Using Power and The Difference Between Childish Whims and Genuine Needs.