Help with laura Ingalls Wilder paper?

Question

Hi, I am in 10th grade and I have a research paper due and I am doing it on Laura Ingalls Wilder. I need to narrow my topic down so I was thinking about doing it on how they survived the prairie or how they survived the winter do you have any more ideas? I also thought about doing it on her writing career any help would be appreciated! I just want to make sure that I have a topic that is more specific. Thank you=)

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

You have chosen a wonderful person to do your paper on and you can actually find a good amount of info on her life in the local library.

Writing about how the Ingalls survived the prairie winter is a good subject and you could use 'The Long Winter' as a reference point. Talking about her career as a writer is good, but make sure that you research where you are getting your info from as there is a lot of misinformation.
Laura's writing career was a bit of a fluke and came from her having to describe things in great detail to Mary. Her sister's blindness made her realize in later years that children would never know the beauty of the prairie as it had been when she and her sisters were little and she wanted to preserve that image for future generations.
Laura wrote for many papers and was a hometown favorite while she lived at Rocky Ridge. Her travels both with Ma and Pa in her younger years and later with Almanzo and Rose allowed her to gain insights to things that most take for granted. While Laura did do a stint as a Teacher, she was more of a farmers wife since the restrictions in those days limited the positions a married woman could hold ( while the TV show is nice, it is not historically accurate). Laura did have 2 children, Rose and a never named baby boy who died before he was 1 month old. Rose married and became Rose Wilder Lane and moved to California and worked as a Journalist and she did a stint on Wall Street when she was younger. Rose also had a son and he to tragically died in infancy. There were no other children born to the Ingalls/Wilder family and so no one to carry on the legacy, although the gentleman who did some of the illustrations for her books in the early years was considered by Laura to be a son ( although he had no legal claim).

For the record, Charles & Caroline had 4 girls ( Mary, Laura, Caroline 'Carrie'& Grace)/1 boy ( Charles Frederick who died at 9 months old). Mary never got married, Laura married Almanzo 'Manly', Carrie became Carrie Swanzy and worked as both a Teacher and a Journalist and her husband and step-son are responsible for the Mount Rushmore monument, Grace married but had no children and became a Teacher.

I wish you the best on your paper and I hope the info that I've given you can help in some small way. May you do Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder proud.

Source(s):

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls WIlder
West from Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Asker's Comment:

Thanks so much you really helped!! I am really excited to get started!!

Answer 2

Her writing career would be a good choice. There are 2 books that she didn't finish I believe that go with the "Little house" set but dont come with them, her daughter found them or granddaughter maybe, after she passed away and had them published. And she did alot of writing for newspapers and magazines. If the paper is to be short I would go ahead and narrow it to her writing career but if it should be longer do it on her life. She was a wonderful lady and very ballsey(pardon my phrase) for her time.

Answer 3

Laura Ingalls Wilder lived a far different life than her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, did. Perhaps you could compare and contrast the choices they made, and the type of society they lived in.