I recently had to reread Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie for my Children’s Literature class, which ultimately sparked my desire to reread the whole series; but this time around, I read everything through new eyes.
As a little girl, Wilder’s novels were my favorite and the source of wanderlust. I remember first reading them with my mom, curled up in my bed and struggling over “big” words. I was so frightened by the scary moments like when there was a panther during Little House in the Big Woods or when another panther appeared in Little House on the Prairie and could have gotten Pa. Don’t even get me started on those episodes from the television series; I don’t think I slept for a week after. I remember the first time I was able to read them all by myself and how accomplished I felt. I turned my little playhouse into a log cabin outside and made my younger brother reenact scenes with me, which of course were nothing like the book but I think they were pretty darn close. I think the last time I read the series was in middle school and I still enjoyed them as much as I did when I was younger.
The assignment was to read Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie along with Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, with my objective being to “characterize the wild things” in an analysis of Wilder’s novel. I also read supplemental essays containing Native American’s reactions to Wilder’s book. This was my first eye-opening; with all the times that I have read the book, I never once stopped to think about other’s reactions to it. I found it educational and inspiring.
Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie is not only an autobiographical children’s novel that accounts an accurate representation of the settlement years in the west but serves conjointly as a preservation of the cultural attitudes towards the Native Americans. The depiction of Native Americans as “wild things” in Wilder’s novel had been criticized immensely throughout the years. The portrayal of Native Americans and their culture as primitive is a misguided ideology well nurtured throughout the years, that is still precedent in today’s society.
The first mentions of the Native Americans in Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, are relatively “innocent” as Pa mentions that the Ingalls family was moving to “Indian country” since too many people were in the Big Woods (Wilder, pg. 1). As the story progresses, the descriptions of the Native Americans become more aggressive and savage. For example, when Pa suggests that Ma does the washing in the creek, she retorts with “If we wanted to live like Indians, you could make a hole in the roof to let smoke out, and we’d have the fire on the floor inside the house. Indians do.” which suggests that Ma possibly viewed herself as better than the Native Americans and their ways of life (Wilder, pg. 65). In the opinion of Debbie Reese, a founding member of the Native American House and American Indian Studies program at the University of Illinois, Wilder’s descriptions of the Native Americans are “inaccurate” and “teach that there is such a thing as a savage who is less than human…” (Reese, n.p.). This criticism by Reese is supported when Wilder describes that she knows the Native Americans as “wild men with red skin and tomahawks…” and as “tall, thin, fierce-looking” with black eyes that were “still and glittering, like snake’s eyes” (Wilder, pg. 47 & 114). The comparison of the Native Americans to reptiles is degrading and such descriptive adjectives connote the ideology of associating brutality and bloodthirstiness with the Native American culture (Mcauliffe, n.p.).
It is my opinion that Wilder and her novels should not be condemned for simply retelling her story so that the world might understand the firsthand account. It is the portrayal of not only Native Americans, but other “lesser” deemed cultures in American Literature as primitive and savage that needs to be changed. The attitude precedent in today’s society towards individuals of different races, cultures, and religions is rehashed over and over again by novels that use degrading language such as Wilder. As stated by Reese, Wilder’s Little House on the Prairies may have led to numerous children to believe that they were “...allowed to think that Indians were less-than-human. Primitive in lifestyle. Primitive in intellect.” (Reese, n.p.) and this is not the message that a modern day culture should be sending to our children, contrary to how good of a novel Wilder has written. If we teach our children respect and ability to put themselves in another's position, the world will be a better place. While I can not fully and truly empathize with the Native Americans, and the other “lesser” cultures represented, I can understand how they must feel and feel as if their reactions are justified.
To read Wilder’s books is to step out of the modern world and travel to hers. You finish the books with relentless nostalgia and the possible urge to go travel. You don’t just get a window into the life of Wilder and the time period of Western Civilization, you walk side by side with Laura and encounter every difficulty as if it were your own. I highly recommend Little House on the Prairie and all the rest of the amazing books in the series to anyone of any age. If you are worried about the portrayal of the Native Americans, then teach your children right versus wrong, and the difference between today’s society and society back then.
McAuliffe Jr., Dennis. “Little House on the Prairie: Book to Avoid.” Oyate [website], 2009. Retrieved 1 Feb. 2017.
Reese, Debbie. “American Indians in Fact and Fiction: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.” American Indians in Children’s Literature, 16 Feb. 2008. Retrieved 1 Feb. 2017.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. (1999). Little House on the Prairie: Collector’s Edition. HarperCollins Publishers, New York. Print.
