Louisiana (novel)

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Louisiana (English original title: Louisiana ) is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett . It was published in 1880 and is a relatively unknown children's book by the author of " The Little Lord ", " Sara, the Little Princess " and " The Secret Garden ".

action

In Oakvale Springs, North Carolina, New Yorker Olivia Ferrol meets young and pretty Louisiana Rogers, dressed like a caricature of rural prevailing fashion. Louisiana (called Louise or Louisianny) is the only surviving child of Elbert and Ianthy Rogers and comes from a good farming background.

Out of boredom and curiosity, Miss Ferrol decides to dress Louisiana in her clothes and teach her genteel behavior in order to play a prank on her brother. After a few weeks, Laurence Ferrol arrives and Olivia doesn't tell him anything about Louisiana's origins. She leaves him puzzled about it. From the first moment Laurence is fascinated by Louisiana's beauty and her mysterious, silent manner.

After a while, however, Louisiana decides to quit this game because she believes that she is not who she claims to be. She tries to let it end here and then announces her departure. But it leaves Laurence in the dark.

An excursion into the mountains is made the day before your departure. On the way there, the three of them are surprised by a thunderstorm and seek shelter in a farmhouse. This turns out to be Louisiana's home. Louisiana persuades her father to help her with her role, but when Laurence laughs at her father, she tells him the truth and the three of them part ways.

Elbert Rogers now decides to do something good for his beloved daughter, because she looks depressed. He decides to rebuild the house according to the fashion model and buy her clothes from Paris. He also proposes a trip to Europe, which leads to a discussion between father and daughter. Elbert mistakenly thought Louisiana, like her friends, thought he was mad. Louisiana corrects this, just as she admits that she feels bad about trying to deny him. After the reconciliation, Elbert fell seriously ill and died two weeks later.

After all, Louisiana is overwhelmed by her grief for her beloved father and reproaches herself for not being a good daughter. At that moment Laurence Ferrol reappears and confesses his love for her. The two get married and move to New York.

Characters

  • Olivia Ferrol: likes to observe her surroundings to find new “types” of people
  • Laurence Ferrol: a writer by profession and Olivia's brother. He later marries Louisiana.
  • Louisiana Rogers: She is a nineteen-year-old, beautiful and well-behaved girl from a well-established background. She is partly naive and ignorant of the big wide world. She is called Louise by Laurence, whom she will later marry, and Louisianny by her father. She was named after the state her father came from.
  • Elbert Rogers: Father from Louisiana, loves Louisiana more than anything as she is the only one of eleven children who survived. He says on his deathbed that she shouldn't wrong anyone. What is later interpreted as knowledge of Louisiana love for Laurence.

(Quote: “ye'll be happy-” he said, “afore long. I kinder- know. Lord! How I've - loved ye, honey - an 'ye've deserved it - all. Don't ye do no one - a onjestice. "Louisiana from Scribner´s sons, 1914; page 139 Quotation:" It was you he meant, "she answered." He knew I had been hard to you - and he Knew I - "Louisiana from Scribner ´s sons, 1914; page 155)

  • Ianthy Rogers: Louisiana mother, died before the story