I love her books. I read them over and over as a kid. Yep, Ma didn’t like the Indians. She had no control over their actions and she had heard a lot of stories. She was a tough woman who lived in challenging times. Ma was scared of the Indians as many people were. Think about it, she was left pretty much defenseless when Pa was away. I can’t imagine how scary it would be to be left with young children, miles away from a neighbor (no phones!) and no way to know if your husband will make it back. Laura and Pa respected and admired the Indians, I think they would have ridden away with the Indians if they could have. Ma and Mary were scared of them. Laura (or Rose) wrote these books to reflect the times.
Remember Dr Tann? He was the African American doctor who came and saved the Ingalls.
I loved the can do spirit of these books and as a child, (well, even now) I could imagine how life was in the 1880’s.
I also loved the illustrations by Garth Williams.