Essay Questions

What obstacles does Sarah have to overcome? Why does she decide to stay with Jacob, Anna, and Caleb when she misses the sea so much?

For her whole life, Sarah has lived by the sea on the coast of Maine. She has always been close to the crashing, salty waves and the sand dunes. So when she comes to the prairie she is homesick for her beloved ocean. The prairie is very different than the sea. There is no sand, there is much less wind, there are no barking seals, and there is no sea. She also misses her brother and three aunts.This is a lot of things to be missing. She has to overcome this homesickness and change and accept it if she wants to stay. Sarah's biggest challenge, and the thing she had to overcome, happened inside her. It was not a physical obstacle, it was an internal obstacle she had to face. She had to change her mindset. It was overcoming her homesickness and accepting the change and wonder of a new chapter in her life on the prairie. Though she misses her home by the sea so much, she decides to stay with Jacob, Anna, and Caleb because she realizes that she, "would miss...[them] more." After getting to know them, Sarah has come to care for and love them and she realized that she would miss her new family more than the sea, so she decides to stay and be the mother and wife to Jacob, Anna, and Caleb.

What are the similarities between Maggie and Sarah? How does Maggie help Sarah?

Maggie came to the prairie because of an ad in the newspaper, just like Sarah. Maggie is from Tennessee and moved to the prairie to be the wife of Matthew and mother to Rose and Violet. Sarah moved from Maine to be the wife of Jacob and mother to Anna and Caleb. Maggie says that she, "miss[es] the hills of Tennessee sometimes." Sarah says, "I miss the sea." They both moved to the prairie to be a wife and mother, but they both also had to give something up. Maggie gave up the Tennessee hills and Sarah will give up the "blue and gray and green" ocean. Sarah struggles with giving up her sea, so Maggie helps her. Maggie tells Sarah, "There are always things to miss... No matter where you are." Because of this Sarah comes to the realization that she will miss her sea, but she would miss Jacob, Anna and Caleb more. Maggie has sympathy for Sarah because she is also in a similar situation.

What are Anna's and Caleb's feelings toward Sarah and having a mother again? What are the similarities? What are the differences?

Unlike Caleb, Anna can remember her mother a little bit. She remembers her "Mama and Papa standing that way...her hair fair against Papa's shoulder." She remembers that her mother used to sing, "Every-single-day," with her father. Caleb can't remember any of this, so he is super excited for Sarah to come and so he can have a mother again. Anna is also excited for Sarah to come and to have a mother again, but she feels a bit differently because she remembers her late mother. She feels a bit guilty because the night before her mother died she went to sleep disagreeing with her mother and not saying good night. But though she feels this, she is also excited for Sarah to come. They both are a bit nervous though, wondering what Sarah is like and whether she will like them.

Caleb is extremely talkative and outgoing towards Sarah when she arrives but Anna is much more shy and reserved. But they both like Sarah and want her to stay. But Sarah misses the sea so much, and they fear that she will choose the sea over them. Caleb is afraid that he is, "loud and pesky," so Sarah wants to leave. "Caleb began to cry, and I[Anna] took him inside the barn where we could both cry." They are both very worried Sarah will leave them. When Sarah goes to town alone, Anna and Caleb are afraid that she is boarding a train and won't come back. When night falls, they watch the road nervously until they see a "cloud of dust," signaling that Sarah is back. That makes them both happy, especially when she tells them that she is there to stay. Both Anna and Caleb love Sarah and are really happy that she decided to stay and be their mother.

What are Jacob's feelings toward Sarah?

Jacob is the one who puts the ad in the newspaper for a wife and Sarah responds. He wants to have a wife and a mother to take care of his children. Sarah responds with a letter that tells a bit about her and asks to know more about Jacob and his family. After a few letter exchanges Sarah writes that she, "will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall." Jacob drives to the train station to pick her up. While she stays for a month, to see if she wants to stay, Jacob doesn't say much. He is quite shy with Sarah and lets Caleb do most of the talking. But he does have fun with Sarah, Anna, and Caleb, laughing when they slide down the hay dune and having a picnic with friends. After a while he warms up to her and, "put his arm around her, and leaned over to rest his chin in her hair." He also, "smiled at Sarah..." Jacob, though quiet and shy around Sarah, grows to care for and love her, as Sarah does back for him.

Jacob also has much trust in Sarah for when asked by his children where Sarah has gone alone in the wagon he replies, "'I don't know...Sarah is Sarah. She does things her way, you know." This shows that he trusts Sarah that she will come back, for he let her go to town alone. It also shows that he admires her character, a strong person with a mind of her own who will not be bossed around. He loves Sarah and she loves Jacob that, "Soon there will be a wedding." "Sarah is smiling at my [Anna's] father." and "...when the preacher asks if he will have Sarah for his wife, he will answer, 'Ayuh'" This all shows that even though at first Jacob was shy around Sarah, he grows to care for and love her. He doesn't want her to go back to the sea, he wants to marry her. And that is exactly what happens at the end of the book.