Family

Family is an important theme in the novel “On the Banks of Plum Creek” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Family involves mutual love, compassion, loyalty towards, and emotional, spiritual, and physical support of individuals who may or may not be blood-related, but who still behave in the fashion of the traditional family unit. Family can be found consistently throughout the novel, and family affects the plot of the novel in various ways.

When the novel begins, Laura, Ma, Pa, Mary, and Carrie have moved to Plum Creek, Minnesota, from the Big Woods in Wisconsin. Laura is thrilled to be moving somewhere new with her family, seeing it as something of an adventure, while Pa is thrilled because the move is intended to give his family a better life and a better future. Everything that Pa does is in service to his family, to provide for them, and...