Determined Homesteader's Wife: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Travelers in the backcountry often reported that women and men routinely shared the heaviest manual labor. Both sexes worked together in the fields, not merely at harvest time but through the entire growing season. Women not only tended the livestock but did the slaughtering of even the largest animals. Travelers were often startled to observe delicate females knock down beef cattle with a felling ax, and then roll down their sleeves, remove their bloody aprons, tidy their hair, and invite their visitors to tea.''|''Albion's Seed'' by David Hackett Fischer}}

A [[Determined Homesteader]] can't do it alone, no matter how stubborn he may be. He needs an equally determined wife. At least in fiction, the [[Determined Homesteader's Wife]] is usually a strong-willed woman who's handy around the cabin and fields, and probably knows how to [[Action Girl|load and shoot a gun]]. And if she doesn't have those capabilities at the beginning of the story, she soon will have. Especially when those skills are required [[Mama Bear|to protect]] the [[Determined Homesteader's Children]].

A [[Determined Homesteader]] can't do it alone, no matter how stubborn he may be. He needs an equally determined wife. At least in fiction, the '''Determined Homesteader's Wife''' is usually a strong-willed woman who's handy around the cabin and fields, and probably knows how to [[Action Girl|load and shoot a gun]]. And if she doesn't have those capabilities at the beginning of the story, she soon will have. Especially when those skills are required [[Mama Bear|to protect]] the [[Determined Homesteader's Children]].

The "prairie romance" subgenre of [[Romance Novel]] will often have the protagonist becoming one of these, either from the beginning of the homestead, or as a mail order bride.

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* Emily "Auntie Em" Gale of ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' book.

* ''Sarah (Plain and Tall)'' was the mail order bride subtype.

* Alma Garrett of ''[[Deadwood]]'' was one of ~~these -- for~~ a very short time. When her husband died, however, she used her new-found freedom to pursue the life she'd always wanted for herself but that staid Eastern civilization wouldn't have allowed.

* Alma Garrett of ''[[Deadwood]]'' was one of these—for a very short time. When her husband died, however, she used her new-found freedom to pursue the life she'd always wanted for herself but that staid Eastern civilization wouldn't have allowed.

* Lisa Douglas of ''[[Green Acres]]'' is a subversion of the type, being not at all interested in helping her husband make a success of the farm. Then again, he's something of a parody of the [[Determined Homesteader]] type himself.

* Some of the women in [[The Icelandic Sagas]] seem to have been like this.