Ants Become Giants

In her pioneering work on the shapes and meanings of fictional and actual space, Judith Fryer coined the phrase “felicitous space” (1986) to refer to space that “frees the imagination” (293). In particular, Fryer explores how the landscape in works by Edith Wharton and Willa Cather functions as a spiritual ground upon which girls and women can build their lives. In the essay, I build upon Fryer’s concept of the liberating nature of land and apply it to the ever-popular Little House series of books written by Cather and Wharton contemporary, Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957). While Wilder did not publish her books until the 1930s, her series takes place in the late nineteenth century, from roughly 1870 to 1890, and so she can effectively be studied as a nineteenth century author. I argue that Wilder’s Laura offers unique possibilities for nineteenth-century female identity, as she is grounded in the natural world rather than in a fabricated aesthetic realm. Rather than conform to traditional feminine ideals of the time, Laura expresses the freedom and courage embodied by the masculine Western “hero” and, thus, presents a much-needed Western “heroine.”