| Carol Milford, an idealistic young librarian in turn-of-the-century St. Paul, marries a country doctor who convinces her that, as his wife, she will be able to uplift and reform a grateful society in a Minnesota prairie town. Instead, she finds that cliquishness, petty rivalries, social injustice, and a smug resistance to outside ideas distinguish most of her new neighbors -- including her husband.
Carol does not succeed in reforming the town, but through various struggles she comes to appreciate that belonging to a family and to a community are human needs which go largely unrequited in the life of a full-time social reformer. She realizes that even in a cosmopolitan city, she has only a finite circle of close friends and aquaintances, and that the proximity of cultural opportunities does not guarantee their appreciation. Carol is forced to admit to herself that in her efforts to reform and educate others, she was herself practicing narrow-minded intolerance as surely as she was deploring it. Finally, she realizes that her opportunity for real impact on society will be in her raising of her children to strive, to question, to be full participants in the brave new world thinking people of her generation were only beginning to conceive of. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - humorous Time/era of story - 1900-1920's Ethnic/Regional/Religion Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - society Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes Eccentric: How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 () United States Yes The US: - Midwest Prairie? Yes Small town? Yes Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee Writing Style Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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