#Little House in the Big Woods

[oldfarmhouse]

There is a little house somewhere, surrounded by green cedar boughs, where we are eating oatcakes and honey, dipping them in our tea three times for good luck. Sometimes i am sitting with you in stillness.

- 𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 [𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆]

[fictionadventurer]

Apparently one of the most contentious issues during the writing process of Little House in the Big Woods was whether they could call Laura's parents Ma and Pa. The line about "children didn't call their parents Mother and Father, they called them Ma and Pa," was there from the earliest draft, and it must have drawn attention to the issue, because editors objected immediately. Apparently, it was "too colloquial", and they worried that the world of children's books was "too snobbish" to accept children's books with parents called anything other than Mother and Father. They went back and forth, but eventually decided it was important to the atmosphere of the time and let them keep it. And thank goodness.

[k-marzolf]

“She thought to herself, "This is now." She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.”

— Laura Ingall’s Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods

[wowbright]

Me: "I'm getting toward the end of reading all the Laura ingalls Wilder books, hmm this one is called These Happy Golden Years, sounds like it'll be a nice relaxing one like Little House in the Big Woods and not terrifying like most of the others."

Laura ingalls Wilder: "Laura almost dies in a snowstorm. Attempted murder occurs. There's a good chance murder will be attempted again. You aren't even a quarter way through the book."

[gramarobin]

and two pennys and a peppermint stick 🥰

[autumncottageattic]

"The syrup is waxing. Come and help yourselves." 

Then everybody began to talk and laugh again. They all hurried to the kitchen for plates, and outdoors to fill the plates with snow. The kitchen door was open and the cold air came in.

Outdoors the stars were frosty in the sky and the air nipped Laura's cheeks and nose. Her breath was like smoke. She and the other Laura, and all the other children, scooped up clean snow with their plates. Then they went back into the crowded kitchen. Grandma stood by the brass kettle and with the big wooden spoon she poured hot syrup on each plate of snow. It cooled into soft candy, and as fast as it cooled they ate it. 

They could eat all they wanted, for maple sugar never hurt anybody. There was plenty of syrup in the kettle, and plenty of snow outdoors. As soon as they ate one plateful, they filled their plates with snow again, and Grandma poured more syrup on it.

-  Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

[cottagecorelesbianbattle]

[glowing-disciple]

Probably the scariest part of the Little House books is how they kept the Sabbath.

No talking.

No playing.

No reading.

No moving.

Just spend the entire day in your chair, staring off into space, with only your thoughts to keep yourself occupied.

Sounds like absolute hell.

[grandmacozy]

Being driven further into madness the longer I find myself not enjoying a sugar snow dance party

[little-blog-in-the-big-woods]

"Here, Laura and Mary,” Pa said, and he gave them each a little round package out of his pocket. They took off the paper wrappings, and each had a little, hard, brown cake, with beautifully crinkled edges. “Bite it,” said Pa, and his blue eyes twinkled. Each bit off one little crinkle, and it was sweet. It crumbled in their mouths. It was better even than their Christmas candy. “Maple sugar,” said Pa.

"Little House in the Big Woods", Laura Ingalls Wilder

[oldfarmhouse]

“As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.”

— Vincent van Gogh (𝑣𝑖𝑎 𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑚ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒)

[fictionadventurer]

Little House in the Big Woods is a masterful depiction of the simple joys and mindset of very early childhood. Which, oddly enough, makes the book work better for me as an adult than as a child. As a kid, I saw this as one of the lesser books--there are some fun moments and interesting stories, but nothing really happens. As an adult, that's one of the main draws--nothing happens! Laura gets to see the frost on the windows and play with her cousins and get Christmas presents and look at the pictures in the animal book and play house and nothing goes wrong. It brings back those innocent, simple joys of very early childhood in a way that's much more welcome now that I'm much further away from it.

With an adult's perspective, it's also easier to catch more details about the wider world surrounding that little cabin in the Big Woods. The family ties binding together the adults. The historical context of the 1860s. You catch the fact that they're choosing to live like this--the rest of the world is pretty advanced, but they're living on the very edges of civilization where you have to do things for yourself in a way few other people do.

As a kid, I just saw the historical moment as "pioneer times where they live like this because they haven't invented technology." As an adult, I know that there's a ton of technology already being invented at a faster rate than ever before, and even here on the fringes of society, it's got a huge effect on how they settle the area. They buy machine-made traps to catch animals for a huge fur industry (at least, I don't see a local blacksmith making these). They use a complicated threshing machine. They buy machine-made cloth and cane sugar and have little store-made knickknacks. Their way of life is pretty heavily dependent on a world where railroads and steamships can rapidly transport goods around the world, which is a huge reason that life changed so quickly during Laura's lifetime--the world was already pretty modern, and just had to get out to where she was. It's a perspective that added a lot of depth to my view of the setting.

The book's also better from an adult viewpoint because it's not just the story of early childhood, but it's a woman in her 60s looking back at her early childhood--nostalgic for it in the way a lot of adults are nostalgic for a time when the world seemed simpler and safer--which makes the perspective oddly relatable.

I can still see why it's less exciting than the other books--even apart from the lack of deadly perils, Laura's extremely young age means she's not an active protagonist. She's just watching life while other people go off and do things. Most of the events are things we hear about--Pa telling stories of his childhood or of what he's done during the day. Laura doesn't, for instance, go out to the bee tree--she sees Pa get the wagon and then come back and tell her about it. Even this simple event is something that Laura's not actively watching, which makes her perspective feel a bit disconnected from the world.

But for all the story's flaws and virtues, the very best part of the book is how much love goes into it. Laura is writing this out of love for the family that gave her such a childhood. She'll pause to note Pa's laugh, or talk about how pretty Ma was while making hominy. She loves the landscape, delighting in the details of every season. She loves the daily tasks of farm life. She's not just detailing things like cheese-making or churning because these skills are dying out, but because she's lived her life on a farm and takes genuine joy in the details that go into completing all these tasks. She loved farming so much that she spent years writing a column about farming life, and that absolutely comes out here.

Then, at the very end, we have a line that's my contender for one of the best last lines in all of literature. Laura's watching her family and the firelight as Pa plays his fiddle in the cozy little house, singing about remembering the days of long ago. And this sixty-some-year-old woman, looking back at her childhood, bringing back a vanished world for the children of today, ends with a paragraph that perfectly sums up the bittersweet truths of the story--that childhood thinks it will last forever, that time will pass in the blink of an eye, and that memory and storytelling can, in their imperfect way, make the past immortal.

She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

[totheescapement]

Now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

[darklingichor]

Little House in the Big Woods; Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingllas Wilder

So I read the series in reverse, but I figured it would be kind of hard to write about them that way if I group them together, so I'm going to write these in chronological order.

Big Woods as a story is very sweet. It really embodies the coziness that everyone talks about, really more so than any other book besides Farmer Boy.

Is all childhood memories. Ma making butter, and roasting pig's tail, Pa playing his fiddle and telling stories, holidays and celebrations with family.

Laura at the age of four and five is pretty carefree, as it should be.

It's odd, reading kids books when you're an adult, you get subtext that you probably wouldn't have gotten as a kid.

This happens more and more as the books go on, but in this one, I got something that I don't know was the intent or if I'm reading too much into it.

Big Woods starts out like a fairy tale, and it continues with that tone, and it makes me wonder if Wilder didn't, in some way, think back on that time as ideal because there really is a sense of safety as you follow Laura through the chores and games, and squabbles. The feel is carefree in a way that is mostly lost when the family goes west. I don't know how much kids will get when they read them, but I was always aware of the danger that the Ingallses faced. From Little House on the Prairie, forward, it is under the surface if not actively present. Big Woods, had the bear, but everything is very secure.

The ending is probably one of the most elegant pieces of writing that wasn't about nature, in the whole series.

"She thought to herself, 'This is now.' She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago."

Farmer Boy, was written as a companion piece to Big Woods, according to Prarie Fires and the podcast. I cannot express how adorable I think that is.

This book follows a year in the life of nine year old Almanzo Wilder, near Malone, New York. It is even cozier than Big Woods. There are so many descriptions of food, I found myself getting hungry when reading it, and that usually doesn't happen to me. Big Woods, there was more to it, Almanzo is old enough to know something of his own mind, to get into scrapes and to interact with others more than Laura who was only five in the first book.

Plus, because the real Laura was working off of things told to her by her husband, a lot of the book is probably more fiction and has a clearer story arch, at least to me.

It was really interesting to me watching Almanzo learn the farming trade and all the various skills needed to go along with it, and just how much he enjoyed it. I think my favorite parts were when Almanzo was allowed to stay home from school and help out on the farm from threshing wheat, hauling timber, training young oxen, whatever, Almanzo was eager to learn.

Something that caught my attention near the end.

There's this point where a wagon maker in town asks Almanzo's father to apprentice Almanzo.

His father talks to his mother about it, and his mother is very upset, and goes on a rant about how if he did this, Almanzo would never be free, and would always be dependent on others for his living.

Now, there is this odd idea in the LH Fandom (community? It's huge, I don't know) that Laura and Almanzo's daughter Rose actually wrote the books. Honestly, and I will come back this in another ramble, if you read Pioneer Girl and you read Rose's writing, this is obviously not the case (IMO). But we do know, that Rose, was involved in editing her mother's books, and Laura did allow Rose to add things. Both mother and daughter's writing have the thread of being free and independent, but the tone is very different between the two.

This section feels like an addition made by Rose. She was a staunch Libritarian and her writing in its vein usually has a feel of righteous anger or frustration, telling the reader what's what.

Laura's shows the reader how one would do this, and is much quieter

This speech by Almanzo's mother is very out of character for the busy sweet natured woman in the rest of the book, and right after this tirade the tone goes back to normal. Almost as if it can be lifted out completely.

It was interesting to compare it to the rest of the book.

All in all, I enjoyed these two.

[literaturegirlie5]

Little house in the big woods : a book review

Rating : 3.75 / 5 stars

Little house in the big woods is one of those books you settle down to read when you are in the need of comfort. It can be read at any season, as the book covers the life of the family through spring, summer,winter and autumn, however I do think of it as more of a winter book, since nothing seems better than curling up to read this, in front of the fireplace, while sipping some hot tea, and nibbling on bread with honey and butter.

This was an absolute delight to read. I can easily see why so many people adore it, as its a short little book, which allows the reader to not tire easily from the descriptions of every day life in the little house.

Id prefer to see a little more of Mary's (Lauras sister) character, and further characterization/ descriptions of the outer appearance, and personality of distant family members seen in the book, however other than that I have no complaints from the characters. They did seem indeed like a normal family of their times, and their interactions with each other felt quite heart warming.

The flaw of this book, and reason why I couldn't rate it higher, was also one of its biggest strengths : its too descriptive. While I usually enjoy books that go into details about each character/ their acts ect. this one felt a bit too dragged on at some parts. This characteristic more often than not worked in the authors advantage, as I enjoyed understanding each task I was unfamiliar with, and it really did set the tone of the book, however at times certain parts ( ex. Pa's way of taking care of the gun, moms cooking) did tire me a little.

[roses-red-and-pink]

Just finished reading little house in the big woods. I first read it when I was 5, but it’s much more enjoyable now. I’ve always been a sucker for “description of processes books” where the author describes exactly how they made the cheese, or built the house, or cooked the chicken. Swiss family Robinson is another favourite for that reason. It’s just a comfy, cozy little book. Nice to read while I wait for the next Anne book.