The dominant themes of The Borning Room are family life in the frontier and social and political change in the U.S.

Both themes are skillfully intertwined to mutually support each other.

Through Georgina's memories, the reader is able to see how connection and tradition generate and strengthen familial love. Her memories also reflect how social and political changes, like the abolitionist movement, women's suffrage, and childbirth practices, affect individual lives.

Georgina Caroline Lott, the main character, narrates her story beginning when she is eight-and-one-half years old and ending when she is sixty-seven in her deathbed. Georgina's tales reveal that she is intelligent, witty, and caring. As she grows to womanhood, she describes her thoughts and feeling about family, courtship, nature, values, and religion.

Georgina's mother and her grandfather were the two most influential people in her life. Abram Lott, a strong, resourceful man...