Little House on the Prairie

These early chapters, and later ones that describe the family’s routines and settling-down process in Kansas, are characterized by descriptions of concrete everyday activities that young readers in the 1930s may not have been familiar with, such as making camp for the night in a covered wagon. These details would have illustrated the sensory experiences of the pioneers, preserving the minutiae of a lifestyle that has long since been lost to time. This pattern is typical of Wilder’s work, as her series is often credited with promoting the romanticized image of white settlers’ westward expansion as a constant adventure undertaken by uniquely brave people. However, many such narratives—the Little House series among them—also gloss over the fact that the lands the settlers sought to occupy were not “empty.” In this light, the young Laura’s undiluted wonder at the wide-open prairies creates the distorted impression that such land was free to all comers.

As the narrative progresses and the family members process their first visceral reactions to the prairie, it is telling that Laura at first dislikes the wide, open spaces that makes her feel as if the wagon isn’t moving. She has lived her whole life in Wisconsin’s heavy forests, and the untamed feel of the grasslands makes her distinctly uneasy. However, her feelings about the prairie changes once she has a chance to explore it, and Wilder dwells upon the sensory experiences of this moment, writing, “The wind sang a low, rustling song in the grass. […] But all these sounds made a great, warm, happy silence. Laura had never seen a place she liked so much as this place” (48-49). Here, Laura is exhibiting both the adaptability that some children demonstrate and a distinct preference for the promise of freedom that the land seems to hold for her; from this point, the wide-open spaces of the prairie become a recurring symbol for this idea. Thus, the family’s isolation gives Laura a very real freedom and a sense of vulnerability, and this theme continues throughout the book as the family builds a new home on the prairie.

These chapters introduce key dynamics within the family as well. Ma tends to defer to Pa in most matters, and this pattern reflects the patriarchal norms of 19th-century white society, in which men were the family decision-makers, while women were expected to remain passive and subservient to male authority figures. While Pa and Ma clearly like and respect one another, Pa’s decisions are always the driving force behind the family’s moves, while Ma restricts her own authority to the domestic realm, working to instill the same traits in Laura and Mary by urging them to help her with caring for their younger sister Carrie, cooking, cleaning, laundering, and decorating the family’s living spaces. It is Ma who makes things “snug” and “tidy” while Pa protects and directs the family and takes charge of outdoor tasks.

The family’s early conversations indirectly reflect the historical reality of 19th-century white Americans’ prejudices against Indigenous people. It is apparent from Ma’s conversation with Laura and Mary in Chapter 4 that she is fearful of the local Indigenous people. She will later make several comments that emphasize this fear, although the racist implications of her mindset largely go unexamined in the book itself. Wilder also foreshadows the homestead’s eventual downfall when she makes it clear that Ma, unlike Pa, is less confident that the government really will relocate the Indigenous people and allow white settlers to claim the land. Even so, she echoes Pa’s reassurances about the possibility of being able to keep the land, and her acquiescence reflects her conformity to his patriarchal authority over the family’s collective decisions.