LITERARY ANALYSIS
Title: TOO SOON A WOMAN suggests the subject of the story, because the character of the story is a young girl of 18 but mature enough to her age.
THE DAY BEFORE THE SUN CAME OUT suggests the end of difficult days, distressful situation and the beginning of happy good days.
Author: Dorothy M. Johnson
In her writing about the West she takes a realistic look both at the white settlers and the Indians they displaced (changed their places) and frequently battled. Through her stories she has gained a reputation for historical accuracy, brevity of style and themes dealing with courage and strength of ordinary people.
This story concerns a pioneer (a person who is among the first to go into an area or a country to settle or work there) family moving west.
Type of Work/Genre: Social Realism
Date of Publication : in 1964, in a collection of short stories.
Setting: A hostile environment. They are travelling across weather ravaged (severe weather) prairie and mountain in an old farm wagon, drawn by one horse towards west. At the beginning of 1900s /end of 1800s when the first settlers of America came to the country. To create the setting for the story, the author uses details about transportation scenery historical time, economic conditions and weather as well as images.
Point of view: First person narrator. The eleven year-old-boy of the family is the narrator.
Central conflict: * External conflict between the family and the hostile environment: They struggle to survive hunger in harsh environmental conditions.
PLOT:
* Introduction: In this part the narrator describes the situation they are in. They have left their home for a more prosperous life towards the mountains. They are with little provisions and almost out of food. They are going to west in an old farm wagon drawn by one horse. Along the way they come upon Mary, a young woman who wants to travel with them. The father can't feed another mouth, but