Gender Roles in Laura Ingalls Wilder´s "The Long Winter"

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 11, University of Marburg, course: The Frontier in American History, language: English, abstract: Men and women had definitive roles and tasks at the American Frontier. The image of gender roles at the end of the 19th century is depicted in Laura Ingalls Wilder s novel The Long Winter. It tells us the story of the Ingalls family s hard time during blizzards during a hard and long winter. Besides Charles and Almanzo s efforts, the "strong, able-bodied [female] pioneers [...] contribute considerably to the survival of their families" (McGinnis). The Long Winter "with its domestic ethos and its clearcut models of gender" (Romines 1997, 146) is a concrete example to illustrate the gender roles at the American Frontier. In this work the roles of frontier men and women are exemplified by Caroline s, Charles and Almanzo s tasks and lives. Moreover, the girls Laura, Carrie and Mary Ingalls are being prepared to take over the gender roles adopted by their parents.