Caddie Woodlawn
Author: Carol Ryrie Brink
Published: 1935, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York
The West, a place where men and women could go to start fresh, make a living and create a home for themselves. Carol Ryrie Brink paints a beautiful picture of the frontier settler through her character, Caddie Woodlawn. Caroline Augustus Woodlawn, or Caddie, is an eleven year old girl who is a mischievous tomboy. Brink uses this precocious character to tell the tale of the West and the rigors of farm life during this time period. Through Caddie’s adventures, Brink paints the picture of and attributes qualities to the farmer of the “Wild West.” The journey of this little girl exemplifies the struggle of the farmer in his unique circumstances. The farmer not only had to build up his own farm, but also build up new communities in a budding country. Brink, through her storytelling, shows the strength of the family and community bond in hard times and the joys of working together to build a legacy.
Caddie Woodlawn came to the Wisconsin territory with her family weak and sick. Through her journey to health, Brink shows the strength of character of a frontier farmer. In her father’s own words, he says, “I want you to be a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind.”(pg. 244). Caddie grows in strength and health as she is able to run “wild” with her brothers. The freedom of the West brings Caddie health back. Brink, through Caddie, tells the tale of the character of the western farmer. Caddie is adventurous, friendly, moral, loyal and maybe a little bit reckless. The character traits of this eleven year old girl define the character of those who moved west.
Brink’s narration invokes a feeling of freedom that epitomized western farm life. This freedom is described one evening as Mrs. Woodlawn and the traveling clergyman discuss Boston and a longing for civilization. Mr. Woodlawn, Caddie’s father, “was entirely happy on the outskirts of civilization. Here he could breathe freely as he had never done in the narrow streets of Boston.” The Woodlawn children listen in astonishment too, “for how could anyone prefer Boston to this enchanting place of adventure, of lake and river, prairie and forest?”(pg. 20). This sense of adventure and longing for freedom that the characters exhibit personify the farmer of this time.
The land also plays a huge role in this story. In all of Caddie’s adventures, Brink is able to describe a land that is beautiful and essential to the Woodlawn family’s survival. The gathering of nuts and fruits, the hunting and fishing all speak to the land’s central role in the farmer’s life. In the end, the land becomes a part of Caddie. She is the land, wild, free, full of adventure. “There were some new pine slashings that filled the air with perfume. Like the birch smoke and the smell of clover, the pine smell was a Wisconsin smell, and because she loved them so, they were a part of Caddie Woodlawn.”(pg. 205). The land becomes so important, that when faced with the choice of leaving Wisconsin and inheriting a Lordship in England, the family unanimously decides to stay in Wisconsin. The land has become a part of them. Brink, in her descriptions of the land and all that it did to help this family thrive, conveys the symbiotic relationship that a farmer has with his land.
Storytelling is also an intricate part of the story. The children love a great story. Storytelling becomes a way to pass the time, pass on knowledge, or bond the family together. Brink is able to depict the Woodlawn family folklore, much the same way that her family stories were passed on to her. Caddie and her brothers, by way of passing the time as they plow the field, make up a funny story about Pee Wee the farmer. The story became family folklore. “How many times she was to hear it again! For that became the Woodlawn children’s favorite story. Many years later Caddie, herself laughing and protesting, had to tell it over and over to begging children and grandchildren.” (pg. 200). Through this innocent act of passing the time, Brink is able to depict the integral role that the story has to farm life. The story helps to pass the time, but it also became a part of the Woodlawn family’s folklore. Brink portrays many instances where words, whether in a letter, a song or a story get woven into a family’s tapestry. The story is what bonded the Woodlawn family through their adventure in the Wisconsin woods.
The strength of family and community is important to this western family’s experience. Brink’s characters reinforce the idea of the strength of family bonds. “The long winter evenings in the farmhouse were very pleasant times. Grouped about the fire and the lamp, the Woodlawns made their own society, nor wanted any better.” (pg. 84). The Woodlawn children play together, get into mischief, and are loyal to each other. In a schoolroom tussle the Woodlawns showed their loyalty to each other. “… Tom and Warren, sensing danger to Caddie, began leaping over the benches and desks to get to her tormentor. But, if the Woodlawns were clannish, so were the Jones.”(pg. 64). Brink shows that loyalty runs deep in farming families. This holds true for the community as well. When the farms around Dunnville are under a suspected threat of Indian attack, all the nearby families come and gather at the Woodlawn farm. Although the rumor proved to be untrue, Brink shows the bond that exist between farming families. This idea of a community family was prominent in rural farming communities, especially during this time period when neighbors were few and far between. Families had to rely on each other to battle the dangers of the frontier and alleviate the loneliness of frontier life.
Caddie’s strength of character and her indomitable spirit is the centerpiece of Brink’s novel. Caddie personifies the farmers that went west to find a place where they could breathe freely and make a home out of the wildness of the frontier. Caddie’s character becomes the embodiment of all that Wisconsin represented for the Woodlawn family. It was freedom and strength. It was loyalty and adventure. It was hard work and joy. Caddie’s journey ends in the appreciation of life in her Wisconsin woods. “The late afternoon sun flooded her face with golden light. Looking toward the approaching rider, her face was turned to the west. It was always to be turned westward now, for Caddie Woodlawn was a pioneer and an American.” (pg. 275). Caddie Woodlawn represents the western farmer. Through Caddie’s journey, Brink expresses the true spirit of the frontier farmer.
References:
Brink, Carol Ryrie, Caddie Woodlawn, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, New York, published 1935
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