Aunt Gertrude
| Gertrude Hardy | |
|---|---|
| The Hardy Boys character | |
| First appearance | The Hardy Boys #4 The Missing Chums (1928) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Homemaker |
| Relatives | Brother: Fenton Hardy Sister-in-law: Laura Hardy Nephews: Frank Hardy, Joe Hardy |
Gertrude "Trudy" Hardy is the unmarried aunt of Frank and Joe Hardy (the Hardy Boys of the title) and the sister of their father, Fenton.
She was known to have a peppery temper and on more than one occasion to go "on the warpath". She owns an old Volkswagen Beetle. In the Undercover Brothers series she goes by Trudy, and sometimes Frank and Joe call her Aunt T.
In some installments of the original series, Gertrude appears to be a full-time resident of the Hardy household. In others, she is often present for a visit, sometimes brief and sometimes extended. Her maternal care for the boys doesn't seem to put her in any conflict with the brothers' actual mother Laura, but her characteristics — genial overbearingness, comic frettiness, moral disapproval — make her a much more developed character. In the TV series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mysteries, the mother has been completely written out and Aunt Gertrude has become Frank and Joe's only maternal figure.
Gertrude frequently expresses her maternal care for the boys and their friends through her cooking, and it is generally agreed (particularly by the occasionally gluttonous Chet Morton) that she excels in this area.
Read more about this topic: List Of The Hardy Boys Characters
Famous quotes containing the word aunt:
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)