Prairie Wife

Fourth grade is a school year that is burned into my mind.  That September, when we had been in school for less than a month, was the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.  My teacher had a son in New York, and he was scared.  For a nine year old, it sticks in your memory.

That was also the year that we read the Little House books.  We didn't get through the whole series--and I still don't know what happened after Silver Lake--but I remember listening to my teacher read the books to us.  I don't know why I never went and read them myself, but one of these days I will. 

Around the middle of last year, I discovered Sarah Miller's book, Caroline, which tells the story of Little House on the Prairie from Ma's point of view.  Ma is, of course, Caroline Ingalls.  If you haven't noticed, I love a book that takes on a character from another book and retells the story.  It could be that there were things that were done and needed a bit more explanation.  In the case of Caroline, it's really fascinating to see the story that Laura remembered told by an adult, and an adult who has such a different world view from her mother.  Laura was much like her Pa, Charles.  They were adventurers through and through, but Caroline was much more of a homebody. 

In Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls is five years old.  In reality, she was only three when the family moved from Pepin, Wisconsin, to Kansas.  When she was four, the family moved back to Wisconsin.  Historically, the reasons were twofold--their homestead in Kansas was built on Osage Indian land, despite the Ingalls' being told otherwise, and partially because the man who was making payments on their Wisconsin house was unable to make payments and reneged on the deal.  After a long and dangerous journey West, the family returned to the East.  In the Little House books, Laura and her siblings were aged because, according to a letter from Laura's daughter, the publisher didn't believe a two and three year old could have such vivid memories.

But Caroline is not Laura's story. It's Caroline's, and it brings to life the story of a woman who not only learns about what she is capable of, but how to support her family the best way that she can.  It's definitely not a children's book, like Little House is.  Caroline (pictured to the left with Charles) is forthright about her body and it's functions, and towards the end about sex, but it is still clouded in euphemism.  I think that the sex only comes in towards the end of the book because Caroline is pregnant, then recovering from childbirth, through the first three quarters.  It tells of the preparations for their journey West, and the journey itself.  Things that seemed magical through Laura's eyes we see fully through Caroline's as well as the danger behind them.  If anything had happened to Charles, Caroline, Mary, and Laura would have been on their own and dependent on the charity of others.  They could have drowned, or the could have been killed.  They could have all died of sickness.  There was a lot more peril than seems in a child's recollections.

What Caroline ultimately learns is what home is.  Home, simply, is where the heart is.  It's where your family is, it doesn't matter if that's in Wisconsin or Kansas.  I was really able to connect to the character of Caroline here, not because I'm married, pregnant and about to start a several hundred mile journey in a covered wagon, but because I've left home not knowing what was in front of me.  It was terrifying, but you make each mile a part of you, and you look forward.  You also look back at the fond memories.  Sometimes they're tinged with a bit of sadness, but you get over it.  And no matter what, you can make home wherever you are.

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