Appearance
Excerpt
Excerpt from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
Rebecca's joy knew no bounds. "I'll baste like a house afire!" she
exclaimed. "It's a thousand yards round that skirt, as well I know,
having hemmed it; but I could sew pretty trimming on if it was from
here to Milltown. Oh! do you think aunt Mirandy'll ever let me go to
Milltown with Mr. Cobb? He's asked me again, you know; but one Saturday
I had to pick strawberries, and another it rained, and I don't think
she really approves of my going. It's TWENTY-NINE minutes past four,
aunt Jane, and Alice Robinson has been sitting under the currant bushes
for a long time waiting for me. Can I go and play?"
"Yes, you may go, and you'd better run as far as you can out behind the
barn, so 't your noise won't distract your aunt Mirandy. I see Susan
Simpson and the twins and Emma Jane Perkins hiding behind the fence."
Rebecca leaped off the porch, snatched Alice Robinson from under the
currant bushes, and, what was much more difficult, succeeded, by means
of a complicated system of signals, in getting Emma Jane away from the
Simpson party and giving them the slip altogether. They were much too
small for certain pleasurable activities planned for that afternoon;
but they were not to be despised, for they had the most fascinating
dooryard in the village. In it, in bewildering confusion, were old
sleighs, pungs, horse rakes, hogsheads, settees without backs,
bed-steads without heads, in all stages of disability, and never the
same on two consecutive days. Mrs. Simpson was seldom at home, and even
when she was, had little concern as to what happened on the premises. A
favorite diversion was to make the house into a fort, gallantly held by
a handful of American soldiers against a besieging force of the British
army. Great care was used in apportioning the parts, for there was no
disposition to let anybody win but the Americans. Seesaw Simpson was
usually made commander-in-chief of the British army, and a limp and
uncertain one he was, capable, with his contradictory orders and his
fondness for the extreme rear, of leading any regiment to an inglorious
death. Sometimes the long-suffering house was a log hut, and the brave
settlers defeated a band of hostile Indians, or occasionally were
massacred by them; but in either case the Simpson house looked, to
quote a Riverboro expression, "as if the devil had been having an
auction in it."
Explanation
Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Context of the Source
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903) is a classic children’s novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin, set in early 20th-century rural Maine. The story follows Rebecca Rowena Randall, a bright, imaginative, and spirited 10-year-old girl sent to live with her two strict aunts, Miranda and Jane Sawyer, in the small town of Riverboro. The novel explores themes of childhood innocence, rural life, family dynamics, and the clash between imagination and rigid expectations.
This excerpt captures Rebecca’s youthful exuberance, her longing for freedom, and her playful creativity, contrasting with the restrained, disciplined world of her aunts. The scene also highlights the social and imaginative world of children in a rural setting, where simple objects become the backdrop for grand adventures.
Themes in the Excerpt
Childhood Joy and Freedom vs. Adult Restrictions
- Rebecca’s unbridled enthusiasm ("I'll baste like a house afire!") contrasts with the structured, rule-bound world of her aunts (e.g., Aunt Mirandy’s disapproval of her going to Milltown with Mr. Cobb).
- Her desire for play ("Can I go and play?") is immediately granted by the more lenient Aunt Jane, but with the condition that she avoid disturbing Aunt Miranda—showing how children must navigate adult expectations.
- The urgency of time ("It's TWENTY-NINE minutes past four") suggests how children experience time differently—every moment is precious for play, while adults see it as something to be managed.
Imagination and Play as Escape
- The Simpson dooryard is a symbol of childhood freedom—a chaotic, ever-changing space where broken objects become props for epic battles, forts, and adventures.
- The children transform mundane items (old sleighs, hogsheads, bedsteads) into fantastical settings, showing how imagination turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.
- Their games (Americans vs. British, settlers vs. Indians) reflect historical narratives they’ve absorbed, but with a childish bias—the Americans always win, and the British commander (Seesaw Simpson) is comically incompetent.
Social Hierarchies and Exclusion in Childhood
- Rebecca strategically excludes younger children (the twins, Emma Jane) because they are "much too small" for the planned activities, showing how children create their own social rules.
- The Simpson house’s disorder ("as if the devil had been having an auction in it") is both a playground and a battleground, where children assert control in a world where they otherwise have little power.
Rural Life and Community
- The mention of Milltown, strawberry picking, and currant bushes grounds the story in agrarian New England, where work and play coexist.
- The Simpson family’s neglect of their property (Mrs. Simpson is "seldom at home") allows the children unsupervised freedom, a stark contrast to Rebecca’s tightly managed life with her aunts.
Literary Devices
Hyperbole & Exaggeration
- "I'll baste like a house afire!" – Rebecca’s dramatic enthusiasm is exaggerated to show her boundless energy.
- "a thousand yards round that skirt" – Highlights how tedious domestic tasks feel to a child (though she also takes pride in her sewing skills).
Imagery & Sensory Language
- The Simpson dooryard is described in vivid, chaotic detail ("old sleighs, pungs, horse rakes, hogsheads, settees without backs"), creating a tactile, almost overwhelming picture of a child’s paradise.
- "as if the devil had been having an auction in it" – A colorful rural expression that emphasizes the wild disorder of their play.
Irony & Humor
- Seesaw Simpson as the British commander is ironically weak ("a limp and uncertain one"), making the children’s games both heroic and absurd.
- The contradiction between Rebecca’s eagerness to sew ("pretty trimming") and her desperation to play adds lighthearted humor.
Dialogue as Characterization
- Rebecca’s rapid-fire speech ("Oh! do you think aunt Mirandy'll ever let me go to Milltown?") mirrors her restless, curious mind.
- Aunt Jane’s practical but indulgent tone ("you'd better run as far as you can out behind the barn") shows her as a mediator between Rebecca’s wildness and Miranda’s strictness.
Symbolism
- The Simpson dooryard symbolizes childhood’s unstructured creativity, while the aunts’ house represents order and restraint.
- The currant bushes and barn serve as boundaries—places where Rebecca must hide her joy to avoid adult disapproval.
Significance of the Passage
Rebecca’s Character Development
- This scene reinforces Rebecca’s defining traits: her imagination, resilience, and ability to find joy in small things.
- Her negotiation with Aunt Jane shows her adaptability—she knows how to work within the rules to get what she wants.
Contrast Between Childhood and Adulthood
- The aunts represent the adult world—structured, practical, and sometimes stifling.
- The children’s games represent pure, unfiltered creativity, unburdened by adult concerns.
Nostalgia for Rural Childhood
- Wiggin romanticizes rural life, where simple objects and nature provide endless entertainment.
- The absence of modern distractions (no mention of toys, books, or technology) highlights how children of the era relied on imagination.
Social Commentary on Gender and Freedom
- Rebecca’s desire to go to Milltown with Mr. Cobb hints at early restrictions on girls’ mobility—her aunts’ disapproval suggests concerns about propriety.
- Yet, her ability to outmaneuver the younger children shows her agency and leadership, subverting traditional expectations of passive femininity.
Conclusion: Why This Excerpt Matters
This passage is a microcosm of the novel’s central tension: the clash between Rebecca’s vibrant, imaginative spirit and the constrained world of her aunts. Through playful language, vivid imagery, and humorous characterization, Wiggin captures the universal experience of childhood—the desire for freedom, the joy of make-believe, and the frustration of adult rules.
The Simpson dooryard becomes a symbol of rebellion and creativity, a place where children rewrite history, command armies, and turn junk into treasure. Meanwhile, Rebecca’s quick transitions from sewing to scheming show her resilience and cleverness, foreshadowing how she will navigate the challenges of growing up in a world that often tries to dampen her spark.
Ultimately, this excerpt celebrates the magic of childhood while gently acknowledging the inevitability of adult expectations—a balance that defines Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as both a nostalgic tribute to youth and a coming-of-age story.
Questions
Question 1
The passage’s depiction of the Simpson dooryard as a site of chaotic play serves primarily to:
A. critique the neglectful parenting of Mrs. Simpson, whose absence allows the children’s destructive behavior.
B. illustrate how children transform mundane or discarded objects into vessels of imaginative agency and narrative control.
C. emphasize the socioeconomic disparity between Rebecca’s disciplined household and the Simpson family’s squalor.
D. foreshadow the eventual decline of rural communities, symbolized by the decaying artifacts of agrarian life.
E. contrast the gendered play of boys (war games) with the domestic pretenses of girls (sewing and trimming).
Question 2
Rebecca’s exclamation, “I’ll baste like a house afire!” is most effectively interpreted as an example of:
A. ironic understatement, downplaying her enthusiasm for domestic labor to appease Aunt Jane.
B. free indirect discourse, blending her voice with the narrator’s to underscore her precocious maturity.
C. hyperbolic enthusiasm, revealing how she invests even tedious tasks with the energy of her imaginative world.
D. sarcastic compliance, signaling her resentment of Aunt Mirandy’s authority through exaggerated obedience.
E. regional dialect, using rural Maine idioms to establish the novel’s setting and Rebecca’s social class.
Question 3
The narrator’s description of Seesaw Simpson as “a limp and uncertain one, capable… of leading any regiment to an inglorious death” primarily functions to:
A. expose the cruel hierarchies of childhood, where weaker children are systematically marginalized.
B. underscore the historical accuracy of the children’s war games by mirroring real military incompetence.
C. inject humor through absurdity, as the children’s exaggerated roles parody adult concepts of leadership and conflict.
D. foreshadow Seesaw’s future failures, suggesting his childhood traits will persist into adulthood.
E. critique the romanticization of war in children’s play, revealing its inherent futility and violence.
Question 4
Aunt Jane’s instruction to Rebecca—“you’d better run as far as you can out behind the barn, so ’t your noise won’t distract your aunt Mirandy”—is most thematically significant because it:
A. demonstrates Aunt Jane’s complicity in undermining Mirandy’s authority, creating a rift in the sisters’ relationship.
B. reinforces the novel’s critique of rural isolation, where children must hide their joy to avoid disrupting adult routines.
C. encapsulates the tension between childhood spontaneity and adult-imposed order, with Jane acting as a mediator.
D. highlights Rebecca’s manipulative cleverness in exploiting the sisters’ differing parenting styles.
E. symbolizes the suppression of female expression, as Rebecca’s voice is literally silenced to maintain domestic harmony.
Question 5
The passage’s closing simile—“the Simpson house looked… ‘as if the devil had been having an auction in it’”—is most effectively analyzed as:
A. a moral judgment on the Simpson family’s laziness, framing their home as a space of sinful disorder.
B. a folkloric allusion, invoking rural superstitions to deepen the novel’s regional authenticity.
C. a tonal shift from whimsy to mild chaos, using vivid imagery to celebrate the creative messiness of childhood.
D. a critique of consumerism, with the “auction” symbolizing the commodification of even children’s play.
E. a foreshadowing device, hinting at future conflicts between the children and the adult world over property destruction.
Solutions and Explanations
1) Correct answer: B
Why B is most correct: The Simpson dooryard is not merely a setting but a symbol of children’s imaginative repurposing of the ordinary. The passage emphasizes how broken objects (sleighs, hogsheads, bedsteads) become props for epic narratives (war games, settler battles), demonstrating how children assert agency over their environment. This aligns with the novel’s broader theme of childhood creativity as a form of resistance to adult constraints.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: The passage does not critique Mrs. Simpson’s parenting; her absence is framed as opportunistic for the children, not neglectful.
- C: While socioeconomic differences exist, the focus is on imagination, not class disparity.
- D: There’s no foreshadowing of rural decline; the artifacts are playthings, not symbols of decay.
- E: Gendered play is not the focus; the games are collaborative and inclusive of all children present.
2) Correct answer: C
Why C is most correct: Rebecca’s hyperbole—“like a house afire”—transforms a mundane task (basting) into an expression of unbridled energy. This mirrors her approach to life, where even chores are infused with the dramatic flair of her imaginative world. The line is not ironic or sarcastic (A, D) but a genuine outburst of enthusiasm, contrasting with the aunts’ restrained world.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: It’s not understatement; the phrase is exaggerated, not minimized.
- B: There’s no blend of narrator/character voice here; this is direct dialogue.
- D: The tone is joyful, not resentful; she’s not mocking authority.
- E: While regional, the phrase’s purpose is character revelation, not setting establishment.
3) Correct answer: C
Why C is most correct: Seesaw’s portrayal is comically absurd: a “limp and uncertain” commander leading troops to “inglorious death” parodies adult military hierarchies. The humor arises from the disjunction between the children’s grandiose roles and their actual incompetence, a staple of childhood play where seriousness and silliness collide.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: The passage doesn’t critique cruelty; Seesaw’s role is playful, not oppressive.
- B: Historical accuracy is irrelevant; the games are fantasies, not lessons.
- D: There’s no foreshadowing of Seesaw’s future; the focus is on immediate absurdity.
- E: The tone is lighthearted, not a critique of war’s futility.
4) Correct answer: C
Why C is most correct: Aunt Jane’s instruction is a microcosm of the novel’s central tension: she permits Rebecca’s joy but contains it spatially (“behind the barn”). This makes her a mediator between Rebecca’s spontaneity and Mirandy’s order, embodying the negotiation required in childhood between freedom and discipline.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: There’s no rift; Jane’s action is practical, not subversive.
- B: Rural isolation isn’t the focus; the moment is about intergenerational dynamics.
- D: Rebecca isn’t manipulative; she’s seizing an opportunity, not exploiting a divide.
- E: The silencing is situational, not a gendered critique; it’s about noise, not expression.
5) Correct answer: C
Why C is most correct: The simile shifts the tone from whimsical play to joyful chaos, using vivid, slightly ominous imagery (“the devil”) to celebrate the messiness of childhood. The phrase doesn’t condemn the disorder but elevates it to a near-mythic level, aligning with the novel’s romanticization of youthful creativity.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: There’s no moral judgment; the tone is affectionate, not critical.
- B: It’s not a folkloric allusion; the phrase is colloquial hyperbole.
- D: Consumerism is irrelevant; the focus is on play, not commerce.
- E: No foreshadowing occurs; the line is descriptive, not prophetic.