Patrick A. Velardi
Farmer Boy
The book
Farmer Boy
, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is an excellent portrayal of American family life in the late 19th century. While great changes were beginning to take place in the cities of America, the argarian organization on small farms was still in effect. Family life as represented in the book centered on the necessity of each individual contributing to the success of the farm. The four children, two boys and two girls, are an integral part of the farm even as they grow up. Mother and Father need the assistance of the children in a very real way. As today’s students read this novel, they begin to get a vivid historical perspective of the American family, and also a sense of the importance of the younger members of a family contributing to the total well-being of the family unit. Each chapter of the book becomes a vignette depicting an aspect of farm life in detail. Indeed, a chapter can be lifted from the whole book and read as a short story. By the end of the book students have a vivid mosaic of family life in the 1860’s.
In reading through the table of contents of
Farmer Boy,
one can sense that many aspects of farm life will be recounted throughout. What could this book possibly hold for today’s young people? A book about farm life in 1866 America would surely bore these modern, sophisticated pre-teens. Chapter titles such as, “Filling the Ice House”, or “Breaking the Calves”, or “Spring Harvest” surely cannot interest today’s students. Surprisingly, these pages do indeed interest students today, but not so much because they can relate to the chores described. Throughout this book, students recognize what it takes to make a happy successful family life. Today’s readers see a group of people working together toward a common goal, and this they can certainly understand, even though the actual make-up of their own family does not resemble the book’s family.
In
Farmer Boy
, the reader observes a family that firmly has Father in charge, with Mother in a supportive role. The children, while enjoying childhood activities, must be contributors every day. This concept of family exists rarely in modern America. Today’s family is more likely to have a mother and father who contribute equally to the financial security of the household, and children whose primary contribution would be the household duties that a mother would have traditionally done. Many of today’s families are single-parent families, where children are called upon even more to run households. By reading
Farmer Boy
, children from a modern family gain an historical perspective of American families and can begin to make judgments about why what is the family as it is today became necessary.
People today don’t live on fawns the way the family in
Farmer Boy
did. If an American family does live on a farm today, it is probably a large mechanized business that does not need the kind of day to day chores that were previously necessary. Since the students in New Haven are urban, they can see the evolution of American life away from the farm as precipitating the need for a change in family structure. Quite simply, today’s young person still has a chore to do, but it’s running to the store to buy some milk, rather than milking the cow. The concept of being a contributor to a successful family remains, even if the structure today is extremely different from the structure in
Farmer Boy
. The book is a valuable resource for reinforcing values that make individuals important to the family. Students in an urban setting can understand that the success of the whole depends on the contributions of each individual. When reading
Farmer Boy
many discussions revolve around changing the circumstances of the book to more modern ones, and then reaching conclusions about family values. Today’s families in urban settings don’t labor in the fields harvesting the wheat to make the flour that results in bread. Rather the labor of the family today results in money with which to buy the bread; but the concept of a family’s working together to achieve the ultimate goal remains constant.
Finally, the book
Farmer Boy
gives today’s young readers incidents that talk about natural progressions in families. One example occurs when Father drinks tea from his saucer, which mortifies twelve-year-old Eliza Jane. Mother immediately defends the practice asking how else he would cool it, and that Eliza’s education in the more delicate practices does not change the more ordinary ones. Clearly, as the young family members become more worldly, they begin to move away from their parents. Another example occurs when 13 year-old Royal expresses his consternation with being a farmer, and tells of his desire to be a store keeper. This occupation represents a move up in status to him that his younger brother, Almanzo, rejects. Almanzo wants to be a farmer. The conflict represents the kind of give and take that makes for healthy family growth and ultimately family stability. Regardless of differing attitudes and goals, the family remains a unit. Once more, the lessons to be learned about family are important to today’s students, even though they may be grappling with extremely different circumstances.
Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
Louise Fitzhugh’s
Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
presents a modern, sophisticated Black family living in New York City. The Sheridans consist of Mother, Father, Emma and Willie. Mr. Sheridan is a lawyer who desires his children to be successful in a very middle-class fashion. As his foil we have Dipsy Bates, Mrs. Sheridan’s brother, who is a professional dancer. Mr. Sheridan holds Dipsy in low esteem, since he views dancing as an undesirable occupation for a grown man. The conflict arises because Willie wants to do nothing but dance, and is indeed quite talented. Mrs. Sheridan is caught between these opposing forces, and Emma is left to develop on her own. It is Emma that becomes the main focus of the book. She is the studious one who wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a lawyer. This reversal of expected roles disturbs Mr. Sheridan who holds to more traditional “female” occupations for his daughter. That his son is the budding artist and. his daughter the intellectual causes him consternation. Mother assumes the role of arbiter in attempting to maintain family harmony. In addition to the main theme of the book, other issues are dealt with. Obesity, female rights, Black rights and family relationships are some that are beautifully handled.
When students read this wonderful novel, they fall with it within the first dozen pages. It has an instant appeal because it comes through as real to them, albeit in a somewhat idealized situation. The Sheridans don’t have money problems, housing problems or the fear of daily life in cities. In a sense they are a very Cosby-like family, and the parallels can be readily drawn between the television show and this book. This similarity is an advantage rather than a detriment because the entertainment factor keeps young readers avidly interested and keenly eager to discuss situations in the book in relation to their daily lives. In short, the book is self-motivating and so getting at the deeper issues is easier.
What can students learn from this book if their own families are far from the likes of the Sheridans? As with discussions of
Farmer Boy
, the young reader must be shown how to peel away the layers of the story. If in
Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
Willie wants to be a dancer, and his father strenuously objects, the young reader can readily move from that to a situation in his own life where he seriously wanted something that his father/mother/grandmother/aunt denied. Because it is not a “father” does not change what Mr. Sheridan represents. Families have an authority figure regardless of the sex or relation of the person who is the authority figure. Mother is the conciliator in the book, but it is the role, not the person who is important. Dipsy represents that person in the family who tells you to follow dreams and you will be successful because you will be happy. Every family has conflict, and what is important is how it gets resolved and what happens to the family because of it. In this book the mechanisms for the resolution of problems chug along at times, but points of view get heard, discussions sometimes become arguments complete with shouting matches and subsequent tears, but opposing ideas are aired and finally the firmness of the integrity of the family is the primary lesson. Young readers easily recognize that conflict does not necessarily tear apart strong families. This becomes a key to their own understanding of family at an age when conflict occurs frequently and needs some method of resolution.
Lesson Plans
I Farmer Boy
Reading the novel
Farmer Boy
seems to be the logical starting point of this unit. The book presents a traditional family, a self-sufficient unit, with very little influence from the outside. The picture of life in 19th century America is clearly drawn. Students who read the book get an historical perspective of the period and also recognize that basic family values remain constant. The book is wonderfully introduced by using a pamphlet titled
The Wilder Family Story
, by Dorothy Smith. It is available from the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society. In the pamphlet there is a brief history of the Wilder family of
Farmer Boy.
The part of the pamphlet most exciting to young readers is the photographs of the family. Indeed, for this unit, I would stress these more than the text, since one of the goals of the unit is to incorporate art into literature. Before reading the novel students can discuss their impressions of family and individual portraits, landscapes, architectural photos and photos of town scenes. An initial writing assignment could be to write about the people in a portrait. Students would be free to express whatever emotional reaction they have. Later in the unit, after reading about the characters in the novel, the students can review their initial impressions, comparing and contrasting those impressions to what has been learned from reading.
While reading
Farmer Boy
, traditional family values, as outlined earlier in this unit, should be discussed. Students should establish the family hierarchy, the level of responsibility for each member and what criteria determine that responsibility, the goals and aims of the family and the success the family has in meeting those goals. An interesting writing assignment would have students reacting to roles described in the book as contrasted to roles in today’s urban family. For example, Almanzo and his brother, Royal, are continually trained by Father to become farmers, while the sisters, Eliza Jane and Alice are trained by Mother to be nurturers and care-givers. Students today have remarkably strong opinions about changing roles, and they enjoy writing about those opinions.
II Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
Introducing
Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
should draw from the discussions of
Farmer Boy
. Initial discussions should include identification of similarities and differences between the families in each novel. Many of the same values can be found in both books. Father still wants his son to be trained to become what he is, and Mother is still the nurturer and care-giver who is in charge of raising her daughter. However, the level of rebellion in
Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
is much higher than in
Farmer Boy
. This rebellion of the family’s children is the conflict that engenders lively discussions and writing.
Journals are a regular part of the writing program, and as the reading of
Nobody’s Family is Going to Change
begins, journals are an ideal place for students to write about reactions to the novel. Generally, students have an opportunity to write in journals daily. A number of days can be devoted specifically to writing about the novel, or a group journal can be instituted. The group journal is only for the novel and could be a special notebook located in an easily accessible location in the room. Students write their reactions to a particular day’s reading assignment on the left hand page, reserving the right hand page for any of their classmates’ responses. Once certain ground rules are established, the danger of insulting or risqué writing greatly diminishes.
In addition to journal writing, another interesting, thought-provoking assignment would be to compare and contrast Father to Father, Mother to Mother, children to children in both books. In this assignment family values, roles, duties and responsibilities can be examined to establish their existence, and then to establish changes and differences between the books. Writing assignments such as this, in conjunction with previous journal writing, reaction papers, and character analyses and descriptions will establish and clarify the values that define a family for young readers. When the term family is used in class, students and teacher will be working with a collective understanding of the word that was gained through the reading and writing assignments. At that point the class can begin to talk about their own families with clearer understanding and meaning.
III
Throughout both the novels discussed previously are illustrations of individuals, groups and scenes depicting family life as described in each book. Louise Fitzhugh’s novel has, even before the text, illustrations of each character. Willie Sheridan is dancing, his sister Emma is sitting in an easy chair, book in lap, holding a pair of glasses and looking a little dumpy. Mrs. Sheridan is seen in a pensive pose, legs crossed, chin on her fist as her arm rests on her knee, while light-hearted Dipsy Bates is dancing and smiling. Finally, Mr. Sheridan is dressed in his three-piece business suit, one arm akimbo, leaning against an unseen wall with his other arm. He is a picture of a serious, stern and steadfast character, but yet his bodily pose lets us know that he is not at all convinced he’s going to win his battles with his children. Discussing these drawings, and the drawings scattered throughout
Farmer Boy
will lead the class into a discussion of their own family photographs, an activity that will surely excite the young students in a sixth-grade class.
Each student will be asked to bring to class a photograph that is his or her favorite family snapshot. Limiting the choice to one will necessitate some thought on the student’s part before he/she brings it into class, thereby making the student focused and better prepared to discuss the reasons why the photo was chosen. Through experience, a teacher learns that not setting a limit results in getting photo albums. While numbers of photos might be interesting for some activities, for this activity the student should be encouraged to concentrate on why he/she likes this particular photo, or class discussion and subsequent writing activities will also tend to be too diverse and unfocused.
Initially, students will meet in small groups to ensure each person an adequate amount of time to discuss his/her photo. When the class reforms as a whole, which could be the next meeting if small group discussion takes up an entire class period, the writing assignment topic is to tell the reasons for the photo’s selection. Review with students some of the ideas about family that were discussed during the reading of the novels. In their papers students should identify family members present and try to answer some questions. What is each individual’s role in the family? What was happening at the time the photo was taken? Who took the photo—is he/she the person who always snapped the pictures and therefore never appears in any photo—and what does that tell us about that individual? What happened right after the photo was taken? Perhaps this last question will encourage a student to discuss the photo with other members of his/her family to acquire more knowledge and information about the photo and the family. The provocation may encourage students to become a family historian which could prove to be a wealth of positive reinforcement for the student about his family.
IV
The writing project based on a family photograph leads the class discussion of family into a deeper understanding and appreciation of one’s own family and identity within the family group. In the next project the emphasis shifts to the student and his place within his family group. By this point in the unit students will feel more comfortable discussing themselves within the framework of their families. Classroom discussion can be expected to be livelier and less inhibited due to the groundwork laid out by the reading and writing done previously. Students now will research and plan an oral history of themselves and their position in their families. To begin the project students will ponder some general questions such as Who am I? Where did I come from? What forces made me what I am today? Where will I be tomorrow? In an article entitled, “Utilizing Immigrant Family History in the High School Curriculum”, the author, Mark Hutter, discusses the positive effect such questions and discussions have in a high school history class. While many of the techniques, goals, and specific suggestions Hutter makes for high school students are a touch advanced for sixth-graders, the basic idea is a good one that can be adapted to suit the purposes of this unit.
An oral history of one’s own family allows students to focus on and talk about that which they know best. It allows students to examine themselves and talk about what is most important to them. Furthermore, it leaves a margin within which students can
not
talk about people or events that might be embarrassing because no one else knows their history. This may be valuable because sixth-graders can be shy about standing up and talking in front of their peers. However, after all the work done previously, and with the safety valve of the student’s power of censorship, the shyness can be overcome.
The project will give students an opportunity to do research into their families. me research may range from interviewing older relatives, to reading written family histories, which many times takes the form of journals that parents keep of important dates, events, even medical histories of first inoculations, first words, first steps or when an individual has achieved various levels in religious education. The student can look at historical events that may have caused particular changes or moves in his family. A lost job in one area of the country may have caused a family to relocate, and thereby caused a chain of events that gave the family an entirely new direction leading to where a student finds himself today. The students have an opportunity to learn and develop many skills while doing an oral family history. The students must do research, learn and practice interviewing techniques, develop note-taking skills, practice good, clear, concise writing skills when shaping their report, and then overcome trepidation about standing up and giving their family history to their peers. A student may have family members living a distance away and may write a letter to obtain information he/she wants to use in the final report.
After all the preparatory work on families, the discussion and writing about family photographs and the initial discussion of oral histories, the teacher must be prepared for the student who still balks about talking in front of his/her peers about his/her family. This student who remains adamantly against an oral report after positive encouragement should have the option of a written family history that will be read only by the teacher and not discussed in class. While the student might lose some of the benefit of an oral history, he/she still has the opportunity to do the research and practice the skills as the other students have done. It might happen that a reluctant student, after writing a history, will have a change of heart and make an oral report, or agree to someone in the class reading the report. In any case, every student must participate in the project, if all are to feel part of the classroom family.