Little House on the Prairie: Pa - selfish or mad?

[gramercy]

I'm reading the Little House books to dd. When I read them years ago I thought the pioneering life sounded very exciting.

Now, as a lily-livered adult, and seeing things from the point of view of Ma, I keep getting wound up about Pa. I mean, he had four daughters, one of whom was blind, another in poor health, and he keeps moving around trying to start farms from scratch. WTF? It's clear he loves his dds, but brawny blokes they are not, and it just seems ludicrous that he persisted in trying to forge a life that was just not manageable.

Anyone agree that Pa was a pain?

I'm not sure there was such a thing as a 'right wing survivalist nut' back then - he did what he had to do to survive. And at times, he was more tolerant of the Indians than a lot of the neighbours. (Can't think of specific example but noticed when I re-read the books recently.)

I think he respected their ability to live off the land, and didn't actively go around shooting them - which was practically a pinko, wishy-washy liberal back in them days.

I loved Laura's Pa, who was brave and clever and had a twinkle in his eye. Ma was too goody-goody and so was Mary. I didn't much like the later books,after Laura married.

Aitch "or made my own shitty door latch by the end."

Oh you have to be thinking of that whole chapter in Little House on the Prairie about making a door!

I read the first three to DD as bedtime stories then she found the rest and read them herself and lent them to me. She loves them and has re-read them many times. But that chapter about the door! We both still recall it as one of the dullest passages in the English language. Probably only out-dulled by the first chapter of Tom Brown's Schooldays.

you have it right...

But Pa did have choices. He was a moderately educated man (he did the books for the railroad company, was on school board etc) and could have obtained a desk-type job. But he had itchy feet, and you always get the refrain (sometimes loud, often muted) from Ma that she wants to stay put. I think you have to cut your coat according to your cloth - and Pa refused.

I believe that eventually he did have to quit the farming idea. With no sons and a difficult environment he was really pissing in the wind.