The Long Winter

Almanzo Wilder is the deuteragonist and Laura’s future husband. In The Long Winter, Almanzo is 19 and has come to the Dakota Territory to get a homestead with his older brother Royal, who will be a storekeeper. The Wilder brothers have brought plenty of supplies with them and, unlike many townspeople, they are not at risk of starvation during the winter and spring.

Almanzo has taken a claim and plans to raise wheat on it, despite being only 19. The Homestead Act of 1862 requires Almanzo be 21. He justifies his fraud because he “considered that he was as good, any day, as any man twenty-one years old” (100). However, despite feeling as though he is as capable as any older man, he is at risk for having his claim taken if anyone else finds out and reports him. Almanzo is committed to raising wheat on his claim and is devoted to the wheat that he has brought with him to De Smet. Repeatedly, Almanzo reminds Royal that the wheat is not Royal’s to sell but Almanzo’s. In the beginning of the novel, Almanzo’s primary concern is his wheat and how losing the wheat will impact his future.

Particularly as the winter becomes worse, Almanzo is nervous that his brother will sell his wheat because he will receive a high offer. Almanzo builds a hidden wall in their building where he stores the wheat so that others cannot see it. The only one to figure out the location is Pa Ingalls, who takes wheat without asking when his family is nearing starvation but insists on paying for it. Royal and Almanzo are embarrassed to be found lying to Pa, and they assure Pa that they would not have hidden the wheat and let others starve. However, seeing Pa’s desperation—combined with how gaunt Pa has become—forces Royal and Almanzo to reckon with how near starvation other townspeople are and how relatively privileged their own circumstances are. This moment is pivotal for Almanzo, who shifts from being primarily focused on his own welfare to focusing on others. This character development mirrors Laura’s. He decides that he will find the rumored homestead with the stock of wheat, buy it, and bring it back to town, which is a perilous mission.

Royal is against Almanzo taking the risk, and Almanzo dismisses him. Almanzo knows that, while there is a chance that he will not find the wheat or freeze to death, if he does not take the risk then his own wheat will be eaten and the townspeople will still starve to death. Unlike Pa, who also considered going after the wheat, Almanzo’s life is not at stake because he is not at risk for starving. Almanzo completes the mission both because it is the right thing to do and because he is a risk-taker by nature. Cap accompanies Almanzo on the trip, and when they return with wheat, neither accepts money, which illustrates Self-Sacrifice for the Greater Good.

Charles “Pa” Ingalls is the patriarch of the Ingalls family and an integral secondary character in The Long Winter. Throughout the novel, Pa is a supportive and loving husband and doting father. Pa is drawn to the wilderness and adventure, and it is Ma who must temper his inclinations, though in most cases she supports him unequivocally. Pa is the primary decision-maker for the family, and he makes the choice to move the family to town for winter. He does this because he is able to read signs around him that indicate the status of the winter: “Every wild creature’s got ready for a hard winter” (58). For example, when he shows Laura a muskrat den, he notes that they have built the walls thicker than he’s ever seen.

Pa is adaptable and illustrates Pioneer Resilience and Ingenuity when he comes up with solutions to problems the family faces as the winter drags on. When the Ingallses run out of coal, Pa twists hay into sticks so that they can keep the stove going. His oft-repeated saying is, “Where there’s a will there’s a way” (196). When spirits are low, Pa is there to play his fiddle, sing a song, or tell a story to lift his family. Pa motivates the family with his music, and after playing he says, “Blamed if that old tune don’t give me the spunk to like fighting even a blizzard” (44). After they find out that the train will not come until spring—a devastating and potentially fatal blow to the town’s survival—Pa tells everyone a story to help lift their spirits and help them understand. He is integral to the moments of relief in the text’s structure.

However, Pa’s character changes after it is announced the train is not coming until spring, and he becomes more desperate to keep his family alive. When he finds out about the homestead with wheat stored within 20 miles, he wants to go after it himself. It is only Ma’s insistence that he not that keeps him from going. This moment shows that while he tries to shield his daughters from the reality of the situation, he is well aware of how precarious their lives are. He goes to the Wilders’ feed store and makes it clear that he is taking the wheat home, but they need to tell him what the price is. Despite his desperation, he would never steal, but he is willing to go beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior if it keeps his family alive. Furthermore, when the train first arrives and the town of De Smet is told that the cars with food are bound for other places, Pa joins other men in breaking into the train cars and taking groceries. There is nothing he would not do to provide for his family. Pa is an honorable man, but his priority is his family’s survival.

Caroline “Ma” Ingalls is a loving wife and stern but understanding mother. She does not like living in the wilderness, in contrast to Pa, but she is a dutiful wife and supports his choices almost unequivocally. Ma remains happily in the domestic sphere while Pa goes out into the world and provides for the family. She hence represents the patriarchal expectations of womanhood. When the family harvests their meager garden in the fall, Ma uses everything and even makes a pie using green pumpkins. She does this as a surprise for Pa because he has been working so hard for the family. This illustrates their loving relationship, where both partners do understated but thoughtful things for one another to ease the hardships.

Ma and Pa are not always in perfect accord. Ma is prejudiced against Indigenous people and is skeptical when Pa says that they will move into town after an Indigenous man tells the town the winter will be a hard one. It is stated overtly that “Ma despised Indians. She was afraid of them too” (64). This underscores the fact that oppression of Indigenous people was ideological as well as physical. Pa does not share the same prejudice and is more open-minded than Ma, although he is actively settling on Indigenous land. The only moment that Ma directly contradicts Pa is when he states he would like to retrieve the grain from the homestead out of town. Ma understands Pa’s risk-taking nature, but she puts her foot down and Pa respects her decision and does not pursue it.

Hardships catalyze Ma’s character development. In most moments, Ma is patient, forgiving, and self-sacrificing. However, when it is announced that the train will not arrive until spring, Ma finally cracks under the pressure of the family’s perilous situation.

‘Patience?’ Ma exclaimed. ‘Patience? What’s his patience got to do with it I’d like to know! He knows we are out here without supplies. How does he think we are going to live till spring? It isn’t his business to be patient. It’s his business to run the trains’ (214).

Pa and the rest of the family are shocked by this uncharacteristic reaction, and Pa quickly distracts the family with a story. In this way, Pa and Ma work as a team to survive extreme hardships. When food and fuel run short, Ma serves two meals instead of three and frames it as being related to the shorter days. In reality, the family does not have enough food to serve three meals or enough kerosene to keep the lamp lit after the sunsets.