little house

little house

important themes
1. roles of women
  1. text shows us the harsh realities of a women role in nation building
  2. Ma's roles and duties
    1. cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for the children
    2. children's primary care giver
    3. ma as a middle class women
      1. the way she sets up her house
      2. the way she dresses herself and the girls
      3. she is literate and educated
    4. resilience
    5. pragmatic/ practical
    6. courage/ bravery
    7. adabtablity
    8. hard- work
    9. Ma's characteristics are not seen as taking away from her femininity/refinment, but existing along with them as positive traits
  3. roles of American women vs. role of British women
    1. Partnership between her and pa
      1. co- operation
      2. pa still dom
    2. ma has to be the protector when pa is away
    3. physical labour
      1. helps build the house
      2. helps put out the fire
2. beloning
3. image of the other
4. "home"
5. landscape
6. role of men
  1. pa's role
    1. protector
    2. decision- maker
      1. consults ma
      2. interferes with Ma's role are primary caregiver
    3. head of the house
    4. non- household chorse
      1. physical labour
        hunting
        farming
        building
    5. public sphere
american text
wilders text is her looking back on the past; she wen though a period of great change
Laura's relationship with parents
1. Pa
  1. Pa allows Laura to do things Ma wouldn't like adventures outside of the house; this is a very positive thing in Laura's mind
  2. lets her do non-lady-like things
  3. pa answers her questions about the native while ma shuts them down
  4. she shares a sense of worship for her father
2. Ma
  1. enforces lady-like behaviour
  2. ma sees natives as a threat to what she is trying to tech the girls
differences between pa and ma
1. pa is impulsive, ma is logical
2. different views on natives- pa is more open-minded, am is close minded; see them as threats for differnt reasion
"going west"
1. describes the landscape
  1. level, no trees, wild animals
  2. "no settlers. only Indians lived there"
    1. Indians seen as differnt form other peope
    2. added as an afterthought
2. why move west?/ what does moving west suggest about Pa's character?
  1. connection with nature
  2. independance
    1. get away from other people
    2. the isolated nature of the praire emphasizes the vaule placed on independance
      1. freedom fromreligious presecution
      2. american war of independence
      3. the law
      4. economic independence
      5. the value of independenc eis important in terms of Laura's character an as well are the native
  3. want to prove himself
  4. sense of restlessness
3. shifting descriptions of the landscapes reflect realizations of false ideas
  1. wild animals are not always peaceful
  2. Indian presence is more than atticipated- not unpopulated
  3. the land is no flat
wilderness vs. civilization
1. mistaking jack for a wolf suggests that the wild and the civilized are perhaps not 2 firmly different things
2. ma feels thretneted by this idea and makes an effort to keep family civilized
  1. ironing the clothes in the camsite
  2. appalled by the idea of washing clothes in the river "like the Indians do"
importance of community
1. when the family is sick they need a doctor
2. able to share work
3. family/ frendship riutals
4. sense of duty
5. part of a bigger project; connection to the government and the rest of the nation as a whole
6. negitive attributes of belonging to a community
  1. indedtedness to other people
  2. dangerous element
  3. definitions of community also define those who dont belong and dont possess ideal qualities
The house
1. community
  1. each person in the family as well as the neighbors play their part in constructing the house and keeping it functioning
2. civilization
  1. idea of controlling/ civilizing the wild or the "savage"
  2. placement of doll " return to civilization
  3. walls protect the family from the wild
3. domestic sphere
  1. house is Ma's domain
4. safety/ protection
  1. shelter from danger
5. confinment
  1. civilization itself can be a restrictive force
  2. women world in confined to the domestic
    1. when Pa isnt around the women stay inside
6. failure
  1. family has to abandon it
7. intruder/ oppression
  1. for natives
indians
1. differences
  1. civilized vs. wild
  2. violent vs. security and safety
  3. appearence
    1. skin color
    2. eyes
    3. clothing
2. similarities
  1. pa
    1. dark/ tanned skin
    2. living off the land
      1. hunting
      2. wearing furs
  2. ma fears these similarites
  3. women in charge of food/ cooking
  4. they like they same things (beads)
    1. the beads
      1. when the ingalls take the beads it is similar to other imperalist texts
        they find something they want and take them
      2. when the Indians takes things form the ingalls it is described very negitivley
3. attitudes
  1. Mrs. scott - has a very negitive attitude
  2. ma has a sense of fear ans therefore wants no interaction
  3. pa has respect but also a range of attitubes
  4. Laura
    1. ambiduous
    2. cureosity
    3. why does she want to be a little indian girl?
      1. freedome
      2. desire for advanture
    4. the indian baby
      1. the baby embodies her desire for freedom
      2. the baby is a play-thing
        claim ownership of
      3. connection between them
        mutual gaze
      4. the baby's future is unknown and she knows she will never see it again
        symbolizes the permanent displacement of the natives
      5. foreshadowing of americans taking away native children and putting them in residential schools
ownership
1. "land belongs to those who will farm it" - mrs. scott
  1. key way to justify attitudes towards natives
  2. hintuing and gathering not legitimate use of land
why is pa so adament to leave?
1. pride - dosent want to be driven away like the Indians
2. guilt
3. restlessness

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