Tales From The Homeplace

For one of my outside readings, I chose "Tales From the Homeplace" by Harriet Burandt and Shelley Dale.  Burandt is a storyteller and Dale collected her stories and wrote them down.  All of the stories in the book did occur at some point, not necessarily with the same characters but they did happen.  

What I thought was interesting was the historical context of it.  In this book, set on a Texas farm, it is during the Great Depression, so business is hard.  President Roosevelt is referred to several times as well as prohibition.  What was also interesting was other objects that were described that set time plot, such as getting a new and unfamiliar Ford, getting an indoor toilet instead of an outhouse, and a girl's position in life.  That was one of the heavily stressed themes-a girl's place in life.  She was to cook, clean, feed the chickens, and tend to the garden.  Irene, the defiant main character, fought against this status quo and was eventually allowed to drive the wagon all by herself.  Several times in the book she was the heroine, such as killing the rattlesnake, chasing off a panther, and escaping a fugitive.