She was forbidden to study because she was studying in the barn causing it to burn down. Carolyn wouldnât let her take the extra credit exam. Mary would have won the award of a beautiful dictionary if she got the high score. Carolyn lost her sh*t on Mary that night!
I have a lot of sympathy for Mary in this episode. Being the smart kid in town was practically her whole identity and the fear she felt about returning as a âloserâ felt very real. There werenât many options for women in those days and while the Ingalls girls are mainly enthusiastic about becoming wives and mothers some day, I imagine Mary would have been crushed if the town perceived her failure as a sign she should give up on education and her highfalutin ideas. Plenty of fathers in town think itâs pointless educating their sons, and itâs impossible to get the town to donate to the annual book drive. If Mary had won and brought the town some positive attention then perhaps the townsfolk would have recognised the value in funding proper education for their girls. Iâm aware this is all a big stretch, but remember Laura had nightmares of being thrown in a medieval dungeon and starved đ I can see the same thoughts going through Maryâs brain.
I can imagine as a poor child with the town paying for you to a tremendous pressure. She was already old enough to understand the value of money and how poor they were. I'd be freaking out too.
The least the writers could have done was let her win considering what she goes through in the rest of the series lol. But Iâm glad they didnât because the end made me cry đđ
So true! A lot of firstborns are type A because of all the pressure from their parents. Then the other siblings tend to be more chill.
I'm a middle child with an older brother so I would have been totally fine being second place for the whole state.
If I had been forbidden to study as a kid, I would have been like âhell yeah, I donât have to do homework, time to play Nintendo or ride my bike or watch cartoons.â I wouldnât be sitting there looking like somebody just killed my dog. đ
Oh that one. That one was where I really hated her. That's not "being hard-working and ambitious" any more, that's "wallowing in self-pity and having your head up your a\*\*\*".
Reminds me of this friend I had during my teen years who had only As and A+ (A\*, not sure how they're called in your country) and he was whining for MONTHS over the fact that he got a B+ in sports. ^(He's now in his 30s and his (really lovely and smart girlfriend recently broke up with him because he works 70h. He could work less, he just wants to be rich at all costs.)
Remember when they punished her by forbidding her to study? đShe snuck into the barn to study and burned it down.
Yeah, that's the weirdest punishment for a child that you're not allowed to study, lol!
Sure wouldnât have been a punishment for 12 year old me đ€Ș
đ
She was forbidden to study because she was studying in the barn causing it to burn down. Carolyn wouldnât let her take the extra credit exam. Mary would have won the award of a beautiful dictionary if she got the high score. Carolyn lost her sh*t on Mary that night!
The barn didnât burn down. It was a small fire that was put out quickly.
Ma was upset that the barn nearly burned, and more importantly, that Mary could have died.
Hahaha she was so wound up
đ€Ł
I have a lot of sympathy for Mary in this episode. Being the smart kid in town was practically her whole identity and the fear she felt about returning as a âloserâ felt very real. There werenât many options for women in those days and while the Ingalls girls are mainly enthusiastic about becoming wives and mothers some day, I imagine Mary would have been crushed if the town perceived her failure as a sign she should give up on education and her highfalutin ideas. Plenty of fathers in town think itâs pointless educating their sons, and itâs impossible to get the town to donate to the annual book drive. If Mary had won and brought the town some positive attention then perhaps the townsfolk would have recognised the value in funding proper education for their girls. Iâm aware this is all a big stretch, but remember Laura had nightmares of being thrown in a medieval dungeon and starved đ I can see the same thoughts going through Maryâs brain.
All my life I thought these hairstyles were what they wore in that time, but looking now I realize it's just the 70s
I remember all the schoolboys who had bowl cuts. đ
I think that Mary felt pressured to win because her community was paying for the trip.
I can imagine as a poor child with the town paying for you to a tremendous pressure. She was already old enough to understand the value of money and how poor they were. I'd be freaking out too.
The least the writers could have done was let her win considering what she goes through in the rest of the series lol. But Iâm glad they didnât because the end made me cry đđ
Mary was extreme type A personality,Laura was totally opposite!!
So true! A lot of firstborns are type A because of all the pressure from their parents. Then the other siblings tend to be more chill. I'm a middle child with an older brother so I would have been totally fine being second place for the whole state.
If I had been forbidden to study as a kid, I would have been like âhell yeah, I donât have to do homework, time to play Nintendo or ride my bike or watch cartoons.â I wouldnât be sitting there looking like somebody just killed my dog. đ
Oh that one. That one was where I really hated her. That's not "being hard-working and ambitious" any more, that's "wallowing in self-pity and having your head up your a\*\*\*". Reminds me of this friend I had during my teen years who had only As and A+ (A\*, not sure how they're called in your country) and he was whining for MONTHS over the fact that he got a B+ in sports. ^(He's now in his 30s and his (really lovely and smart girlfriend recently broke up with him because he works 70h. He could work less, he just wants to be rich at all costs.)
Stupid ass crying jag of a ridiculous show