Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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The children’s book Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1935) became a beloved classic thanks to the popular 1970s television show, but reading the book through today’s lens is painful. How can such a beloved classic be so racist? I loved the stories in this book. Mr. Edwards meets Santa Claus so he can bring the girls their presents? Classic. I have read the novel to all of my children before, lastly in 2017 or so. But upon my latest reread this month, to my youngest daughter, I feel completely disillusioned with the classic status of the novel.

Ma’s unsubstantiated fear of Indians and the neighbor’s frequent comments about Indians (such as, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian”) immediately meant that this was a read-aloud that I needed to insert conversation into. I know I did six years ago, but this time it felt more odd. I found I had to introduce my daughter to conversations she simply could not understand: Why did they think that? Why wouldn’t Laura’s family like them? Why would their skin color matter? Isn’t it Indian Territory? Why are they there then?

In short, the whole premise of exploration in an open land falls on its face. Pa Ingalls is eager to get to an empty land to make his own, far from the influx of people that the Wisconsin woods are now receiving. He and Ma and the girls have quite an adventure getting to a new place, called Indian Territory. But then, the remainder of the book is Ma’s annoyance and fear toward their neighbors, who are (as the name of the territory indicates) Indians, as well as Pa’s insistence that the Indians will always (eventually) move west, anyways. Visiting Indians (speaking an unrecognizable language) scare Mary and Laura, as do their campfires and chanting. And Laura’s experience reaches a peak toward the end when she finally sees an Indian baby (which she calls a papoose, a problematic word on its own) and cries, “Get me that little Indian baby, Pa!”

The hilarity of Laura’s desire to have that baby prompted laughter from me and my eight-year-old. She wants the baby? Some mama’s baby? Yes, her brazen declaration feels ridiculous. But is it any less ridiculous than Pa’s, that the Indians should and will just move west; his amazement is that the land is just perfect and noone is there yet. Really? Does the fact that this is the Indians’ home (still even named their territory) make any difference to him?

And Ma’s fear about their neighbors likewise enters the ridiculous. When the strange men come, she doesn’t even try to speak; she just stands scared and hands them what they point to. Just as little Laura saw the “papoose” and declared she wanted it (the item, the thing), her parents likewise have trivialized the parents, those natives who are now leaving their only home. Pa and Ma had long ago treated those people as “things” by ignoring their humanity.

Here, there is no unique identity given to these stereotyped people, and I’m sure inaccuracies abound in the portrayal based on actual history of people and places. Do we know which Indian tribes were living in the Indian Territories when the Ingalls arrived back in the 1880s when this story actually took place? True, the grown-up Laura was writing this story fifty years after she lived it. The 1930s, when she wrote it, were still a racist time, and thoughts on Native Americans were then based in stereotype. Facts accepted.

But as a modern-day reader of this classic novel, this time I found it painful to see so clearly the brutal truth of what the “white” settlers were doing. They were declaring “mine” about something so ridiculously not theirs, just as Laura declared her desire to keep that baby. While the book might have nice imagery and good writing, to the modern day reader, Little House on the Prairie is simply a story of ridiculous people who think they are better than everything around them. They think it should all be theirs, only to be mad when they can’t have it. Let’s storm off somewhere else right this minute if you won’t let me have it here!

[End novel. Cue next Laura Ingalls Wilder novel.]

Reviewed on July 23, 2024

About the author 

Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid is a homeschooling, stay-at-home mother seeking to make the journey of life-long learning fun by reading lots of good books. Rebecca Reads provides reviews of children's literature she has enjoyed with her children; nonfiction that enhances understanding of educational philosophies, history and more; and classical literature that Rebecca enjoys reading.

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