When Carol moves there, the relatively sophisticated new wife finds life in the town dull and the people complacent. She tries to change and enlighten the city, to no avail.
Throughout Main Street, Carol's life has some high points as she tries to maintain her idealism while members of community regularly show their ignorance and limited worldview. She gives birth to a beloved son named Hugh and has strong relationships with some people that many townsfolk would not consider socializing with, such as Bea and Miles. However, many of Gopher Prairie's residents regard her as a snob and do not take her as a friend. Even her husband resents her attempts to share culture with him and her constant criticisms of the town. Though Will has heroic qualities as a doctor, he also shares some of the town's prejudices and cannot always appreciate his wife's enthusiasm. Several times she wonders if she is in love with another man, most seriously with Erik Valborg, a tailor's assistant.
Near the novel's end, Carol temporarily separates from her husband and takes Hugh to Washington, D.C., where she finds a job in a government office at the end of World War I. There, she finally enjoys a long-desired freedom to find herself and to escape the stifling life in Gopher Prairie.
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