Analysis Of Little House In The Big Woods

I chose the book Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and illustrated by Garth Williams. This book was first published in 1932. I chose this book at random from my grandmother’s house over Thanksgiving. I knew that she had all of the books and my sister had used my grandmother’s collection to read them all when she was younger. I just chose the first book that I saw and I really lucked out because it looked interesting. I felt that I could not go wrong with any of the books because they are widely praised for being great reads. This was the first time that I was reading a book from the collection. I had been interested in other titles when I was younger so I never became interested in these books. This book is historical
Russell states clearly that this is one of the oldest subjects in realistic fiction. Family is the highlight of this story because that is all little Laura knows. She introduces various members such as her immediate family and also her grandparents and aunts and uncles. In one specific instance Laura is afraid of her Uncle George because Pa said that he had been wild since he ran away to be a drummer in the army at the age of 14. Laura spends more time with him and decides that she likes him very much and has fun with him at the dance at her grandparent’s house. One theme also that I want to touch on that struck me in dealing with family was how jealous Laura became of Mary as the book went on. I think this is a good subject to discuss with the topic of family because it really shows the interworking of the family’s life. It shows and reiterates Russell’s point that family is diverse and complicated. I had noticed early on that Laura was jealous of Mary’s blonde curls because everyone seemed to love them more than her own brown curls. This became more apparent on page 175 of the book where Laura reflects on how perfect Mary is after she rips her own dress when pebbles are too heavy in her pocket. She tells of how Mary is such a perfect little girl and everyone loves her. I think, especially being a little sister to a seemingly perfect older sister myself, this sense of jealousy is apparent in
Russell clearly states that as children grow up they form friendships and this is why they are central in books for young readers. Laura has a few conflicts with friends, who happen to be related to her given the time period. The “other Laura Ingalls” in the book was a cousin to the original Laura. They have a bit of a fight over whose baby sister is the prettiest and Ma has to yell at them to get along with each other. Books about friendship normally show how friends have their rocky spots Russell says and even though Laura is so young, that example certainly shows it. Alice, Ella, Peter, Mary, and Laura are all cousins but they are also all friends. They all learn how to play together and find fun games to play together on Christmas when the entire family is together. In this time period it was natural for children to have their first friends, and their best friends, be their family which this book clearly illustrates as Mary and Laura are constantly playing together. Although they have their fair share of fights, where Laura ends up striking Mary, they learn from them and how to treat each other properly from Pa’s strict discipline and grow their friendship through the year that the book takes