A Lantern in Her Hand

Chapters 16 through 21 trace the next steps in Abbie’s life, including finally reaching success in Cedartown and encouraging her children to live out dreams she couldn’t.

Cedartown succeeds because it is built by pioneers like Abbie who work together, are resilient, and rely on themselves and others. This success is a celebration of The Pioneer Spirit. Aldrich emphasizes the importance of a community that has not yet experienced class divisions. The settlers of Cedartown help one another physically and emotionally, without considering anyone’s status below or above them. They provide aid through labor and shared resources, and they help one another endure difficult times. In the novel, Cedartown is a testament to the power of community and the importance of doing one’s part to make a community function. The signs of Cedartown’s success are in its development. Not only do more families come to settle the town, but once a church, a few businesses, and a schoolhouse are built, Cedartown becomes an establishment. While Abbie misses Iowa and wishes she could have visited her mother, the two decades Abbie spends helping to build Cedartown are rewarded by her bearing witness to its success against the odds.

As the decades go on, Abbie’s character development is marked by her complexity. Love, family, strife, and happiness are all intertwined in her life. Abbie and Will go through dark times, and they spend years struggling in poverty. Aldrich’s celebration of family is emphasized by these years of struggle because it is through sticking with Will and believing in his dream that Abbie keeps her family together: “Ten years! Small wonder that love would break under circumstances like these. [...] [M]arriage was the fulfillment of love. And love was sometimes pleasure and sometimes duty” (124). These two aspects of marriage that Abbie experiences add depth to her characterization. She is a multidimensional character whose ability to remain faithful to her family values helps to build an entire community. In this way, her struggles highlight the theme of The Importance of Family.

Abbie sacrifices her own happiness repeatedly for the greater good of her family, and this is symbolic of pioneers’ sacrifices for the country they are nurturing from childhood into maturity. In this way, Abbie’s family and the success of Cedartown represent the American Dream. On a personal level, Abbie supports her children in their dreams because she doesn’t want them to succumb to her duties and responsibilities. Abbie was forced to give up her dream to become a singer, but she doesn’t want her children to make the same sacrifices. She forgoes her music lessons and does not visit her beloved mother so that her children can move away for school and commit themselves to a happier future. The novel honors Abbie’s complexity as a character by highlighting that sacrificing herself for others is not idyllic or easy: “Why should life on the prairie have demanded so much of her? Why should twenty years have been so hard, so barren? By her condition, both her grief and her bitterness were accentuated” (149). Abbie mourns the life she didn’t have with her mother, the life she didn’t have in pursuing her musical dreams. However, in mourning this other version of what could have been, Abbie also consistently recommits herself to the dream she did choose: family life with Will.

These chapters use symbols to emphasize messages about sacrifice and resilience. When Abbie gives birth to Grace, “She did not care especially, except for one thing. The light! […] Some tiny spark of memory kept reminding her that she must never take her eyes away from the far-off glow of the lantern” (155). The lantern is a motif of Abbie’s resilience. The light of the lantern helps guide Abbie, and it is also a light that Abbie shines for others to guide them on their way. Abbie’s new house is also a symbol. The completion of her dream home is a symbol of the Deals’ growing prosperity, stability, and happiness. As a younger version of her mother, Margaret is a foil for Abbie. She represents the new generation of women who can both pursue their own interests and fulfill normative female gender roles. Margaret fulfills what Abbie couldn’t, which is why Abbie sacrifices her desires.

These chapters end with Will’s unexpected death, which demands new character development from Abbie: “Suddenly, Abbie Deal seemed greater than herself, larger than humanity. A sense of deep wisdom was within her, a flood of infinite strength enveloped her” (170). Abbie comes into a new layer of her characterization: It is up to her to lead the family now that Will is dead. In a way, Abbie is free to accomplish her dreams, but on the other hand, Abbie is now alone, with more responsibilities than ever. Nevertheless, Abbie’s characteristic strength keeps her motivated to think of the future.