Little House on the Prairie Series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Part 2

This week I managed to finish off the rest of the Little House series. My opinion of all the characters changed as I continued along. It's very interesting but I do believe that my favorite character of the series is Carrie -- who I was specifically named for. My mom read this series when she was in 6th grade, liked the name, and decided if she ever had girl she'd name her Carrie. So here I am! And I am VASTLY disappointed, btw, that we don't find out what happens to the rest of the Ingalls family by the last book. SERIOUSLY put out.

By the Shores of Silver Lake is certainly not my favorite. I may not rank it number 9 on my list of likes/dislikes but I didn't really go for the environment that Pa took the family to live in. It was obviously a scary situation for Ma and her girls to be brought out to live with ruffians. You definitely get a feel for Ma's Victorian instincts in the way she reacts to the settlement. It seems that in the later half of this book series Ma is having to work harder to make sure that her girls grow into proper young women out in the wilds of the Dakota territory. I would imagine that just about any woman would be sympathetic to Ma's plight. Her daughters, without her care and guidance, would have been far less genteel. At the same time, she almost comes across as a pussy footer which was annoying.

The Long Winter had to be my favorite book in the later half of the series. You know that the family is going to make it through all the blizzards and harshness of winter -- but you really start to wonder exactly how that was going to happen. Yet survive they did. At this point in the books I'm thinking Ma is incredibly admirable for never complaining. At the same time I almost think its a little overboard to refuse to let children complain - ever. I understand the point but that seems a bit legalistic to me. At any rate, I thought the way that the family pulled together and helped one another out was very inspiring and beautiful to hear about.

Little Town on the Prairie. Hmm. Probably the least memorable for me. Nothing really stands out as being extremely interesting, excepting Nellie Olsen, of course. This is the book in which I really started to like Carrie. Before she just struck me as the spoiled baby but in this book she really grows up and starts to become an equal to Laura. I enjoyed her even though she did not receive as much attention as I would have liked.

These Happy Golden Years made me dislike Mary (for not wanting to come home on vacation that one summer!) and really dislike Ma. Ma just seemed to harp on so much about what it meant to be a lady. It was related in such a way that you would wonder how Laura was really managing life with her. Ma was understood but I think she tried too hard to be too perfect. No one IS perfect and in their striving to be so, their flaws become more evident. Better to be honest and real about things then to pretend All Things are All Right All the Time. That's just not reality and it was almost like she was fighting against it always -- which in a way, she was! The interesting character in this book was Laura's border, Mrs. Brewster. Just when you are thinking that Ma is striving for perfection, enter Mrs. Brewster who gives her husband the what-for for dragging her out west. A most unhappy character indeed. It makes you grateful for Ma's efforts to remark only on the positive and to avoid focusing on the negative. Mrs. Brewster does a lot for keeping the whole picture in perspective! I was as happy to get back to the Ingalls home as Laura was.

The other thing of note in this particular book is, of course, Almanzo and Laura's courtship. She mentions it, talks about it and yet says absolutely nothing whatsoever about their relationship! I was wondering if "proper Victorian custom" is not to say A WORD to the person that you are courting. They just didn't SPEAK! Laura did not seem to ask questions about his whereabouts, actions, beliefs, hopes, dreams, etc. The only inkling you get about her true thoughts on their relationship is in the next book and even that is weird. I don't know if she was what type of legacy she was trying to leave to Rose in these stories but These Happy Golden Years explains positively nothing about her marriage or why she wanted to enter into it.

Despite the peaceful illustration on the cover of this book, it contains nothing of a peaceful scene. It is in this book that you discover Laura did address the issue of Manly's life occupation with him during their courtship. She did not want him to be a farmer. She wanted an easier life than the one that she grew up with. Now, I find this book positively curious. It almost speaks against all of the other works. When she was young she thrived on adventure and working and flitting about. But it as if once she married she really understood the struggles and didn't want a repeat with Manly. Yet repetition is exactly what she got. I did NOT like Almanzo by the end of this book (series). The amount of debt that he brought upon them, etc., was just too much. Their life was hard but. . . . despite all of this Laura did seem happy. Passionate about her marriage? No. Not at all. But content in what she knew? Yes. When Mary questioned Laura over whether or not she really wanted to marry "that Wilder boy" Laura responded, "We seem to belong together." Like something comfortable and known. It doesn't really seem to be anyone's right to question. Somehow it worked.

On the whole I really liked this series. I definitely enjoyed the first half of the Little House series more than the second half.

I ended up liking Pa & Carrie best, Almanzo least and I have to confess that I do not really understand Laura well enough to say whether I liked her or didn't. I liked her young self. Not sure about the elder self. I'll have to think about it.

In the meantime, thanks for your comments on the review of this series (Part I) earlier! I'll be curious to know if you can add anything to the Ingalls history that would summarize things for me nicely.