The first book in the Little House on the Prairie Series, Little House in the Big Woods, is a calm and contemplative bit of life. The second book, Little House on the Prairie is much more eventful and introduces us to some ongoing themes in the Ingall’s life that of hard work, danger, and disappointment.
Leaving Wisconsin
Like Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie has an almost fairy tale beginning. Laura starts the book by writing “A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today were little boys and little girls.” She goes on to say they left the little house alone in the woods and never saw it again because they were going to Indian country “Pa said there were too many people in the Big Woods now.”
The path that passes by the cabin in the first book seems to represent the future now seems to reveal the inroads of progress “Almost every day, Laura and Mary stopped their playing and stared in surprise at a wagon.” So Pa talked Ma into selling the house and the family begins a remarkable journey out West to Indian Territory.
The Journey
The journey is long and grueling. Day to day travel was tiresome and crossing creeks and rivers was hazardous as the family discovers during one nearly tragic crossing. And while Laura is a child, she seems to capture some of her Pa’s questing spirit and understands the pull West away from the confinement of civilized time when she writes “Day after day they traveled in Kansas, and saw nothing but rippling grass and enormous sky. In a perfect circle the sky curved down to the level land, and the wagon was in the circle’s exact middle…When the sun went down, the circle was till around them and the edge of the sky was pink…Next day the land was the same, the sky was the same, the circle did not change.”
When they finally settle in Indian Territory, the book begins to sound a bit like the first book as Laura writes about the daily activities and establishes the routine of their life on the prairie.
A New Path
Soon after they arrive at the location of their new home, Laura finds a new path “a narrow, straight, hard path down between the grass stems. It went out into the endless prairie.” Unfortunately, this new path seems to represent danger, regret, and sorrow. It is a road that seems to lead towards endings. Pa builds the house right next to the path without realizing that what seems an abandoned trail is actually and important Indian highway. In the end both the Indians and the Ingall’s take an unexpected journey down this path leaving the past behind.
A Remarkable Story for Both Historians and the Lovers of Fable
Laura lived in a remarkable period of American history. The way, in which American’s are taught American history, makes it easy to forget what a short amount of time the pioneers moved through or that the cowboys who had an equally short journey lived at the same time. Yet, Little House on the Prairie captures the intersection of these to iconic figures in American history.
For those who read the first book in the series and those who intend to read the rest of the series, something becomes obvious when one reads this book. Laura Ingalls Wilder was an unusual person who lived in remarkable times. Despite the huge changes during her lifetime, Laura understood the almost mythic appeal of her childhood and was able to capture it for generations to come.
Her ability to capture the thought patterns of a child and yet convey complex details of pioneer life makes her books fascinating. Historians can sift through her books and learn a great deal about exactly how pioneers lived. While those who love legends and fairy tales can lose themselves in that mythic moment when the long line of Indians parading past the Ingall’s home “slowly pulled itself over the western edge of the world. And nothing [is] left but silence and emptiness.”
Read more about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books at Suite101.
Melissa Howard - I am a stay-at-home Mom. My college education was in English and History and my last job was as a Technical Writer. Now that I ...
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