By the Shores of Silver Lake

In the novel’s first section, Laura Ingalls and her family leave their familiar home and start a new life in the West. Chapter 1 brings both hardship and hope for the Ingalls. The characters’ responses to Aunt Docia’s offer give insight into their personality traits and dynamics. The free-spirited Laura is thrilled by the thought of adventuring in the West, and Pa is immediately optimistic that the job offer represents a chance to change their fortunes, which have been sorely weighed down by illness and debt of late. Throughout the novel, Ma follows her husband’s lead and plays the part of the dutiful wife as expected of women in this era. Although the cautious Ma dislikes change, she also goes along with her husband’s wishes on this occasion: “It seemed a long time before Ma said gently, ‘Well, Charles, you must do as you think best’” (5). Despite their differing personalities and desires, Laura’s parents remain a united front, which develops the theme of The Strength of Family Bonds.

The family’s move also connects to the theme of Adaptation to Change. Ma and the girls must manage independently for a few months before following Pa to a new life in Dakota Territory. This isn’t the first time the Ingalls have uprooted their lives and started over. Before moving to Minnesota, they lived in Wisconsin and Kansas. While the Ingalls family faces the move westward together, Laura undergoes a particular change by herself throughout the story, The Transition From Childhood to Adolescence. In Chapter 2, aptly titled “Grown Up,” Laura’s maturation is catalyzed by a painful experience many children go through, the loss of a beloved family pet. Jack’s death symbolizes the end of Laura’s childhood. Without her friend and protector, she has to shoulder more responsibilities and be strong for her family by herself: “Now she was alone; she must take care of herself. When you must do that, then you do it and you are grown up” (13). The beginning of Laura’s adolescence is marked by pain and a sense of duty.

In Chapter 3, the story jumps ahead a few months. The narrator captures the girls’ fear and excitement about their first train ride by describing the locomotive as a dangerous wild creature: “The roaring thing came rushing straight at them all, swelling bigger and bigger, enormous, shaking everything with noise” (19). Wilder’s writing contains a wealth of auditory imagery and sound effects, such as the onomatopoeia Laura hears after boarding the train and deciding that it’s not so frightening after all: “A rub-a-dubdub, a rub-a-dubdub” is the sound of the wheels as the train leaves the station (21), and the rails make a “clackety-clacking” as the train rolls along (21).

The author uses the train ride as an opportunity to develop the novel’s themes of family and change. Mary adapts to having blindness by relying more on her hearing. As the eldest sister, she continues to take care of her siblings. At the same time, Laura looks out for Mary and draws on her innate curiosity and helpfulness to paint vivid verbal pictures of their surroundings. These books are largely autobiographical, so perhaps some of Wilder’s skills as a writer were honed by observing her surroundings and describing them aloud for her sister. Further contributing to the theme of family bonds, the usually reserved Ma gives her daughters a rare treat. The family’s financial situation is so difficult that even a dime is a large expense, but Ma makes the train ride a special occasion for her daughters by buying them candy anyway. The Ingalls demonstrate their strong love for one another through acts of service and sacrifice.

Chapter 4 touches on the theme of Adaptation to Change by showcasing the railroad’s technology, which is cutting-edge to Laura. The protagonist shares her father’s optimism toward her era in history: “There had never been such wonders in the whole history of the world, Pa said” (30). Against the historical backdrop of the immense changes taking place in the West, the characters face more personal challenges as well. For example, part of Mary’s adaptation to her blindness means dealing with other people’s casual ableism. The young woman who shows Ma and the girls to the hotel’s parlor makes the following unprompted comments: “Your big girl’s blind, ain’t she? That’s too bad” (34). The narrator doesn’t address how Mary feels about such remarks, but other characters praise her patience and resilience.

In Chapter 5, the Ingalls family is reunited after months apart. The gentle onomatopoeia of the wagon ride enhances the peaceful mood and contrasts with the cacophony of the train in Chapter 3: “The only noise was the horses’ feet clop-clopping and the little creaking sounds of the wagon” (36). Demonstrating the strength of their bond, Laura and Carrie allow Mary to have the most comfortable seat and endure the wagon’s jolting with scarcely a complaint. The strength of familial bonds also shows how Aunt Docia’s family stays up late to welcome their relatives into their home and share a meal with them. Laura’s opinions of her cousins reflect her transition from childhood to adolescence: Jean, who is a little younger than Laura, is dismissed as “only a little boy” (41), while Lena, who is one year Laura’s elder, is admired for her independence.

Chapter 6 explores The Transition From Childhood to Adolescence for Laura by showing that she is still a child in some ways. In this chapter, Laura and Lena’s actions make it clear that they are not ready for adulthood and its responsibilities, nor do they wish to be. The girls are alarmed that someone around their age is married, and Laura asks to drive to distract herself and her cousin: “She wanted to forget about growing up” (50). The cousins hold fast to their childhood and indulge in mild mischief by letting the ponies run and forgetting about their chores. Like Laura, Lena is undergoing the transition from childhood to adolescence. Lena is older, and she shares her experience by teaching Laura some skills that give both girls a thrill of independence, riding and driving. Her time with Laura is a rare moment of freedom and a welcome break from the labors that occupy Lena’s day-to-day life. Aunt Docia observes, “Lena hasn’t had an afternoon to do as she liked since we came out here, and she won’t have another till the summer’s over” (55). This foreshadows that Laura will also take on more work and responsibilities as the novel progresses.