After reading Little House on the Prairie I'm feeling nostalgic for the period in my life when I felt safe and secure. For me, those were the years I spent with my grandparents, James and Julia Flint. My grandparentss were very much my Charles and Caroline Ingalls. They had a remarkable ability to make any difficult circumstance seem surmountable. This book gave me that same feeling. I just knew that the Ingalls' would fair well, despite contant danger. Little House on the Prairie was a fast and easy read, a book that until very recently, I didn't know existed. I wish I had been introduced to the series years ago as I spent countless hours, week in and week out, year after year, watching the television series of the same name. Before reading this book, I mistakenly believed that theirs was a simplier time, a safer time, turns out I couldn't been more wrong.
Each chapter of the book presents its own set of very real dangers or difficulties. The family faced the possibility of death repeatedly. The courage required to leave one's established homestead for unsettled territory is now so poignant in my mind. From the families decision to move, to crossing the creek, to believing themselves to have lost Jack the dog, they had to make constant adjustments. Life was not simple, infact, I believe that it may have been harsher. It is so easy to take things for granted today. I've never given any thought to what people in the past slept on. This book made me realize that they stuffed their own mattresses. I know that this fails in comparison to say, building ones own logcabin home, but just the same, for me this is enormous. I wouldn't have survived anypart of this journey.
The threat of wolf attacks, the fear of Indians, screaming panthars, individually these things are overwhelming to me, collectively, they seem unbearable. The Ingalls and families liked theirs confronted these dangers everyday. Though they didn't have a right to this territory legally, I admire their desire to settle it. Their American dream is not very different from our own, we all want to benefit from the work of our own hands. We want to build homes and have occupancy, live in peace and security with our neighbors, and be happy in the pursuit of these dreams.l
Like you, I remember watching the TV show as a kind. My sister had the book series (she was the reader in the family), but I never read the books. Admittedly, I always thought they were for girls. But after finally reading the book, I am glad I did. There is that wondrous sense of adventure coupled with that somewhat warm feeling of security, though danger lurks around every corner. Though the time and the setting may differ from our reality, I think the ideas of how we secure our families and the dangers that are around us every day are still great lessons that persist into our day and age. That makes this a timeless piece of children's literature for me - at least in the sense of America at least.
ReplyDeleteI like how you related laura's life to you own; I don't have a similar story to this but I do remember wanting to be her so desperately as child. I too thought her life seemed much simpler than it was; she was a young girl living her simple life in a simple time wearing pretty dresses out on the prarie. Never for a minute did I sense danger or sadness in her life. This book put things in perspective as well as ruined my delicate memories of laura's days on the prarie...but I do appreciate the american dream aspect.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia was a feeling I can admit to share in while reading "Little House." Even if the setting of my childhood and time period was wildly different from that of the late 19th century Ingalls family, it is the feeling of security and the advantage of being young and naive that I remember and at times miss the most. Being cuddled and sheltered from the world of bills, crime, and other wearies is something I appreciate my parents and other adult figures, but I am also deeply saddened at the inevitability of having to experience the world. I can't help feeling that there is a cycle that persists, that Laura did eventually become Ma in some ways and trade in much of her rebellious spirit for conventionality and the demands of society.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that the series it's self seems to be a good reminder that other generations stuffed their own mattresses, built their own houses, etc. This series, in general, is a good reminder of how society used to live on one side of the coin. We rarely in a history class learn about these things. While it's important to remind people that the attitudes are not necessarily good to copy, the rest (like how the people lived) is still an important to find out.
ReplyDeleteYou say in your blog "Each chapter of the book presents its own set of very real dangers or difficulties" which is actually a unique way of thinking of things when considering this has a biographical feel. If a person was to write their own novel or autobiography or even biography for that matter, what would dictate chapters? In Little House we see problems are what drive the plot and chapters, so would that be something that drives your own book? Food for thought..
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% that I would not have been able to make that journey with all the everyday dangers and obstacles that they faced. However, I am looking at this from the present reflecting on the past. If this was the time period we were in then we wouldn't know any other way of life. It feels like we have become so dependent upon technology that we have lost our basic human instinct for survival. Everything they ate they had to catch and kill themselves, everywhere they went they had to take a horse and carriage to get there which could take days or even months or a year or more. We can now get to those same places within minutes with our cars. Hopefully we never have an apocalypse or the majority of us are so screwed.
ReplyDeleteI really like the points you bring up in this blog. This was also the first time I've read this book. Sometimes it is really easy to think that people from different time periods had simpler lifestyles. This clearly isn't the case most of the time, and that is seen in this book. Despite the differences many of us are still able to relate to this story and its characters, and I think that is what makes reading it so enjoyable.
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