In her article “The Caddie Woodlawn Syndrome,” Anne Scott MacLeod explores the typical upbringing of American girls in the nineteenth century. MacLeod notes that while the common assumption for a girl’s experience growing up in nineteenth century America was much different than Caddie’s, autobiographies written around the same time Caddie Woodlawn takes place tell a different truth. Elizabeth Allen, one of the women who wrote an autobiography, explains her experience growing up: “I suppose someone must have had an eye on me, but I was conscious of no surveillance, and I roamed at large until the boys got out of ‘school,’ when I attacked myself resolutely to them, doubtless becoming a great nuisance” (MacLeod 202). Allen is not the only woman who writes of playing outside; MacLeod quotes another five or six in her article. Caddie’s wild childhood may not be as unique as originally
…show more content…
Linda Levstik writes in her article “I Am No Lady!’: The Tomboy in Children’s Fiction” that in the 30s, when a girl grew up, her freedom did not necessarily end. “Caddie Woodlawn agrees to learn domestic skills, but she remains willful Caddie, followed even into the kitchen by her brothers” (Levstik 18). Because children’s literature written in this time was heavily influenced by changing views on what womanhood meant as a result of the suffragist movement, it contained both “saintly” and tomboy protagonists (Levstik 18). Although Caddie’s story takes place during the Civil War, her story was written in the thirties, so her tomboy character is not quite out of place; she reflects the indecisiveness of the era in which she was created. Caddie is expected to be more like the saintly ladies that are prevalent in earlier fiction, but she clings to the idea that she is capable of much more than staying inside and sewing or
Linda Levstik writes in her article “I Am No Lady!’: The Tomboy in Children’s Fiction” that in the 30s, when a girl grew up, her freedom did not necessarily end. “Caddie Woodlawn agrees to learn domestic skills, but she remains willful Caddie, followed even into the kitchen by her brothers” (Levstik 18). Because children’s literature written in this time was heavily influenced by changing views on what womanhood meant as a result of the suffragist movement, it contained both “saintly” and tomboy protagonists (Levstik 18). Although Caddie’s story takes place during the Civil War, her story was written in the thirties, so her tomboy character is not quite out of place; she reflects the indecisiveness of the era in which she was created. Caddie is expected to be more like the saintly ladies that are prevalent in earlier fiction, but she clings to the idea that she is capable of much more than staying inside and sewing or