Ok, so in coordination with week 8- Historical fiction, we were asked to read Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She wrote the book based on her own experiences of growing up on the frontier. Before I tell you about my personal feelings on the book I will give a brief summary of the book.
Based on the time period of the 1870s, Little House on the Prairie is about Laura Ingalls and her family- Pa, Ma, Mary, and baby Carrie. They begin the book by leaving their home in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, and traveling to the vast prairie in Indian Territory. They settle near the Verdigris River and begin to build home there. Pa gets logs and builds the family a house with a chimney, a stable, a well, and furniture. He also hunts for their food every day and Ma cooks it up. She is a hard working woman, who has meals ready, dishes and clothes washed, and all the other household chores done during the day and still has time to spend with her family. The Ingalls family makes friends with a bachelor down the river, Mr. Edwards, who helps Pa with building the Ingalls home in exchange for help from Pa. Mr. Scott who lives across the prairie helps Pa build his well, in exchange for help. The family also encounters Indians, who are quiet and serious, and scare the family out of several nights sleep. Wolves roam around the house, and frighten the family and their horses. The Ingalls have to deal with many tough issues of living on the prairie, such as prairie fires, fever 'n' ague, and harsh weather. The family manages to overcome all obstacles because they stick together and rely on each other and their neighbors.
I have to say out of all the books we have read this semester, this has been my least favorite. For starters, the frontier period is not my favorite period of history. I find the Middle ages and early 20th century more interesting. The second thing that was distasteful to me was the way the Ingalls and their neighbors talked about the Indians. I, myself, am obviously Caucasian, but I do have Creek ancestry and take great pride in it. When I look in history books to see how white men talk about the "savage Indians" and how they were treated, it angers me. They were here centuries before the white man, yet for some arrogant reason, they came in and pushed the Indians west off their land and forced them onto reservations, and then have the audacity to say the Indians were savage because they attacked the white settlements! Do we white people not attack those who try to harm us? Hello 9/11? I feel that out of ALL the cultures and races of people mistreated through history, the Indians were treated the WORST, and have yet to receive anything to make it up to them. This is my blog, so I feel I have a right to rant and rave about this. That is the main reason I did not like Little House on the Prairie.
If there are those of you who enjoy reading about the frontier period, and see nothing wrong with the atrocious way the Indians were treated, then you may enjoy this book. As for myself, I will not be reading another of Mrs. Wilder's series.
See you next week!