The Long Winter

“Mary had liked such work, but now she was blind and could not do it. Sewing made Laura feel like flying to pieces. She wanted to scream. The back of her neck ached and the thread twisted and knitted. She had to pick out almost as many stitches as she put in.”

Mary is often used as a foil to illustrate Laura’s character traits. Mary enjoys more patriarchally dictated feminine pastimes, such as sewing, and Laura becomes impatient with them. It is clear that while Laura is an obedient and hard-working daughter, she must grapple with the societal expectations for girls and Self-Sacrifice for the Greater Good.

“‘It must be one of Laura’s queer notions,’ Mary said, busily knitting in her chair by the stove. ‘How could cattle’s heads freeze to the ground, Laura? It’s really worrying, the way you talk sometimes.’”

Mary and Ma often misunderstand Laura, who is much more attuned to nature and the natural world than they are. Laura has seen The Beauty and Danger of the Natural World and recognizes that something terrible has happened to the cattle, although she is slightly mistaken about the exact details. It is only when Pa comes in and explains that the cattle’s heads were covered in ice and they could not breathe that Mary and Ma stop doubting Laura.

“Everything was still. No wind stirred the gray-bleached grass and no birds were on the water or in the sky. […] Laura looked at Pa and she knew he was listening too. The silence was as terrible as cold is. It was stronger than any sound. It could stop the water’s lapping and the thin, faint ringing in Laura’s ears. The silence was no sound, no movement, no thing; that was its terror. Laura’s heart jumped and jumped, trying to get away from it.”

Laura and Pa’s reaction to the eerie silence foreshadows the hard winter that is coming to the Dakota Territory. While Ma wants to believe that the warm weather means that the early blizzard was an outlier, both Pa and Laura know that something worse is coming. The silence is described as a lack of anything, reflecting the monotony and isolation that accompanies the blizzards in the text.

“He had come to tell the white men that this coming winter was a twenty-first winter, that there would be seven months of blizzards.”

An Indigenous man tells the men in the store, including Pa, that this winter will be the hardest in 21 years, and Pa takes this warning seriously. The Indigenous man is characterized as helpful and community-minded while some settlers are characterized as prejudiced, especially Ma, who is extremely skeptical that winter could last for seven months. Pa is more open-minded, and the warning compels him to move the family into town for winter. The warning from the Indigenous man is referenced throughout the story, and it proves true.

“Laura did not say anything. No one knew how she dreaded meeting strangers. […] It was so unfair she had to go! Mary wanted to be a schoolteacher, but she couldn’t be because she was blind. Laura didn’t want to teach, but she must do it to please Ma. Probably all her life she must go among strange people and teach strange children; she would always be scared and she must never show it.”

Laura’s parents expect her to become a teacher because Mary can no longer become one. While Laura accepts this and illustrates Self-Sacrifice for the Greater Good, early in the novel she still feels resentful of this burden. It is not until later in the novel that she devotes herself to her studies and earnestly desires to become a teacher for Mary’s sake. This shift in Laura illustrates her growing maturity as she comes of age.

“He was always good-natured and his grin was like a flash of light. It was like the sun coming up at dawn; it changed everything.”

Cap Garland captivates Laura and the other girls at school with his joking demeanor and pleasant attitude. Although Laura marries Almanzo in the future, Cap first catches her attention. Cap goes on to become integral to the plot, because he makes it to town in the blizzard that occurs while school is in session to warn the townspeople that the schoolchildren were headed to the open prairie. He also joins Almanzo in searching for and returning with the wheat that saves the town from starvation. This passage is the beginning of him being characterized as an archetypal hero.

“Minnie had gone to schools in the east, but Laura found it easy to keep up with them in their lessons. Cap Garland was from the east, too, but even in arithmetic he could not beat Laura.”

This is integral indirect characterization of Laura because her schooling was not as organized as other students—she has always lived in the wilderness and primarily been schooled at home—but it is clear she is still the same as or ahead of other students. Wilder points out that Laura beats even Cap at arithmetic, which is even more illuminating when their ages are taken into account. Laura is only 13, while Cap is 19. This shows that Laura is an extremely bright girl, her education by her mother has been rigorous, and suggests that she will make an excellent teacher.

“Suddenly there was no sunshine. It went out, as if someone had blown out the sun like a lamp. The outdoors was gray, the window panes were gray, and at the same moment a wind crashed against the schoolhouse, rattling windows and doors and shaking the walls.”

This passage shows The Beauty and Danger of the Natural World, because in one moment the children are doing lessons and in the next a blizzard has arrived. This highlights is the unpredictability and danger of the storms, a point which is reinforced by the simile of the sun as a “lamp,” which portrays its presence as precarious rather than a certainty.

“If Laura had been only a few steps nearer the others, they would all have been lost on the endless prairie north of town.”

This further illustrates the theme of The Beauty and Danger of the Natural World, because it is only through Laura’s good luck at running into a building that they do not walk onto the open prairie and freeze. Wilder emphasizes that often those living on the frontier were precariously balanced on the edge of death, and it was only through luck or skill that they survived.

 “Anybody knew that no two men were alike. You could measure cloth with a yardstick, or distance by miles, but you could not lump men together and measure them by any rule. Brains and character did not depend on anything but the man himself.”

Almanzo has come to the Dakota Territory at 19 and taken a claim from the Homestead Act of 1862, but the act requires that he be 21. Almanzo is highly independent and sees himself as exceptional and more than capable of Pioneer Resilience and Ingenuity. Almanzo’s characterization of himself proves true when he risks his life to retrieve wheat for the town, saving them from starvation.

“For the storm was white. In the night, long after the sun had gone and the last daylight could not possibly be there, the blizzard was whirling white. A lamp could shine out through the blackest darkness and a shout could be heard a long way, but no light and no cry could reach through a storm that had wild voices and an unnatural light of its own.”

This develops the idea of the townspeople’s sheer isolation during the winter because the blizzard ensures that even those in town could not interact. The storms are described as so brutal that it made hearing a yell or seeing a light a short distance impossible. This highlights The Beauty and Danger of the Natural World, as the word “whirling” lends a sense of magic and awe to something that brings danger. Without being able to see lights or hear voices and follow them, it is easy for people to become lost in the blizzard.

“‘Throw back your arms and breathe deep, deep!’ Laura cried. She knew that cold is not so cold if you are not afraid of it. They threw back their arms and breathed the cold in, and through their cringing noses it rushed deep into their chests and warmed them all over.”

Laura’s love for nature—even the challenging parts like a freezing winter day—is evidenced here. While she is shown as mature and dependable, moments like these show her whimsy and that she still has a sense of childlike wonder. There is a sense of pioneer resilience here in Laura’s determination to show that she is not afraid.

“All day and all night, the house trembled, the winds roared and screamed, the snow scoured against the walls and over the roof where the frosty nails came through. In the other houses there were people, there must be lights, but they were too far away to seem real.”

This personification of the storm shows how psychologically challenging it was for the Ingalls. It Is portrayed as an attacker purposefully screaming at and scouring the house. Not only did the Ingallses endure the violent storm almost without a break for months, but they also did so while isolated from others.

“He felt that he was the only life on the cold earth, under the cold sky; he and his horse alone in an enormous coldness.”

After the men in town attempt to hunt antelope, Mr. Foster shoots too soon and scares Almanzo’s second horse away, for which Almanzo must go searching. But the prairie is eerily empty, and this moment illustrates how alone the town of De Smet is from anyone else. It also shows that if someone had gotten lost on the prairie during a blizzard there would be little hope of survival. The noun “coldness” does not provide solid imagery and only a sensory description of temperature, highlighting the fact that there was little to hold ono on the prairie.

“Well he’s an Easterner. It takes patience and perseverance to contend with things out here in the West.”

The Ingallses have just received the devastating news that the trains will not come until spring. Ma responds with uncharacteristic frustration, and Pa tells everyone the story of the superintendent from the east who came to get the train through and failed to help ease the anxiety. This quote highlights the value that the Ingallses have in their Pioneer Resilience and Ingenuity, because their circumstances dictate that they must persevere and be patient to survive.

“Daytimes were not so bad as the nights. The dark was thinner then and ordinary things were in it. A dark twilight filled the kitchen and the lean-to. Mary and Carrie took turns at the coffee mill that must never stop grinding. Ma made the bread and swept and cleaned and fed the fire. In the lean-to Laura and Pa twisted hay till their cold hands could not hold the hay to twist it and must be warmed at the stove.”

With no hope of the train coming to bring supplies, the Ingallses must continue attempting to survive. While their daily routine illustrates Pioneer Resilience and Ingenuity, it also shows that to just survive takes constant labor and cooperation. To get enough ground wheat for a loaf of bread takes a day of constant grinding, which is shared by Carrie and Mary, while heating the house requires Laura and Pa to twist hay continuously because it burns so quickly.

“‘No, thank you, Pa, truly I don’t want it.’ This was true. They were not really hungry. Pa was hungry. His eyes looked eagerly at the brown bread and the steaming potatoes when he came from struggling along the clothesline in the storm. But the others were only tired, tired of the winds and the cold and the dark, tired of brown bread and potatoes, tired and listless and dull.”

Self-Sacrifice for the Greater Good is shown through the sharing of a meager dinner. Pa is at first unwilling to take the extra potato, but when everyone insists, he relents. Pa’s first priority is to ensure that his family is taken care of, but he is not getting enough food to do the physical labor he must to keep the family alive. The family is starving, but each member is prepared to sacrifice their own desires for others.

“Laura listened to the winds while she stared at the blank window without seeing it. The worst thing that had happened was that Pa could not play the fiddle. If she had not asked him to play, he might not have known that he could not do it.”

Throughout the story, Pa plays the fiddle to lift everyone’s spirits during hardship. Laura feels guilty because she requested that he play, but then Pa realizes that his hands are too stiff from the cold to play anymore and he feels ashamed. This is a critical blow to the family, because the winter has taken Pa’s music from him, and his music has helped them throughout the stormy winter. As a motif, it represents hope, and it is absent in this passage when it is needed.

“‘Your hauling hay is bad enough,’ Ma told him. ‘You don’t go hunting for that wheat.’ Pa said mildly, ‘Not as long as you feel that way about it, I won’t. But…’ ‘I won’t hear any buts,’ Ma said, still terrible. ‘This time I put my foot down.’ ‘All right, that settles it,’ Pa agreed. Laura and Carrie looked at each other. They felt as if thunder and lightning had come down on them suddenly, and suddenly gone.”

Pa considers going to look for the wheat on the homestead 20 miles from town himself, but Ma’s reaction is uncharacteristically emphatic. This is an important moment that shows the stakes of their situation, because Ma cannot risk losing Pa, and the mission is extremely dangerous. Pa is naturally a risk-taker and Ma usually supports him as a dutiful and obedient wife, but she refuses this time. Pa shows his devotion by agreeing and not considering it again. Laura and Carrie are bewildered by this interaction because they have been raised by loving parents who rarely disagree. This is a moment of significant character development for Ma.

“‘Forty miles?’ Royal said. ‘Go out on these prairies looking for a needle in a haystack—twenty miles and back? Man alive, you know yourself nobody can tell when a blizzard will hit you. We haven’t had more than one clear day at a time since this thing started. More often, half a day. It can’t be done, Manzo. A fellow wouldn’t have the chance of a snowball in hades.’”

Royal summarizes the dangerous trip on which Almanzo plans to embark, because while the wheat will save the town, it is not even clear if the wheat exists. However, Almanzo is determined and illustrates Self Sacrifice for the Greater Good in completing the journey. This characterizes Almanzo as both a risktaker and a selfless man, because he and his brother do not need the wheat to survive winter, and he does it only to save others.

“When they stopped singing, the storm seemed louder than ever. It was truly like a great beast worrying the house, shaking it, growling and snarling and whining and roaring at the trembling walls that stood against it.”

In this passage, a simile compares the storm to a great beast attacking the house. This reinforces the presentation of the storm as the text’s antagonist purposefully targeting the family. To help with the persistent noise, the family sings to help lift their spirits. In this way, music becomes a coping mechanism to help the family survive their hardships and illustrates Pioneer Resilience and Ingenuity.

“‘Threatening me, are you?’ Mr. Loftus demanded. ‘We don’t need to,’ Mr. Ingalls replied. ‘It’s a plain fact. If you’ve got a right to do as you please, we’ve got a right to do as we please. It works both ways. You’ve got us down now. That’s your business, as you say. But your business depends on our good will. You maybe don’t notice that now, but along next summer you’ll likely notice it.’”

When Almanzo and Cap bring the wheat they collected to Mr. Loftus, he decides to sell it at twice what he paid, which is far beyond what most can afford to pay. Many men in town want to steal it from Loftus, but Pa remains even-tempered and reasons with Loftus using Loftus’s own words against him. While individuality is respected on the frontier, greed at other’s expense is not, and the community depends on each other for survival. Eventually, Loftus relents and sells it to the men for what he paid for it.

“‘It can’t beat us!’ Pa said. ‘Can’t it, Pa?’ Laura asked, stupidly. ‘No,’ said Pa. ‘It’s got to quit sometime and we don’t. It can’t lick us. We won’t give up.’ Then Laura felt a warmth inside her. It was very small but it was strong. It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds could make it flicker because it would not give up.”

Pa illustrates his strength at motivating his family. He illustrates the physical and psychological resilience necessary for homesteaders, and he helps to cultivate that resilience in Laura and rekindle her hope, which had been low after so many months of winter and hardship.