If I were married to Pa.....
As I've said before, I didn't read the Little House books as a child. My daughter and I are very much enjoying them right now. They are innocent, easy to read, and engaging. Most importantly, they make us want to learn more. We did many Google searches today listening to some of Pa's fiddle songs, reading biographies, looking at photos of the home sites, looking at the actual copy of the claim Charles Ingalls filed (I can no longer find that page.), looking at gravestones, and reading all about the Homestead Act. This made for a really fun day. And wow, the wonder of the Internet.
But.... I may offend a lot of people here.... I have to read these books as a mother and Pa is driving me nuts! Obviously, I would not have been out there on the frontier. I can see the conversation between my husband and myself.
Him: "Hi honey, I'm bored. I am going to drag you and our young daughters away from our extended family to live across the country in the middle of nowhere and you can sleep on the ground while I build you a log cabin."
Me: "What will we eat?"
Him: "Well, I'll go off hunting all day while you tend to the chores and take care of the children. I'll bring home dead animals for you to clean and cook."
Me: Baffled silence.
Him: "What do you think, hon?"
Me: More baffled silence.
And then......
Him: "Jenn, I accidentally built on Indian Territory and we are leaving, like NOW. Get the kids, we are going to Minnesota where the winters are crazy cold. And oh, we are going to live in a small hole in a hill. I will eventually build you a house, but I won't actually be able to afford it, so there will still be plenty for you to worry about. And I might just leave in the middle of a blizzard for tobacco. Hopefully I'll return and not leave you widowed."
Me: Even more baffled silence.
And then....
Him: "Hey sweetie, I couldn't make this whole farm in Minnesota thing work, so I am going to take you and our young daughters across the country again to the lovely Dakota climate and live in a shanty. Think of it, the girls will be surrounded by a whole bunch of very rough, crude railroad men. Hopefully they won't kill me."
Me: "You want to do WHAT?"
Well, that's as far as we've read. I can't wait to see what happens next. It's not that I am a feminist in the popular usage of the word, but as a mom, I can't help thinking of how dangerous this all was. And it's not that I dislike Pa... Again, it's just the mom thing that I can't turn off.
Am I alone here?
That was laugh out loud funny. Does that mean they were crazy or that we are just spoiled?
Posted by: Elizabeth | January 08, 2007 at 04:23 PM
Oh, MY, we are laughing ourselves silly here! Seriously, I just read this post aloud to Bill and we are hysterical.
And btw, I completely agree with your point. Men got away with a lot back then. ;)
Posted by: Dawn | January 08, 2007 at 05:12 PM
Oh my goodness ... too funny Jenn!
Times were certainly different.
Posted by: Elaine | January 08, 2007 at 07:58 PM
Too funny! I love it.
Posted by: Kristen Laurence | January 08, 2007 at 08:50 PM
Rolling here!!! So very hilarious, thanks for the laugh this morning!
Posted by: Jennifer | January 09, 2007 at 02:41 AM
Your funniest post EVER! I've often wondered the same thing--why Caroline was always like "Okay Charles, whatever you think is best." For me, that would be grounds for not speaking, not cooking, and certainly no whoopee for a VERY long time.
Posted by: Kellie | January 09, 2007 at 08:03 AM
LOL, I agree with you and everyone else! Although I do think it means I'm pretty spoiled. :-)
Posted by: Amy | January 09, 2007 at 09:28 AM
Love it - I'm reading the first one to our second batch of little girls (I did this with the 4 oldest about 6 years ago) and I won't be able to read with a straight face now!
Posted by: KimC | January 09, 2007 at 09:44 AM
I love the Little House books but pa was not my ideal even as a child. Happy to know I'm not the only one who couldn't relate to Caroline. Now Almanzo's father was impressive!
Posted by: Nicole | January 09, 2007 at 11:42 AM
That was really funny! However I have to say I disagree lol. I never really liked Ma because I thought she always held Pa back. He was a visionary man who wanted to discover new things and always tried so hard to provide for his family. Yes, Ma went along with him(although she does "put her foot down" in Hard Winter or These Happy Golden Years, can't remember which). But it always seemed to me that it was rather begrudgingly. I often thought it was too bad she couldn't have been a Sarah following Abraham or Mrs. Noah following her crazy man who built an ark when it had never rained :)
Posted by: 6littlelambs | January 09, 2007 at 01:33 PM
6 little lambs: - I disagree with myself too in a lot of ways! The whole basis of the books was the frontier spirit which Pa obviously possessed. And he was truly trying to carve out a better life for his family. And it's not so much Ma or Pa who I have a problem with, but more myself in that I don't think I would have been willing to risk so much. :)
Posted by: Jennifer | January 09, 2007 at 01:53 PM
In Pa's (slight) defense, it was the 1870s, and hardly anyone could make a go of it during that decade. What strikes me most about those books as I reread them from an adult perspective is how the family nearly freezes and starves to death during the Long Winter. As a kid, I read that installment and thought, "Oh, Pa always figures something out," but as an adult, I think, "Sweet Moses, they're all going to die!" Knowing that the family survived deprivation like that puts _Farmer Boy_ into better perspective. That book is less about Almanzo growing up and more about an adult Laura fantasizing about what it would have been like to have enough to eat as a girl.
Posted by: Angela | January 09, 2007 at 02:40 PM
LOL Angela! It really is an interesting discussion topic: Was Ma a wet blanket to Pa's spirit or was she as enthusiastic as she could be while still trying to raise her children? Was Pa's adventurous nature foolish or what this country was built upon? There are so many angles!
Posted by: Jennifer | January 09, 2007 at 02:45 PM
LOL, I've never really thought about it that way before but ya know.... you're right! Pa was a lucky, lucky man.
Posted by: Melanie | January 09, 2007 at 04:35 PM
Looks like you may have missed your calling. Dave Barry, watch your back.
Very funny
Posted by: Dad | January 09, 2007 at 07:51 PM
Read the Wikipedia article on LIW. Pay attention to Rose's description, health care issues and LIW's later sufferage slant. It almost makes me wonder if LH included ALL of her thoughts on the issue. CQI married at 21 (Charles was 24) and taught school for 5 years prior to that . . . it seem as if there would have been words.
Posted by: J | January 10, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Jenn,
This is hysterical.
I was thinking of this very thing the other day when I was putting my son's ducks in the freezer. Only he plucks, guts, and cleans them himself. Thank goodness!
Those poor pioneer mothers.
Posted by: Cay | January 10, 2007 at 08:08 AM
This is too funny.
Posted by: KC | January 10, 2007 at 01:24 PM
This is a riot! I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything as I read it, or I would've snorted it all over my computer ....
Posted by: Karen E. | January 10, 2007 at 10:41 PM
That's so funny!!! I agree with you completely. Pa got away with quite a bit! I would NOT have that adventurous spirit. I would've wanted to turn around and go back home to "civilization."
What always struck me when reading those books is how little they had -- I'm thinking space-wise right now -- and it shames me. My house is *small*, but compared to theirs, it is a palace. So I always use Ma as an inspiration for me when I want to complain (which is quite often!)
Posted by: Ouiz | January 11, 2007 at 06:58 AM
Ouiz: That is so true - that flour and white sugar were luxuries! We really are so blessed.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 11, 2007 at 07:48 AM
Hi Jenn, this is MY first visit to you. I laughed so hard I almost cried. We just finished reading By the Shores of Silver Lake, and Elle does want to go on to The Long Winter, but I am not so sure I can take it! I absolutely loved Laura Ingalls as a girl, but as a mom ... I am questioning it a lot! I totally agree with you!!!
And I love the shirt you sewed, btw.
Posted by: Grace | January 12, 2007 at 09:06 AM
I was just sent to this post today. This is hilarious. I'm an LIW fan from way back, but now that I'm a mom myself, I can completely get behind this kind of thinking.
sandra
(editor of the Homesteader, for all things Laura Ingalls Wilder
http://www.homesteadernewsletter.com)
Posted by: sandra | January 12, 2007 at 09:48 AM
I linked to this post on my blog post tomorrow. Loved it. Just wait til you get to Almanzo:
Okay Laura. We'll give it three years, then if the farming thing doesn't work out, I'll try something else.
Laura: okay.
3 years up, failures multiply, Almanzo: Okay, Laura, let's give it another year, see if we can make it....
ARRRRGGH!
Posted by: Valerie | January 12, 2007 at 07:52 PM
I totally agree. I loved the books and the TV series as a child. When I read the books to my daughters I was shocked. It seemed to me that Pa was the cause of so much of the hardships. If I was Ma would have stayed in the Big Woods with my parents until Pa got settled then he could send for us. Also Laura and Almanzo did seem to end up the same way as soon as they married before that Almanzo and his brother seemed a bit more affluent or at least comfortable.
Posted by: Becky | January 16, 2007 at 05:10 AM