Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie Questions for Socratic Discussion by Alexandre Winston Table of Contents Introduction 3 Quick Card 5 Questions about Structure: Setting 6 Questions about Structure: Characters 9 Questions about Structure: Conflict and Plot 15 Questions about Structure: Theme 20 Questions about Style 22 Questions about Context 24 Suggestions for Writing Assignments 25 Story Charts 26 Teacher Guide: Little House on the Prairie 2 © 2016 The Center for Literary Education Introduction This teacher guide is intended to assist the teacher or parent in conducting meaningful discussions of literature in the classroom or home school. Questions and answers follow the pattern presented in Teaching the Classics, CenterForLit’s two-day literature seminar. Though the concepts underlying this approach to literary analysis are explained in detail in that seminar, the following brief summary presents the basic principles upon which this guide is based. The Teaching the Classics approach to literary analysis and interpretation is built around three unique ideas which, when combined, produce a powerful instrument for understanding and teaching literature: First: All works of fiction share the same basic elements — Context, Structure, and Style. A literature lesson that helps the student identify these elements in a story prepares him for meaningful discussion of the story’s themes. Context encompasses all of the details of time and place surrounding the writing of a story, including the personal life of the author as well as historical events that shaped the author’s world. Structure includes the essential building blocks that make up a story, and that all stories have in common: Conflict, Plot (which includes exposition, rising action, climax, denouement, and conclusion), Setting, Characters and Theme. Style refers to the literary devices used by authors to create the mood and atmosphere of their stories. Recognition of some basic literary devices (alliteration, simile, personification, metaphor, etc.) enables a reader not only to understand the author’s themes more readily, but also to appreciate his craftsmanship more fully. Second: Because it is approachable and engaging, children’s literature is the best genre to employ in teaching the foundational principles of literary analysis. Children’s books present these building blocks in clear, memorable language, and are thus treasure mines of opportunities for the astute teacher — allowing him to present Context, Structure and Style with ease to children and adults alike. Having learned to recognize these basic elements in the simple text of a classic children’s story, a student is well prepared to analyze complex works suitable for his own age and level of intellectual development. Third: The best classroom technique for teaching literary analysis and interpretation is the Socratic Method. Named after the ancient gadfly who first popularized this style of teaching, the Socratic method employs the art of questioning, rather than lecturing, to accomplish education. Based upon the conviction that the process of discovery constitutes the better part of learning, our program uses well-placed questions to teach students how to think, rather than dictating to them what to think. Teacher Guide: Little House on the Prairie 3 © 2016 The Center for Literary Education The Teaching the Classics seminar syllabus supplies a thorough list of Socratic questions for teachers to use in class discussion. The questions are general enough to be used with any book, but focused enough to lead the student into meaningful contemplation of the themes of even the most difficult stories. Questions on the list are arranged in order of difficulty: from grammar- level questions which ask for the mere fact of a story, to rhetoric-level questions which require discussion of ideologies and transcendent themes. Properly employed, this list can help teachers engage their classes in important discussions of ideas, and can also provide a rich resource for essay and other writing assignments! Used in conjunction with a good writing program, Teaching the Classics produces deep thinkers at any age. The questions used in this guide have been taken directly from the Socratic List. Teachers can refer to the numbers in parentheses at the end of each question to find its place in the List. More information about Teaching the Classics may be found at www.centerforlit.com. Happy reading! Adam Andrews, Director The Center for Literary Education 3350 Beck Road Rice, WA 99167 (509) 738-2837 [email protected] Teacher Guide: Little House on the Prairie 4 © 2016 The Center for Literary Education Quick Card Little House on the Prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder. (1935) Reference ISBN: 0-06-440002-6 The Big Wood is getting crowded, so Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura, and baby Carrie Plot move west into Indian Territory in search of open spaces. There they make a new home for themselves and face the hardships of life on the American plain. The story is set on the plains of the Kansas territory. The action covers a year and half in the life of the Ingalls family near the end of the nineteenth century Setting as they struggle to survive on the American frontier. • Laura Ingalls Wilder (Protagonist) • Pa, Laura’s father • Ma, Laura’s Mother • Mary, Laura’s older sister Characters • Carrie, Laura’s younger sister • Jack, the family dog • Mr. Edwards, a family neighbor • Mr. Scott and Mrs. Scott, family neighbors • Man vs. Nature Conflict • Man vs. Society • Man vs. Himself • Family • Survival and the good life Theme • Man’s labor in the face of nature • Cultural conflict Literary Devices Imagery and Symbolism Teacher Guide: Little House on the Prairie 5 © 2016 The Center for Literary Education Questions about Structure: Setting Where does this story happen? (1) The story takes place between the Big Woods of Wisconsin and the Kansas territory, far from any white towns (“40 miles from Independence”). Nevertheless, most of the novel concerns the Ingalls’ family life on the Kansas plains. What is the mood or atmosphere of the place where the story happens? Is it cheerful and sunny, or dark and bleak? What words or phrases or descriptions does the author use to create this atmosphere? (1d) The mood and atmosphere of the location of the story changes over time— sometimes rather suddenly. The wild plains of Kansas are at times beautiful and calm, warm and peaceful, teeming with life and full of promise; they can, however, very quickly become life threatening, bleak, violent, and dark. The wild and unpredictable mood of the Kansas plain is central to the novel What is the weather like in the story? (1e) The weather in the story is inconstant and unpredictable. It represents what is uncontrollable, what is beyond man’s power, and what he must bear. The weather in the story is both the source of man’s life (for example, it allows the Ingalls to farm), and it also opposes man’s efforts, making his work difficult and even threatening his life. The extremes of a beautiful, peaceful, and sunny day and a cold, windy, and dark night represent what is beyond man’s power; they recall both his struggle in life and the good of his existence. Is the setting a real or an imaginary place? (1g) The setting is real. The Ingalls live in a real place at a particular moment in history. However, Laura Ingalls Wilder changed her age for the story (she was actually around three when most of the events in the novel would have taken place). Many of the details recounted in the novel are doubtless the product of her own imagination, though she did gather many of her stories from later conversations with her parents and sister. Teacher Guide: Little House on the Prairie 6 © 2016 The Center for Literary Education Among what kinds of people is the story set? What is their economic class? How do they live? Are they hopeful? Downtrodden? Depressed? Why? (1h) The story is set among settlers living on the western edge of American civilization. They own little but make do with little as well, and they are able to organize the world around them in order to survive and construct a home for themselves. The Ingalls, Mr. Edwards, and the Scotts are generally cheerful and hopeful people who face the difficulties of the Kansas plains with courage, helping one another, as they look forward to bountiful lives. Is there anything symbolic or allegorical about the place where the story happens? Is the setting of the story important for historical events that may have taken place there? How does this link help to better understand the story? (1h,j) The plains of Kansas both represent and are the edge of American civilization, where man lives in great isolation and independence and does so with many of the material and technological advantages offered him by his cultural heritage. Kansas, moreover, is not far from Minnesota and the site of the Minnesota massacre. This event, which is mentioned on a few occasions throughout the novel, and the Ingalls’ proximity to its historical location, helps heighten the growing tension between Indians and the few local settlers in the area. When does this story happen? How long a period of time does the story cover? (2b) The story takes place in the late 19th century—historically in the late 1860s and early 1870s, but in the novel there is no mention of this. The novel covers different episodes in the life of the Ingalls family over roughly a year and a half. Does the story happen in a particular year, era, or age of the world? What historical events may have just preceded the period of the story? Do these events help explain the actions of characters, the action of the story, or its mood? (2d) The story takes place in the age of westward American expansion in the nineteenth century.