It is also depicted in the story when the family goes to the town. There they meet the storekeeper who gives Laura and Mary a candy. Of course they have to show
their good attitude to the storekeeper. Mary thanks the storekeeper but what happens to Laura can be seen in the following.
Laura could not speak. Everybody was waiting, and she could not make a sound. Ma had to ask her: ‘What do you say, Laura?’ Then Laura opened her
mouth and gulped and whispered, ‘Thank you’ 1971: 171.
Laura says nothing after she is given candy. Ma as a mother reminds her to thank the storekeeper. After that Laura thanks the storekeeper.
Ma also has power to remind children also when her children make their own mistakes. Like when they are on the way home from the town, they take some rest in
the sea shore. There Laura and Mary pick the pretty pebbles but something bad happens to Laura because she takes too many pebbles. Her dress pocket is torn and the pocket
falls from her dress and she cries. Then Ma said to her, “Pick up the pretty pebbles, Laura, ... And another time, dont be so greedy” 1971:175. Then Laura reacts like this,
“so Laura gathered up the pebbles, put them in the pocket, and carried the pocket in her lap” 1971:175.
Another significant role of Ma is Ma is also described as a character that teaches the standard of what is good and what is not. There is a reward given to the children
when their behavior meets the standard. For example, Ma says Laura is good because she do something exactly as Ma tells her, quickly, and without asking any question. It is
what Ma says when she asks Laura to go back home quickly from the barn because of
there is a bear in the barn, “You were a good girl, Laura, to do exactly as I told you, and to do it quickly, without asking why” 1971:106.
Ma is also able to give a comfort to the children. Beside Pa, she is the source of a feeling of secure for her children in the house. The comfort is given by answering the
question, or calms her children down when they are in trouble. She knows what her children need. She knows how to make them feel better when something bad happens,
for example when Laura tears her best dress and cries, Ma assures her that she can fix it.
Laura cried because she had torn her best dress. Ma gave Carrie to Pa and came quickly to look at the torn place. Then she said it was all right. ‘Stop crying,
Laura,’ she said. ‘I can fix it’ 1971:174. When Laura is scared because there is a bear in the barn. She is worried if the
bear will eat Sukey, their cow. When she asks her mother about this, Ma hugs her and says, “No... Sukey is safe in the barn” 1971:106.
Ma also could warn her husband if he does something that may scare children. For example when Pa, Laura, and Mary play Mad Dog, Ma says ‘You shouldnt
frighten the children so, Charles. ... Look how big their eyes are’ 1971:35; or when Pa screams like a woman to show them how a panther screams like in the following.
‘How does a panther scream?’ Laura asked. ‘Like a woman,’ said Pa. ‘Like this.’ Then he screamed so that Laura and Mary shivered with terror. Ma
jumped in her chair, and said, ‘Mercy, Charles’ But Laura and Mary loved to be scared like that 1971: 41.
Maybe Ma is worried her children will be scared like her, but in fact her children believe their father and they know that it is just a game and they enjoy it.
Another example which shows that Ma and Pa build in a comfort house to their children is showed in her saying, “Charles, those children never will get to sleep unless
you play for them” 1971:73. Maybe she cannot play fiddle, play with children oftenly, or tell them a story, but she can remind and encourage her husband to do it.
c. Laura’s Grand Pa and Pa’s Grand Pa: The Past Grand Pas
The past Grand Pas refer to the two characters of Grand Pas that will be discussed in this part. They only appear when Pa tells story to Mary and Laura. The
stories are when the Grand Pas were still young and their children were still small. They are Laura’s Grand Pa, and Pa’s Grand Pa. The stories of Laura’s Grand Pa are
about Young Grand Pa and the Little Pa. The stories of Pa’s Grand Pa or Laura’s Great Grand Pa are about Young Great Grand Pa and the Little Grand Pa
The character of Laura’s Grand Pa or Grand Pa is described as a perfect person. Grand Pa is able to do an exact act when he is required to do so. This can be seen in the
way he handles the panther. Grandpa saw the panther springing. Grandpa jumped off the horse, against the
door. He burst through the door and slammed it behind him. ... Grandpa grabbed his gun from the wall and got to the window, just in time to shoot the panther
dead 1971:42-44. As the other adult characters in the story, Grand Pa is able to do activity such as
providing foodstuff from hunting, farming, breeding, or gathering. This can be seen when he is described in gathering the sap to make a maple syrup 1971:124.
For his children, Grand Pa is the source of safety. It is seen by his speech. When Little Pa is afraid of the owl in the wood all he wanted is going home, a place where he
can have Grand Pa who could protect him. ‘Right over my head something asked, Who? My hair stood straight on end.
Who? Who? the Voice said again. And then how I did run I forgot all about the cows. All I wanted was to get out of the dark woods, to get home. 1971:56
It shows when Little Pa feels not safe in the woods alone and he wants to get home, a place where her father is in.
Grand Pa is described as an adult with a good knowledge. He knows well the consequence of some acts especially about living in the woods. Therefore he wants his
children to understand and learn about it.
‘Theres a good reason for what I tell you to do,’ he said, ‘and if youll do as youre told, no harm will come to you. ... if you’d obeyed me as you should, you
wouldn’t have been put in the Big Woods after dark, and you wouldn’t have been scared by a screech-owl’ 1971:
58. Grand Pa is said as the source of order, rules, direction, and guidance for his children.
He trashed his children whenever they did not follow the rule as in the quotation, “And he came back into the house and gave me a good thrashing, so that I would remember
to mind him after that” 1971:58.
Pa’s Grand Pa or the Great Grand Pa also appears only once. It is when Pa tells Laura and Mary about Sabbath in the past life. He also punishes his children, Laura’s
Grand Pa or Pa’s father when he and his brother break the rule in Sabbath. They had to sit silently and read the Bible but they played slide in the yard and this is what
happened after that.
But when the sun went down and the Sabbath day was over, their father took them out to the woodshed and tanned their jackets, first James, then George,
then Grandpa 1971: 95.
It shows that father allows punishing his children when they break the rules, like Pa does, like Grand Pa does, and like Great Grand Pa does.
d. Aunt Eliza-Uncle Peter and Aunt Polly-Uncle Henry
Aunt Eliza-Uncle Peter is a couple and relatives of Laura and Mary’s family who are described as nice person to the children. They are parents for Peter, Alice, and
Ella. They appear only once in the story when they spend some days to celebrate Christmas in Laura’s house. Aunt Eliza is described as a good mother. It is seen by
their mannerism. She and Laura’s Ma take care of the children by providing the food for them as in the quotation, “But they did not need to ask for second helpings. Ma and
Aunt Eliza kept their plates full and let them eat all the good things they could hold” 1971:80.
When children open their Christmas presents Uncle Peter cheers them up by teasing them as in the following.
‘Well, well’ Uncle Peter said. ‘Isnt there even one stocking with nothing but a switch in it? My, my, have you all been such good children?’ ... ‘You mustnt
tease the children, Peter,’ Aunt Eliza said 1971:77.
As a wife, Aunt Eliza can remind her husband if he teases the children about being a good child.
Other relatives of the family are Aunt Polly and Uncle Henry. Uncle Henry is described as a male character that does the work of man such as hunting. He is also a
kind person who helps their big family in providing food, such as Pa and Grand Pa. At the time to make cheese, Uncle Henry and Pa work together to kill the hog 1971:13.
Also when the time for harvest comes, they help each other to harvest their crops. Uncle Henry and Aunt Polly have a son named Charley. Uncle Henry always
brings Charley to help him in the farming work. As Pa can tell Laura or Mary to help him, Uncle Henry also can tell his children to help him. It shows in the quotation,
“Uncle Henry said that Charley must help them that afternoon” 1971:203. Of course Charley obeys him although he just wants to play “
As a mother, Aunt Polly knows well how to take care of the children. She and Ma take care of Charley when he got stung badly by the bees like in the following.
but, of course, he did not say so” 1971:205.
Ma and Aunt Polly covered his whole face with mud and tied the mud on with cloths. Only the end of his nose and his mouth showed. Aunt Polly steeped
some herbs, to give him for his fever 1971:209.
e. Aunt Lotty and the Storekeeper
Aunt Lotty and the storekeeper are discussed in the same part because of their similar characterization in the story. They only appear once in the story. They are
described as adult characters that provide the children orders, direction, and guidance to be followed and trusted.
Aunt Lotty appears in chapter Summertime. It is said she comes to spend a day with the family. That morning before Aunt Lotty comes, Ma pulls their hair into a curl
and they also wear their good dress. Mary is in her china-blue dress and her hair is golden curl. Laura is in her red dress and her hair is brown curl. It is said Laura does
not like her brown curly hair so she is a little bit upset. After they are ready, they welcome Aunt Lotty and this is what happened in the story.
‘Which do you like best, Aunt Lotty,’ Mary asked, ‘brown curls, or golden curls?’ ... Laura waited to hear what Aunt Lotty would say, and she felt
miserable. ‘I like both kinds best,’ Aunt Lotty said, smiling. She took Laura and Mary by the hand, one on either side, and they danced along to the door where
Ma stood 1971:180-181.
Aunt Lotty is said as the one who shows Laura and Mary her opinion about the children appearance. She says that she likes both of the children. She does not want the children
to fight if she chooses one of them. She successfully changes that awkward situation into a good thing by saying she likes both so that they can dance along in their way to
the home. On the other hand, the storekeeper sharpens the competition between Mary and
Laura. This happens when the family goes to the town as in the following quotation. When they went in, the storekeeper knew him. The storekeeper came out from
behind the counter and spoke to him and to Ma, and then Laura and Mary had to show their manners. Mary said, ‘How do you do?’ but Laura could not say
anything. The storekeeper said to Pa and Ma, ‘Thats a pretty little girl youve got there,’ and he admired Marys golden curls. But he did not say anything
about Laura, or about her curls 1971:168.
The storekeeper only admires Mary’s hair. He does not say anything about Laura’s.
This makes Laura so upset and jealous.
Based on the discussion of the adult characters, in general we can see the similarity of those characters which are independent, big, source of comfort, source of
rules, knowledgeable. As the source of rules, adults are described as persons who are able to punish the children. They are able to control the children by words such as the
