Three propositions regarding A Girl of the Limberlost

Hi everyone,

I found my questions in this section centering on three main ideas: education, and what the novel thinks a good education looks like; love/marriage/gender relations; and Billy and his status as a "real" boy.  Christoph suggested I draft three propositions about these topics which we can then discuss, so here they are (with a few page numbers for places to turn):

1) The novel argues that Elnora’s education, taking place both in “the School of Hard Knocks” and “the School of the Woods” (374) is the ideal education for a young person.

p. 374: Philip describes Elnora’s education to his father

p. 455: Freckles, the Angel, and Elnora discuss the relative merits of Mackinac and more “wild” places, like Limberlost, for the education of children

p. 469: Edith attributes her own education in “frivolities” as the cause of her difference from Elnora (and thus her estrangement from Philip)

2) Romantic love and marriage in the novel seem to resemble pragmatic business decisions more than emotional affairs of the heart.

p. 375: Philip describes his relationship with Elnora as one between “two wholly congenial men”

p. 400: Philip describes the change in his thoughts about love as due to the influence of the Limberlost

p. 474: Edith gives a job description of “the other kind of a girl,” which she believes is more congenial to men (Philip, primarily, but also Hart)

3) Billy is a “real” boy, and his mischief and pranks are not only what one should expect from “real” boys, but also have an admirable quality to them.

p. 390: Billy relates a train of mischief which leads up to the drunken pigs incident

p. 462: Billy and the O’More children “play Indians”

I'm not super-attached to any of these propositions, mainly because I find the end of the novel so bizarre and (at times) infuriating.  I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!  

I'll also bring in a couple short sections from an article about nature study written by Wilbur S. Jackman (he has a wikipedia page!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_S._Jackman) at roughly the same time as A Girl of the Limberlost.  Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!