Analysis Of The Children's Blizzard

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In the book, The Children’s Blizzard, David Laskin wrote the stories of immigrant families from Europe who, after coming to the United States with high hopes, experienced a heartbreaking blizzard in January 1888. The immigrants had staked their future on the land and instead of rewarding them for their commitment, the land brought them heartbreak. The blizzard led to different outcomes for different families, but the outcome largely included loss. Immigrants came to the United States for different reasons, but Laskin stated the three main reasons were “land, freedom, and hope.” (9) If they immigrated to the United States, they could experience what other immigrants sent letters home about. Most immigrants traveled to the new world with expectations …show more content…

(6) The suddenness of the winter storm caught people by surprise. A roar “like an approaching train” was all the warning the storm gave. (130) The roaring wind and snow brought darkness and dropping temperatures. The people who were inside when the blizzard struck faced a dilemma. Staying inside and doing nothing seemed “heartless,” but going into the storm “on a rescue mission was likely to be fatal to the rescuer and useless to the lost.” (143) The people who were unfortunate enough to be away from home, whether they were at school or working with their livestock, had to make a difficult decision. They could either risk trying to make it home or chance it out and stay where they were. Schoolteachers had to decide whether to send the children home or keep them at the school. If anyone ventured outside, he or she risked frostbite, hypothermia, and likely …show more content…

“Funerals [and] surgical operations” as well as deaths from “diseases caused by the exposure” filled the weeks after the blizzard. (252) Some amputations led to infections, which brought more death to families. Most families had to resort to “pioneer funerals” which included making caskets of “whatever lumber they had on hand.” (248) The cold weather had not let up since the blizzard, making it difficult to dig graves in some areas of the prairie. The publicity from the press ensured the family of Etta Shattuck, a schoolteacher who was caught out in the storm while collecting her final paycheck, gave her a funeral that was not like any “of the other storm victims.” (248) An undertaking firm from Omaha sent Shattuck’s family a casket free of charge and her funeral was “packed to overflowing.” (247) Etta Shattuck was one of many “heroines” honored by newspapers across the

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