Little House on the Prairie - Hardships faced by the Ingalls Family

Chapter 22 - Prairie Fire

Chapter 22 of Little House on the Prairie feature a number of issues that are faced by the Ingalls family and the hardships they battle. Three key hardships that they face in this chapter are fire, problems with the land and the relationship and perceived threat of the Indians.

Fire

The main problem that the Ingalls family face in this chapter is the Prairie fire. This is a major issue for the Ingalls family in two key ways, It threatens them and their lives as well as threatening and destroying their property and land. The fire is described as being a fierce one and is described as having 'great flames' that 'came roaring, flaring and twisting high.' This presents the fire as a dangerous thing that could easily destroy the Families' property and cause huge destruction and damage to their way of life. The response of Ma and Pa to the fire is a frantic one. Ma begins to bring water up from the well as quickly as possible while Pa fetchers sacks in order to beat out the fire around the perimeter of the house. This response suggests that Ma and Pa know the extent of the damages that fire can cause so they are working as quickly as possible to prevent the fire from reaching them. They do end up stopping the fire from coming near the house and their property is safe and unharmed, much like the family. After the fire Ma returns to the house to wash her hands and face and is trembling, this suggests fear and anxiety surrounding the threat of fire.

Land

This chapter also presents some issues that the Ingalls family had with cultivating and harvesting the land. The opening of the chapter gives a description of Pa, along with Pet and Patty, out in the field ploughing the land. It tells us that it is a hard and long process but they field was covered in dead grass and thick sod which made ploughing difficult stating that 'where Pa had ploughed, he didn't have a ploughed field.' The difficulty faced by Pa when ploughing the field is a hardship that the Ingalls family faced as it means that it is harder to grow crops and the land cannot be used effectively. If it is hard to grow crops then the food supply and source of trade of the Ingalls family is severely reduced. In addition to this, the fire later on in the chapter causes a lot of issues with the land. The fire burns much of the grass and leaves behind a prairie that is said to be 'burned naked and black' and 'everything felt different and miserable.' The land now would be even harder to use in order to grow crops as it has suffered from the fire.

Indians

A final hardship that the Ingalls family face in this chapter is the perceived threat of the Indians. This can be seen towards the start of the factor where there is a description of Indians visits to the house. It explains that Indians would come to the house fairly often in search of food and tobacco, explaining that some Indians could be friendly while other were 'surly and cross.' It goes on to explain that Ma would give them what they asked for because she was afraid not to. This suggests that Ma feared the Indians and did not wish to anger them. She viewed them as a threat and was intimated. Towards the end of the chapter, Mr Edwards and Mr Scott come to the hose to see Pa after hearing of the fire. In the conversation we see that they are sceptical of the Indians suggesting that they are the ones who started the fire. They suggest that it was done in order to 'burn out the white settlers.' They go on to discuss the Indians in the camps and how there numbers were growing and more and more were in the camps. The Indians are referred to as savages and the paranoia surrounding their presence suggests that there was concern and fear about what they might do. People feared the Indians. Pa is the voice of reason, however, stating that the tribes a coming together for their buffalo hunt. He is able to convince Mr Edwards and Mr Scott that they did not need to worry. This suggests that Pa was, at times, responsible for making sure that other settlers, such as Mr Scott and Mr Edwards, saw reason when it came to relations with the Indians and did not act rashly, an added pressure.