Letter Of A Woman Homesteader Daughter Of

Letter Of A Woman Homesteader, Daughter Of Earth, Mrs. Spring Fragrance Essay, Research Paper

A person’s family can be one of the most influential forces in their life. It shapes a person’s character, values, and personality and influences their life in a positive or negative manner. What makes up a family can vary from person to person. Family could be a mother, father, and children, or it could be the people one cares about whether they are related or not. Sometimes people form families out of necessity to help and care for each other while they are away from their biological family. The characters in the books Letters of a Woman Homesteader, Daughter of Earth, and “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” from Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Writings all have different views of family as well as different types of family. Elinore Stewart, Marie Rogers, and Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s are each affected by their family, which helps to shape their lives, and influenced they path they took. This paper will look at what makes up their individual families, their view of their families, and how the family affected their lives.

Elinore Stewart is a pioneer. Widowed at a young age, she moves to Denver to become a wash lady to support herself and her young daughter. Elinore then decides to make the trip out west to Wyoming to try to make a better life for herself and her daughter. The life of a homesteader was not an easy one to be sure. The life as a woman on your own, homesteading alone, was even harder. Elinore was an independent and an intelligent woman. Her intelligence told her that in order to survive she would need the help of others. That survival instinct was the beginning of Elinore’s family unit. She began to bond with her neighbors, and everyone would help and look out for each other. Elinore’s family grew as she became acquainted with her neighbors. Her family came to include such people as Mrs. Louderer, Mrs. O’Shaughnessy, Mr. and Mrs. Edmonson, Cora Belle, Mr. Stewart, whom she would later marry, and more. To Elinore’s family was not about blood relation, but about whom you cared for and who cared for you.

Marie Roger’s family is a typical family grouping. Her family includes her mother, father, sisters and brothers, as well as her aunts. Marie was born into her family and did not get to choose her grouping as Elinore did. It is not until Marie ages that her family expands to include others. Eventually Marie will add Knut Larsen as her husband and his sister Karen into her family. Anand Manvekar, her second husband, and Ranjit Singh, who would become a father figure for Marie, would also enter into Marie’s family, although none would become permanent members. Marie is tormented by what becomes a very dysfunctional family life, and ends up rejecting any kind of love. In the end Marie herself becomes her own family.

Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a woman who came to America with only her husband, leaving behind any family she may have had in China. In the beginning her husband is her only family. Their marriage was arranged by their parents in China. Luckily for them, they fell in love even before they met. The couple does not have any children although they both want them. This longing for children is what causes Mrs. Spring Fragrance to become attached to Laura and Kai Tzu. Mrs. Spring Fragrance cares for these two young lovers and tries to help them. Mrs. Spring Fragrance considers Laura a member of her family and cares for the girl as if she were her own daughter. Unlike Marie’s family, the Spring Fragrance’s are a relatively stable family unit within themselves and only open their family unit to others due to their lack of children.

How these three characters view their families differs as much as the people that they consider family. Elinore views her family as a support system. She relies on her neighbors to help her survive. While she is not dependent on them, she does need them for help occasionally. Elinore also needs her neighbors for companionship. On many occasions she and her neighbors visit one another and have dinners. Without this interaction her life would be lonely and she probably would not be happy homesteading. When Elinore marries Mr. Stewart, her family dynamics change to include him in her life. Elinore’s stories are all of the people around her proving that her neighbors are an integral part of her daily life. Elinore’s family is a large one with everyone leaning on each other for support.

Marie Roger’s view of her family is opposite of Elinore’s. While Elinore sees her family as a support system, Marie sees hers as something that holds her down. Elinore is surrounded by love, and Marie hates the very idea of love. “Love…I did not know what love was.” Marie sees her family members as people she is obligated to care for, but resents her obligation. She longs to be free and to live her life as she wishes. While she does venture out on her own and gets an education, she is constantly overcome with guilt for not being able to care for all her siblings. She is angry with her parents for giving birth to her, and is resentful that they did not have the money to care for all their children. While neither of her parents forced her to care for her siblings, she still feels obligated to do so since her Aunt cared for her. Marie views her family as something she didn’t ask to be a part of, and she resents the feelings of obligation that she