45 pages • 1 hour read
Bess Streeter AldrichA Lantern in Her Hand
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1928A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Lantern
In A Lantern in Her Hand, the lantern is the primary symbol that defines Abbie’s character development and the novel’s message as a whole. The lantern is a controlling metaphor, a repeated symbol that is also a motif throughout the novel. Because it is so often referenced, the lantern symbolizes leadership, resilience, strength, and motherhood. These are elements that define Abbie as the ideal pioneer woman. The lantern is both a literal lantern used while pioneering and a metaphorical light.
In literature, light is a symbol of enlightenment and guidance. When Abbie is a pioneer, she and Will are isolated from society. They and their tiny band of fellow pioneers must create their own society. Therefore, the lantern in Abbie’s hand is representative of guiding herself and others through the unknown. The pioneer journey is one marked by strife, and no one truly knows if their efforts to create a society will work. The lantern therefore operates as a symbol of faith that their dreams of a fruitful and good society will come to fruition.
When Abbie has established her home and town, the lantern then becomes a guiding light for her family. In this context, Abbie herself is the lantern. She supports her children’s dreams and helps them get out of the rural, manual labor of the farm. She invests in their dreams and guides them to become successful community leaders and artists. The lantern is further tied to Abbie as a mother when she has a difficult birth, in which “[s]he did not care especially, except for one thing. The light! She ought not lose sight of its faint gleam” (155). Abbie’s light throughout childbirth keeps her focused on her love and her family. The light helps her and her newborn baby survive the arduous birth. The light emanates from Abbie herself, highlighting her internal fortitude.
Pearl Necklace
In A Lantern in Her Hand, the pearl necklace that Abbie inherits from her mother is a symbol of beauty, aspiration, and family legacy. It is the last surviving object that proves that Abbie’s family was once nobility. It reminds Abbie of the value of hard work in her life, but it also reminds her that she is the inheritor of a legacy of wealth and elegance. Abbie therefore clings to the necklace as a symbol of what she could have been: “There was neither time nor opportunity for the things that many of us wanted, with all our hearts, to do. But we kept our eyes on a sort of gleam ahead, a hope that our boys and girls could have all the things we could not have. And so the pearls became a symbol to me of those things” (274). For Abbie, the pearl necklace keeps her focused on the future because it reminds her that she can and should work towards reestablishing her family as secure, wealthy, and happy. The pearls are the physical manifestation of her ambition.
The pearls are beautiful, but they are useless in Abbie’s frontier life; they do not serve the community or help to ease the stress of difficult farming seasons. She has no occasion or need to wear them. And yet, this tiny symbol of aesthetic beauty is what helps keep Abbie surviving through challenges. Will refuses to let her sell the pearls when they are in dire financial straits because he knows that their value is more than just financial; their value is also in reminding Abbie that as poor as they sometimes are, they are not so desperate that she needs to sacrifice the one remaining tie to her dreams and her legacy. Like the poor musician’s violin or artwork that other families keep, the pearls represent the idea that despite their poverty, they appreciate things that inspire dreams and emotions. The pearls enrich the pioneer experience by representing the idea that no human being is made only for work and sacrifice.
The pearl necklace is also a way of keeping Abbie connected to her family—past, present, and future. She wants to pass the pearls down to her children, but at her daughters’ weddings, they reject the offer because they are too happy to care about jewelry. This reveals that Abbie has done a good job raising her daughters to value love over aesthetic pleasures. When Katherine, Abbie’s granddaughter, finally accepts the pearl necklace, it is proof of a cycle come to completion. Katherine can care about fancy and pretty objects, even if they are only material goods, because her life is one of privilege. Abbie wanted a privileged life for her descendants, and the pearl necklace represents the culmination of those dreams.
Fence
In A Lantern in Her Hand, the fence that the Deal family builds around their property is a symbol of their success and fortitude. The fence is evidence that they have defeated the arduous elements of Nebraska and have solidified a real community: “By 1880 the Deal land was all fenced. The fence was a symbol,—man’s challenge to the raw west. Every fence post was a sign post” (132). The fence is a sign to passers-by that they are not in an unruly setting. The fence represents order, ownership, and belonging. The fence is built as a decoration to highlight the permanence and success of the Deal family, but it also serves the purpose of keeping out anything or anyone unwanted. In farming their land, building their dream house, and putting up a fence, the Deals become victorious over the years spent toiling through one challenge after another. The fence represents that they are no longer pioneers, that they are truly home.
