A good series for a rainy day, or any other day, for that matter, is the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This series was my go-to commuter book a few weeks ago, and I made it through the whole series in a very short amount of time. As a child, these books were responsible for my ambition to be a pioneer when I grew up. And now, if the apocalypse happens and we go back to a world without electricity and automation, I feel that, with the help of these books, I'd manage to survive.
The Little House on the Prairie series is a fictionalized version of the life of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yes, Laura was a pioneer girl, but her story had a few more ups and downs than is portrayed in the series. That said, it is my understanding that the events in the stories did happen - except names have been changed at times, and some other events left out to streamline the narrative. Other than that, this is the story of Laura's life.
The books begin when Laura was a little girl living in Wisconsin in Little House in the Big Woods. You meet Laura, her Pa, Ma, and sisters Mary and Carrie who all live in a log cabin in the woods. Life was difficult, but you can sense the real love and commitment this family had. Laura comes across as a headstrong little girl who often just can't measure up to her perfect big sister Mary.
In the next book, Little House on the Prairie, Laura becomes a real pioneer girl when the family moves, by covered wagon, to "Indian Territory" (in what I gather is now Kansas). This book is where I realized just how poor the family was. They lived in a log house on the prairie with a dirt floor! It must have been so hard for the family to give up everything they knew and take a chance in a vast, open land, far away from friends, family, and anyone else who could help them if something went wrong. It is sad at the end when the family has to leave their little cabin and move on, as they had inadvertently settled in land the government meant to use for something else. I wonder how their lives would have changed if they'd been able to stay.
Farmer Boy takes a quick detour away from Laura's family to tell a tale about the childhood of her husband, Almanzo Wilder. The contrast between Almanzo's family and Laura's family is striking. Almanzo's family were prosperous farmers in New York and Laura's family were small-time farmers and game hunters. Almanzo's family still had the same responsibilities to store food before the winter, but they had been settled in New York for longer and had built up more stock and fields and were more prosperous. This is also a good book to read if you like descriptions of food - Almanzo was a hungry young lad and Laura writes the most amazing descriptions of the gigantic feasts this family ate.
On the Banks of Plum Creek picks up Laura's story again. The family has gone back North-East and now have settled in Minnesota. This is the first of the books where hard times befall the family and the reader gets a sense of the fine edge a farmer walks on. Laura's Pa built them a beautiful new house on credit, intending to pay for it with his first crop. But the grasshoppers ate the first crop - what is Laura's Pa to do? The reader feels sorry for the Ingalls family - being forced to start all over again after moving from Indian Territory, and having that fresh new start end badly, forcing yet another new start.
Laura's family starts all over again in Dakota Territory and it's back West for the family in By the Shores of Silver Lake. However, this western trip is different than the one to Kansas. The country is more settled, and while at times they are the only family about, the building of the railroad ensures that they won't be the only settlers for long. Secondly, there's a new baby sister, Grace, and Carrie is getting older. Finally, Laura's nemesis and older sister, Mary, has gone blind as a result of scarlet fever. This is where Laura's gift for description begins, as she becomes the "eyes" for Mary.
The next book in the series, The Long Winter, is a book about just that - the famous "Long Winter" of 1880-1881, when there were so many blizzards that the train with supplies could not get through and people nearly starved or froze to death. Certainly Laura's family nearly starved during that long, cold, dark, winter. The book does make for grim reading, but it is heartening to see the family pull together to survive the Long Winter.
The final two books in the series Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years, deal with Laura's teenage years in the little town of DeSmet, where her family had ended up in the Dakota territory. Her Pa had a claim near town, but the Ingalls family spent most of their time in town, especially during the winter. In town, Laura attended schools and socials, met friends and attended church. She also got her teacher's license and taught school, among other jobs, to help make money to send Mary to the College for the Blind in Iowa. While Laura did not want to teach school, she did not shirk from her duty in helping to provide for a better education for Mary. It is interesting to me that all Laura had to do get her teacher's license was to pass an exam. And after she finished a term teaching, she went back to being a student in the DeSmet school! Further, she never even managed to finish high school before leaving to get married.
Yes, These Happy Golden Years deals with Laura's teenage years and Almanzo's courtship of her. As much as I enjoyed reading about the young Laura in the early books, I enjoyed reading about the older Laura more and seeing how her headstrong ways had been smoothed out, while not losing any of her essential nature. I enjoyed reading about the long-ago fashions and entertainment. The pioneers may have worked hard, but they also enjoyed a good time, just like we do now.
The series ends with Laura and Almanzo's marriage, and Laura's new life as a farmer's wife, instead of a pioneer's daughter. Those who know the Little House books know that the series does not really end there, but I will address those three remaining books in a separate post - these books are written for children and the remaining three books have a different audience.
Upon rereading these books, I realized just how much work is was to be a pioneer family, and just how much people were at the mercy of the seasons. Today we live in an essentially seasonless world, where we can get any kind of fruit whenever we want shipped in from anywhere, and wear whatever clothes we like because the inside is heated/cooled for our needs. Sure, snow in the winter is an inconvenience, but we don't have to worry about storing up enough food in the fall to ensure we don't starve over the winter.
I love the family dynamic in these books. Laura's Pa and Ma grew up in a different time, and so have some different notions of parenting, but their hopes and concerns for their daughters are not much different than people's concerns now: education, friends, and finding a spouse. Laura's Pa loved his daughters and was a gentle and affectionate father with his girls. Ma was stern, but kind and did her best to mould her headstrong little girl into a true lady.
I also enjoy the relationship between Pa and Ma (Charles and Caroline). You can tell that Charles is an incurable romantic, a born adventurer who always wants to be moving on - the eternal optimist who thinks that life just over the horizon must be just a bit better than what's here and now. That is tempered by Caroline's cool realism. While she did not always agree with where Charles went, she and the family followed him faithfully and she always did her best with what they had. Her practical management kept the family together when a less practical woman may have let the family fall apart after following Charles' dreams too often. And Charles accepted Caroline's need to have their daughters educated and settled in De Smet when he may have preferred to keep moving West. While the books are about Laura, the relationship between Charles and Caroline is the core of the series and one sense their deep respect and love for each other.
I loved the books as a child, and I enjoy them now more as an adult. The stories are still excellent, but it is interesting to read between the lines and see the situation the family was in, how poor and how desperate they were at times, but how they still managed to pull together somehow and make the best of everything. There was a sense of "duty" in those days that I think is missing now. These are good, wholesome books and enjoyable reads, for both children and adults alike.
It is really neat to re-read these as an adult when you understand the historical context. And so cozy to read them on a rainy Saturday ... just like when Laura describes being snug in her cabin during the storms :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy rereading my childhood favourites through grown-up eyes. The context does make a difference. And they're quick reads too - so you can get through a lot!
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting too to see how values had changed: instead of always looking for the new and better thing, the family did a lot of make do with what they had. They turned dresses inside out and sewed them together, they let down hems, they hand-made Christmas gifts. It's a nice antidote to today's must have it new culture! (Which I am guilty of as well.)