59 pages 1 hour read

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1932

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Themes

Hard Work and Self-Reliance in Frontier Life

More than 100 years after the events depicted in the narrative, Little House in the Big Woods reads like a light-hearted, fairy tale-like primer of a land from long ago, with a major focus on describing daily chores in a way understandable to children. Much of the text in this book is devoted to the kind of hard work necessary to survive in rural places in the late 19th century, and the daily existence of the Ingalls family is defined by the chores they do to keep their homestead running. Everything the family eats and uses must be farmed, gathered, or hunted by the family, so life in this location during this era required much devoted physical labor. It also required hardiness, planning, and perseverance, dealing with natural problems such as the weather and living among wild animals. At the beginning of the story, the family focuses on storing away food for the winter, when it will be hard to find outside: “In the bitter cold weather Pa could not be sure of finding any wild game to shoot for meat” (Page 5).

Even the young girls have their duties, such as helping Ma with cooking and gardening or helping Pa with bullets and loading his gun.

Related Titles

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

Study Guide

logo

By the Shores of Silver Lake

Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Study Guide

logo

Farmer Boy

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Farmer Boy

Laura Ingalls Wilder

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Little House on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Plot Summary

logo

Little Town on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Study Guide

logo

On the Banks of Plum Creek

Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Study Guide

logo

The Long Winter

Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter

Laura Ingalls Wilder