Gender Stereotypes In Little House On The Prairie

The theme of racial portrayal as animalistic, that has been seen in several previous readings, as well as the tomboyish aspects of our main character continues in the Little House on the Prairie. On page 123, Laura asks (as she has asked several times in the book) “Pa, when are we going to see a papoose?” to which her mother replies “Goodness! What do you want to see an Indian baby for? Put on your sunbonnet, now, and forget such nonsense.” Ma reaction to Laura wanting to see a baby Indian comes across as horrified, while Laura sees it as a source of entertainment. She treats the Indians as if they are animals at the zoo, something for her to observe as entertainment. When she see Indians for the first time as they enter the house, she hides

behind a slab of wood, putting a “fence” between herself and the Indians as a form of protection, like one would experience at a zoo.
Later, when the family watches the large group of Indians leaving the area, she is entranced the whole time, while Baby Carrie is eventually bored and begins to play by herself.

But they fascinate Laura and she finally spots a “papoose”. She becomes very upset and emotional that she cannot “have” the infant. She seems to view the baby as a sort of pet to be had, and acts as many children do by throwing a tantrum when she is told she can’t have it. Laura mentions several times in the text that she won’t cry because it is a “shameful’ childish thing to do. She doesn’t cry during the more intense scenes in the book, such as when she thought Jack had died, and only sheds one tear when their roof catches on fire and she thought Mary and Baby Carrie were going to get burned. However, she is a blubbering mess because she can’t possess a little baby with black

eyes.
Laura also shares an intense bound with an animal in her life; Jack. She is concerned that he can’t cross the river, the first to notice he didn’t make it, the one that realizes he is at their camp, and also the person Jack greets upon his return first. She puts most, if not all, of faith in him that he can protect the family, contradicting Mary when she says “Jack’s afraid of something” (215). He represents her ability to have a relationship with the Indian “animals,” though it is not possible because of societal and familial established prejudices.
We also see the continued portrayal of tomboyish-ness being associated with dark/brown-ness.

Laura is our tomboy character in this book. She enjoys being outside, running around, helping her father with his tasks, and struggles to keep up with “ladylike” appearances. Laura is reprimanded several times by her mother for not being ladylike, such as contradicting her sister about Jack’s bravery. Ma and Pa also comments on the darkness of Laura’s skin, calling her a “little Indian” (123). She doesn’t like to keep her sunbonnet on (as her mother has to remind to put it on) and even wishes she was an Indian so she could run around naked. Not wearing the sunbonnet also puts her in the position of receiving more sun, which makes her tanner: in other words more dark complected. Laura also has brown hair, darker than Mary’s blonde hair. Again, we see the individual with lighter complexion (Mary wears her sunbonnet) and lighter hair as embodying the more “expected” role of a woman/young girl. Later, Mary even doesn’t want to play hopscotch because jumping around is unladylike. The acts of tomboyish-ness fit with the idea that they are better preparing her for a healthy adult life in which she can bared children, while Mary, who is not as active, *spoiler alert* gets ill and becomes

blind.