From: Hollis Rudiger <hmrudiger>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 14:39:40 -0600

Regarding A Northern Light, and Mattie keeping her promise...

Sheila A. Welch wrote:

 <<I have to admit, I felt a certain tug toward Mattie staying on the farm! (Am I a traitor to all adult readers?) I guess, having spent the majority of my life living in the country, I have a great appreciation for that life.
 (Obviously, not the hard scrabble life of back then, however!) I think Mattie's decision to leave was made easier because her boyfriend really did have designs on her land, not just on her. But didn't she promise her mother she'd stay? As I mentioned, I don't have the book, but my recollection is that I felt a twinge of regret when she decided not to keep her promise. Am I remembering the story incorrectly? Of course, characters are "human" and don't have to keep promises. >>

I don't think the adult discomfort (or mine, anyway) with Mattie's going has much to do with country vs. city; it has a heckuva lot more to do with honoring her dead mother's wishes vs. following her own heart and mind, and because we have access to her "boyfriend's" intentions long before Mattie herself did, we squirmed as we watched her be used, we knew how rotten the Loomis family was, and we didn't want her to forgo a great opportunity for THAT...

And that reminds me of another major theme, the idea of honoring a dead parent's wish, even if it contradicts with our own will. For this and many othe reasons, ANL reminds me of one of my favorite novels, The Wide Wide World, by Susan Werner, which, at the time of its publication was gobs more popular than its peer, Huckleberry Finn. (actually America's first "bestseller) In that book, the main character, Ellen, tries desperately to "be a good Christian" as her mother had wished before going off to England to die (in a way too melodramatic Victorian parting scene!) But as a teenager going through all kinds of things, she doesn't feel very close to God. Like Mattie to Miss Willcox in ANL, the main character finds an alternative mother figure in an adult woman who more represents her own true self, and then she is torn between feeling disloyal to her mother and getting the "mothering" she needs from the only woman around to do that. Hmmmm. There is surely more in this comparison, but I'll save it for a rainy day.. hmm, now I need to go back and find my notes from college!

Hollis

Hollis Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706

hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608&3930 Fax: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Thu 26 Feb 2004 02:39:40 PM CST