The Wide, Wide World
by Susan Bogert Warner
Ellen’s mother goes abroad hoping to improve her health in Europe, and Ellen is sent to live with her grumpy aunt. Her mother encourages her to look to Jesus for help and guidance, and Ellen’s temper is sorely tried when her aunt is unjust and mean to her. But Ellen has some help from Alice, a neighbor lady who is the daughter of a local preacher. Although Ellen’s aunt won’t send her to school, Alice agrees to help Ellen with her studies in French and English grammar and they pray and read the Bible together too. Alice’s brother, John, also agrees to help with Ellen’s education, and teaches her history, science, and horseback riding. Through many difficulties and setbacks, Ellen learns to trust in God and finds peace in His providence.
I don’t know why I have heard this book compared to Huck Finn, as a “feminist Huck Finn”. That makes no sense at all. This story is nothing like Huck Finn in any way. There are literally no similarities except that they are both orphans, and they both do some travelling. There is no comparison here in style or plot or structure or themes or character arcs. I don’t know who came up with that stupid comparison. It’s idiotic. And this book is not even feminist!
I really loved Ellen’s relationship with Alice and John, and how she is welcomed into their family. It’s so sweet to see how they care for her and teach her. And through several years and various hardships, they grow closer as they pray together and rely on each other for support. It’s very touching! I really enjoyed seeing how their characters developed.
I got so frustrated with the bad characters though! I was so mad at the horrible aunt all the time. She’s awful! She does all these little things to pester Ellen, like dying all her white stockings to be gray, and sending her to bed in the middle of a party, and hiding her letters that come in the mail. Just on and on, this horrible woman does all these petty mean things, and Ellen has to try to keep her temper and be patient and obedient. It made me so angry! I got super involved in all these little doings of the story.
One of my favorite scenes was when Ellen gets a pony from her neighbor friends and she names it “The Brownie” and rides all around the countryside with John. It was so nice to see her get some freedom away from her aunt, and get some fresh air away from all her studies. And it becomes a bonding point between her and John as he teaches her to ride and jump.
There is so much crying in this book. Ellen is weeping and crying in every other chapter, so that then when there was a truly emotional death scene or something, it’s impact was lessened because she’s just always crying over every little thing. And it’s not just Ellen! A bunch of other characters seem to be crying at the drop of a hat. And it’s not just one little sentence about crying; it will be from several paragraphs to several pages about the violence of her grief and how she couldn’t contain her tears, and then they have a little dialogue or she prays about something and the tears break out afresh until she is weeping uncontrollably once more.
So. Much. Crying. It was exhausting.
The moral lessons are very heavy-handed, and every other chapter has a lengthy dialogue between the characters about their faith in God. As a Christian, I really enjoyed this, and there were several passages that I found spiritually refreshing! But the preaching was pretty heavy. You have to be in the mood for it. Also, I did not agree with the constant focus on good works. Ellen is striving to be a good Christian, as if she is worried that she will not go to heaven if she isn’t perfect all the time. The theology is not quite clear, but the emphasis is definitely on good works instead of just faith.
The theology also doesn’t quite line up with the moral lessons as they are applied. Those Victorian morals have an emphasis on submission and humility, especially for a child to their parents or guardian. But this is stretched to the point where Ellen has to obey when she is told to drink a glass of wine even though she doesn’t want to. And the book acknowledges that it’s wrong of the adult to force her to drink alcohol, but praises Ellen for being obedient and submissive even under injustice. I did not like that. Yes, the Bible teaches humility and obedience, but it also teaches us to fight for what is right and oppose what is evil! The lesson on virtue itself is good, but the way that it was applied just didn’t sit right with me.
The ending was very abrupt. It almost leaves you on a cliffhanger, where the ending is hinted at, and you can guess what is going to happen, but we don’t actually get to see the ending. I was really disappointed at the end.
The writing is lovely, but definitely too long-winded sometimes. It could have been much more concise, and I think it could have included fewer moral lessons, and then those moral lessons would have had more impact if they weren’t constantly being revisited and recanvased. But still, the writing really drew me in to care about the characters!
This book has been screened on the Screen It First website. https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-wide-wide-world-1696307
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