Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

First published: 1935; illustrated

Type of work: Historical fiction

Themes: Coming-of-age, family, gender roles, and nature

Time of work: The fall of 1864 to the fall of 1865

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: Western Wisconsin, near Menomonie

Principal Characters:

• Caddie Woodlawn, a redheaded, eleven-year-old tomboy with a strong sense of adventure and a sensitive nature
• Tom Woodlawn, Caddie’s thirteen-year-old brother, who is her best friend and partner in adventure
• Warren Woodlawn, Caddie’s nine-year-old brother, who accompanies Caddie and Tom on most of their exploits
• Clara Woodlawn, Caddie’s older sister, who is beautiful and accomplished
• Hetty Woodlawn, Caddie’s seven-year-old sister, who is the family “tattle-tale”
• John Woodlawn, Caddie’s father, a strong, compassionate, intelligent man, who loves wilderness life
• Harriet Woodlawn, Caddie’s mother, a native of Boston, who misses the “refinements” of civilization
• Indian John, an Indian from the local tribe, who befriends Caddie
• Uncle Edmund, Harriet’s brother from St. Louis, a fun-loving practical joker
• Cousin Annabelle Grey, Harriet’s niece and a finishing-school graduate from Boston

The Story

Based on the childhood reminiscences of the author’s grandmother, Caddie Woodlawn chronicles one year in the life of the sizable, spirited Woodlawn family, and in particular eleven-year-old tomboy Caddie. The episodic structure of the story, which extends from autumn to autumn, reflects the cyclical nature of wilderness life in the 1800’s.

As the story opens, Caddie and her two brothers embark upon one of their frequent adventures, an “unauthorized” visit to the Indian camp across the river, although none of the three can swim. Upon their belated return from the Indian camp, Caddie and her brothers encounter the circuit rider, a recurring figure in the novel, dining with the Woodlawn family and sharing anxiously awaited news from the outside world.

The steamer, another link with civilization, arrives in the fall, bringing Uncle Edmund on his annual visit from St. Louis. Edmund abounds in practical jokes and impractical ideas, which entertain the family but just as often bring its members trouble. One particularly ill-advised escapade nearly results in Caddie’s drowning in the river, and Edmund’s ambition to take Nero, the family sheepdog, to St. Louis for training nearly ends in disaster when the homesick dog runs away.

For the Woodlawn children, winter’s arrival means school, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and ice-skating. After Caddie narrowly escapes another drowning by skating on thin ice, she is confined to the house for weeks and discovers she shares her father’s aptitude for repairing clocks. During long winter nights before the fire, the children first learn of their father’s aristocratic heritage, discovering that the Woodlawns are descended from English lords.

Rumors of an impending Indian massacre, a fear never far from the settlers’ thoughts, also surface this winter, and the Woodlawn home becomes a refuge for local settlers fearing attack. When sensible John Woodlawn, the natural leader of the community, leaves the farm to gather supplies, the other men grow restless and talk of mounting their own attack against the Indians. Caddie, certain that the Indians intend no harm to the settlers, sneaks across the river on horseback to warn her friend, Indian John, that his tribe may be in danger. Indian John decides to take the tribe on a hunting trip until the settlers’ fears dissipate, entrusting Caddie with his dog and scalp belt until he returns. Caddie’s courage, coupled with good sense, saves both the Indians and the settlers from possible disaster.

Spring brings the long-awaited return of the steamer and the circuit rider, bearing news of the Civil War’s end and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Cousin Annabelle, the overly refined product of a Boston finishing school, arrives on the steamer as summer begins and becomes the target of cruel practical jokes by Caddie and Tom. After being punished for her thoughtless behavior, Caddie searches her soul and begins to grow up, accepting responsibility for her actions and becoming a young woman.

Summer also brings news from England that the Woodlawns will inherit the family fortune if they agree to renounce their U.S. citizenship and become British subjects. The family decides its future in true American fashion—by secret ballot— and elects to renounce the fortune.

Reinforcing the cyclical nature of wilderness life, the story ends as it began, with the advent of autumn. Indian John’s tribe returns to camp, Nero finds his way home from St. Louis, the circuit rider arrives once again, and the story comes full circle from autumn to autumn.

Context

Caddie Woodlawn belongs to the literary tradition which recounts the settling of the American West, a tradition begun with the pioneers’ own journals and travel diaries and continuing in children’s literature with novels such as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series (1932-1943). Both Wilder’s books and Caddie Woodlawn are based on reminiscences. Tales of settling and civilizing the frontier, often based on stories passed through generations, usually feature young protagonists who symbolize the new landscape and use female protagonists to represent the civilizing influence which helped transform the wilderness to farmlands and towns.

The exploration of the relationship between civilization and nature which occurs in Caddie Woodlawn goes to the very heart of American literature, recalling James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841) and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), for example. The uneasy peace between the Indians and the settlers reflects the precarious balance between nature and civilization, as Caddie’s friendship with Indian John mirrors that between Huck and Jim in Huckleberry Finn, Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook in Leatherstocking Tales, and Ahab and Queequeg in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). This dichotomy between civilization and nature is symbolized also by the split in the Woodlawn family—the wild, untamed side represented by Tom, Caddie, Warren, and their father, and the “civilized side” represented by their mother, Clara, and Hetty. Caddie Wood- lawn can be placed in several other traditions of children’s literature as well, including novels which stress the importance of a strong family, such as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1868-1869), coming-of-age novels such as L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908), and adventure stories such as Johann David Wyss’s Der Schweizerische Robinson (1812-1813; The Family Robinson Crusoe, 1814), best known as The Swiss Family Robinson.