by guest contributor Laura McLemore (aka Dr. Laura)
Well, this chapter sure opens a can of worms. Racism rears its ugly head once again. Since we have discussed the topic at least three times I will simply refer you to Laura Welser’s post, Should Little House Be Banned? It is a worthy discussion and has been addressed on several other blog sites. (Google “racism in the Little House books” if you’d like to know more.)
Our chapter cozily opens one afternoon following the October blizzard. Several of the town’s men folk are gathered in Harthorn’s store. The trains are running again and the men are there to buy supplies but more importantly to catch up on the local gossip. Who says men don’t gossip?
Mr. Boast is there entertaining the group with stories and “setting it laughing when he laughed.” Poor Pa walks in with his gun on his arm to buy salt pork. Seems he was hunting for jack rabbits but didn’t see a one (an ominous sign for sure) so he had to buy salt pork instead. Cue entrance of a mysterious visitor:
No one heard a footstep, but Pa felt that someone was behind him…Then suddenly Mr. Boast stopped talking.
The men all stand up indicating the presence of something unfamiliar that they need to be wary of. Even Almanzo slides down from the counter in preparation. Then we know “it was only an Indian.” This indicates several things, in my humble opinion. It signals that perhaps he wasn’t a person of great importance and apparently he wasn’t a person of danger either. He was “only” an Indian. Laura respectfully describes a very old Indian but her description seems to be a stereotypical description. Garth Williams’ illustration of the Indian looks more like an Osage rather than Dakota and Cheyenne.
The Indian has apparently come to tell the men something.
“Heap big snow come.”
I have to admit that when I read this to my grandson the other night I cringed for the very first time. I have always been able to glide past the politically incorrect scenes in Laura’s books and have held many discussions with people about historical fiction and racism. But somehow, this time, the language really affected me.
“Heap big snow.” “Many moons.” “I tell-um you.” This sounds like movie dialogue from the 1930’s. Oh wait, that’s when Laura was writing her books! Anyway, for me, the wording really got in the way of understanding the importance of the message at this point in the chapter.
The Indian had come to warn the white men that a bad winter was coming. Seven months of blizzards every seven years and, after three seven-year cycles, the hardest winter of all. Pa knew that what the Indian was saying was true. He had seen the signs himself, the thick walls of the muskrat lodge, the little auk, and now the absence of jackrabbits, a prairie staple.
Royal, Almanzo, Pa and Mr. Boast discuss their options. The Wilder boys and Pa decide to move into town while Mr. Boast realizes that he cannot leave his livestock and that he has too many animals to move into town. We sense Pa’s urgency as he walks quickly home. The family can tell immediately that something is wrong. He tries to assure Ma and the girls that nothing is wrong, but Ma knows better. Perhaps it is because he so bluntly said “We are moving to town as quick as we can.” Ma expresses her distress at Pa’s action but Laura, the ever-faithful daughter, tells her that nothing is wrong because Pa said so!
Ma asks Pa why they must hurry so. He said only that he feels like hurrying. He then makes an error by telling Ma that an Indian had somehow figured into his decisions. This gets Ma’s dander up. Laura tells us that Ma despised Indians and that she wrinkled her nose in disgust when Pa mentioned the old Indian. Pa as always, defended the Indian and then dismisses the subject. He hurries out to load hay with Laura in tow to help.
Laura is not allowed to go to town with Pa. She stands looking across the prairie on the Indian Summer afternoon. Laura dreads going to town and wishes for the wings of a bird so that she could fly away “fast, fast and far away.” With sobriety she realizes that none of them had wings and that after all, they were only moving to town.
Comments10
This topic–the American Indian side of the Little House story–will be addressed this summer in a special panel at LauraPalooza, featuring both an Osage and a Dakota tribe member, as well as scholars who have studied that period of conflict. It’s going to be a can’t-miss event, I think.
I was reading in the Washington Post this morning that seats on planes and trains out of DC are at a premium, with all the snow there and another big storm coming. Even today, people fly away from the storm if they can.
The set up to this interests me. Pa walking into the store to buy salt pork – can the family afford it? Mr. Boast is keeping everyone laughing. Everyone in town seems to like and respect him. We see Almanzo again after his and Laura’s meet cute. Notice he’s sitting on a barrel which seems like something a teenager might do rather than a grown man. I wonder which he is?
“It was only an Indian” – I always thought this to mean it wasn’t claim jumpers or horse theives, but one unarmed Indian. However the English, yeah bad. Of course not only was Laura writing it in the 30s, Rose and an editor were offering suggestions in the 30s as well.
I’ve found it more interesting that Ma will let Laura help with the hay at home, but not in town. It’s okay for her to be the son Pa doesn’t have at home, but in public, it’s not allowed.
I love these analyses of the chapters of The Long Winter, but what is it with some peoples’ obsessions with the so-called “racism” in the Little House Books? In my opinion, the Ingalls were the victims of racism in LHOP, as were other European-American immigrants to the region. They were threatened with violence and murder because of their race, The locals apparently could not tolerate the rich diversity that European-American immigrants brought to the area.
Speaking of which, I don’t see these politically correct, social justice people citing the sexism and homophobia in the LH books. Nobody comments on the first chapter of the Long Winter when Ma is quoted as saying “Ma and her girls were Americans, above doing men’s work”. Single characters in the books are referred to as “old maids” (Miss Wilder) and “bachelors” (Mr. Edwards). How come these racism-obsessed people don’t cite the other “isms” of the books?
Hi Eric,
I have often wondered the same thing, but we have to realize that
there was very little ‘political correctness’ in this country until
late last century. In the 1930’s-40’s when Laura and Rose wrote
these books, ‘bachelors’ didn’t necessarily mean anything other
than a man who simply didn’t want to get married for whatever reason,
nothing more. Also have wondered sometimes what Pa and Ma would
think of the world we live in today–I think it would really sadden them.
I cannot say exactly how much salt pork cost in 1879 but it would have been one of the cheaper cuts so it most likely didn’t cost much. It was used mostly for flavoring and fat/grease. Pa probably could at that point afford a slab of salt pork. I meant to mention that I think this is the first time we see Mr. Boast in LW. My thought about the Boast’s staying in the country is how frail Ellie was and could she really stand being out of town even if the shanty was snug and warm. As for Laura not going to town with Pa, I think it was a shared sentiment between Pa and Ma and probably a common thought of the time that girls should not do the work of boys in public anyway.
I assume salt pork is cheap. It’s more that they have to pay for meat rather than having it free from Pa’s hunting.
For the Boasts, I’ve never thought of how Ellie fared through the winter though I wish they and the Ingalls had shared the house in town. Of course, I know that Laura ruled this out even if Rose agreed with me.
I don’t think it was an unusual choice for 1880 or 1930, but in 2010 I think it is interesting to us.
Am I the only one who used to count on my fingers (when I was a kid) multiples of 7 and 21 to figure out when the next “big” winter would be?
In the books about Caroline’s life by Maria D Wilkes & Celia Wilkins, as a girl Caroline had a hard year herself, the year her father died. She was about 7 and had older siblings and younger. An Indian who was friends of her father brought them some meat. They also had an early frost that killed the vegetables. Her older brothers did the heavy work of bringing in wood etc.
Perhaps Caroline was thinking of the time in Indian territory where they felt perhaps that they were lucky to get out, or she was worried how it would turn out.
I don’t think the Ingalls had a cash flow problem during the Long Winter, just no where to buy anything. That was my impression.
Betty, i also used to count! But i live in Ohio, so the Dakota weather would be regionally different. Does anyone know which tribe the Indian was a member of? And has any research been done to see if he actually made this prediction, or if it was a literary device Laura/Rose used for foreshadowing? I’ve always been interested in that. And, having a multiracial background, including Sioux, i can say that tbe racist language used in Little House books bothered me as a child; as an adult, I’ve learned that people are a product of their eras, education and environments. Very few are enlightened enough to break through. They become our activists, prophets and social figureheads. Little House books’ ideaologies don’t bother me half as much as modern-day people who have widespread access to information, education, etc.
Comments are closed.