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Chapter 30
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Little Britches, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fathers, Sons, and Growing Up
Honesty and Pride
Work and Society
Community, Resources, and Conflict
Home and the American West
Summary
Analysis
Ralphs’s father injures himself while taking Babe to breed with a horse in Fort Logan. Though he waves off the accident, Doctor Stone tells the family he is lucky to be alive, describing how he was thrown from Babe at the entrance of Fort Logan. That night, Ralph notes that, though his father’s cough had been improving all that summer, he can hear him coughing long after they went to bed. Ralph’s father looks bad in the morning, but he refuses to rest, saying he needs to dig a grave for the undertaker and start work on the next house.
Once again, Ralph’s father’s pride proves to be his downfall. Despite his sickness, Ralph’s father refuses to rest, dismissing the doctor’s order to stay in bed and working all day in the cold instead. Though his commitment to work is admirable, Ralph’s father once again prioritizes an ideal—in this case, hard work—over the practical needs of a family who relies on him to put food on the table.
Themes
That night, after returning from digging the grave, Ralph’s father tells them about his childhood. He has never done so before, and Ralph wonders, in retrospect if it was a premonition. Ralph’s father coughs all night long, and the next day Doctor Stone diagnoses him with pneumonia. The children are only allowed to visit him for a minute each, and Ralph doesn’t know what to say. He tells his father about a rope he found on the road, and his father tells him to “take care of it, partner.” Those are the last words Ralph hears his father say. Ralph learns later that his father asked for him before dying, but the doctor forbid it.
Ralph’s father returns from work sicker than before. Though Ralph’s father continues to put on a brave face, his storytelling about his childhood suggests, at least subconsciously, an awareness of his impending death. The next day he is diagnosed with pneumonia and Ralph, given only a few minutes with ailing father, is unsure what to say. This follows with Ralph’s insistence throughout the novel that his father is the eloquent one, while Ralph struggles to express himself.
Themes
Ten days after the onset of Ralph’s father’s sickness, Hal hands his siblings a note from their mother telling them to go to the Roberts’ house for lunch. After they get out from school, Hal hands them another note directing them to a different houses. Ralph goes to the Roberts’ again. Ralph overhears the nurse talking on the phone on his mother’s behalf—the Roberts’ have the only phone in the neighborhood—saying that Ralph’s father died 20 minutes ago. Ralph feels like his brain has stopped working. When it starts working again, he imagines it going around like a gramophone singing the lines “so long, partner” repeatedly.
Ralph enters a state of shock upon hearing news of his father’s death. Likening his thoughts to a stuck gramophone is a poignant metaphor for Ralph’s state of emotional disarray, as though trapped in an endless loop. His mind keeps trying to process the same bit of information—“so long, partner”—but the sheer magnitude of the loss it too much for Ralph to take in at once.
Themes
Bessie and Mrs. Aultland stay with Ralph’s mother that night and the children stay where they are. Ralph’s mind feels numb, and everything seems unreal. All their old neighbors come to the funeral, and Ralph realizes how important his father was to them. At the funeral, Doctor Browne tells Ralph’s mother she has blood poisoning and demands she get help from him at once. After the funeral, Ralph’s mother leaves with Doctor Brown and the children go to stay with other families.
In the aftermath of Ralph’s father’s death, friends and locals rally to support Ralph and his family, showcasing the power of community as a support mechanism during times of trouble. At his father’s funeral, Ralph realizes the powerful legacy his father left, evident in the good attendance and the readiness with which members of the community offer to take in Ralph and his siblings while his mother receives treatment. Though his father’s pride was ultimately his downfall, it was arguably the very same pride and upstanding moral character that won him such widespread respect.
Themes
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After four weeks, Ralph’s mother returns, carried into the house by Doctor Browne and a nurse. Ralph collects his siblings from the other homes, and they all gather around her. She tells them not to be sorry for themselves anymore because they have many things to do and begins giving out instructions to prepare dinner. Ralph describes the supper as the “most memorable meal” of his life. Instead of his mother looking to Ralph’s father to say grace, as she used to, she looks to Ralph. Ralph realizes he has become a man.
Upon returning home, Ralph’s mother attempts to restore a sense of normalcy and balance to her children’s lives. A practical woman, she rejects self-pity and tries to instill an optimistic, forward-looking mindset. As part of this, she symbolically transfers her husband’s status as head of the family to Ralph, asking him to say grace just like his father used to. As such, Ralph effectively takes over for his father, signaling his ascension into adulthood.
Themes
