a couple questions

A couple things which I couldn't help wondering were realistic are:

Would Mrs. Simms and Laura really have been able to return to teaching after only a month or so on maternity leave? Nowadays, there are nannies and daycare centers, but are we really to believe their husbands were able to take care of a newborn and running a farm as well? I know Mrs. Simms had Luke as well, but I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him in charge of a newborn.

In "Whisper Country", were there really people as one-dimensional as Ms. Peele? Unless I'm missing something, her only motive for wanting the school closed was because she didn't want others to learn to read. A situation such as that doesn't quite ring true to me.

whitelighter wrote:

A couple things which I couldn't help wondering were realistic are:

Would Mrs. Simms and Laura really have been able to return to teaching after only a month or so on maternity leave? Nowadays, there are nannies and daycare centers, but are we really to believe their husbands were able to take care of a newborn and running a farm as well? I know Mrs. Simms had Luke as well, but I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him in charge of a newborn.

In "Whisper Country", were there really people as one-dimensional as Ms. Peele? Unless I'm missing something, her only motive for wanting the school closed was because she didn't want others to learn to read. A situation such as that doesn't quite ring true to me.

Yes; there were people you could hire to take care of your babies or sick relatives. Laura was herself hired to take care of a sick lady of Master's family when she was twelve and they had just returned from Burr Oak to live again in Walnut Grove.

There were some states in which married women couldn't teach, but it seems that time to time, people from isolated communities would hire married women as a teacher. I've read in Donald Zochert's book, that Miss Beadle ( whose name was not Eva and her real last name was BEDAL) was really a Mrs. and was the postmaster's wife. Her name was Clementina. The only Eva Bedal in town was..three years old.

Yes; I should als want to know what motivations Mrs. Peel could have to close the school and hate people learning new things. She wouldn't act this way for she was merely "a bad person". I wish that this kind of characters must be analyzed in a more deep and mature way.

Vanesa.

In pioneer days, women were NOT allowed to teach after they married, much less be out in public while being "with child". So, for Mrs. Simms and Laura to go back to teaching after having their babies, was not a realistic thing at all.....In fact, having Caroline teach or Mrs. Oleson, was a big no no....it just didn't happen....it was strange how the envelope was pushed to the edge on that one.

Here is my take on Miss Peele....there were people like that, and still are....especially those that quote the Bible wrong and try to make you believe it. To me, it was sad how she had that whole town wrapped around her finger and they did every little thing she told them because they had so much fear in her......She was very controling and the fear she struck in those people was unbelievable....even the men were afraid of her......

Mrs. Peele also intersted me a great deal. I wish we could know more about her. She must have had some reason act how she did. Do you think it's implied that she's going to change after Mary's talk?

Ok, well my main reason for wondering is that in my fanfic I'm trying to stick to the tv show, except change a few things I never thought were realistic.

So... even if they made an exception and let Ms. Bedal continue teaching after she married, certainly she'd have had to resign before her pregnancy began to show. And I doubt Mary would've been ready to be the new permanent teacher so they'd have had to hire a new one.

In fact it seems unrealistic that Mary taught in "Whisper Country" when she had just turned 15 and didn't have a teaching certificate. Plus Ms. Peele did seem far-fetched, but this was a powerful episode (imo) because it was the last one to center around Mary before she went blind, so I was trying to think of ways to make it more realistic.

"Whisper country" I think is one of the best episodes. Not a happy one by any means, but the portrayal of Miss Peel by that actress was astounding. You don't see that caliber of acting on TV today. Nor this caliber of TV show. Sad.

easyt72000 wrote:

"Whisper country" I think is one of the best episodes. Not a happy one by any means, but the portrayal of Miss Peel by that actress was astounding. You don't see that caliber of acting on TV today. Nor this caliber of TV show. Sad.

She was very good!

Harrietfan wrote:

easyt72000 wrote:

"Whisper country" I think is one of the best episodes. Not a happy one by any means, but the portrayal of Miss Peel by that actress was astounding. You don't see that caliber of acting on TV today. Nor this caliber of TV show. Sad.

She was very good!

Yes. She is a great actress and portrais Miss Peel wonderfully.

But I wonder how Miss Peel managed to have the whole town wraped around her finger (as Rhonda said above). Why people was afraid of her? And besides...Was it that common at the end of XIX century to have a woman as a priest? I know she is not exactly a priest, but she acted this way, since the only reverend who could go to this place visited there only few times in the whole year...

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

Harrietfan wrote:

easyt72000 wrote:

"Whisper country" I think is one of the best episodes. Not a happy one by any means, but the portrayal of Miss Peel by that actress was astounding. You don't see that caliber of acting on TV today. Nor this caliber of TV show. Sad.

She was very good!

Yes. She is a great actress and portrais Miss Peel wonderfully.

But I wonder how Miss Peel managed to have the whole town wraped around her finger (as Rhonda said above). Why people was afraid of her? And besides...Was it that common at the end of XIX century to have a woman as a priest? I know she is not exactly a priest, but she acted this way, since the only reverend who could go to this place visited there only few times in the whole year...

Vanesa.

I think she had that kind of authoritative personality. She brainwashed the comunity into beliving her. It's like these other extreme religious cults and sects like FDS or the Branch Davidians In my opinion.

So do people think in real life Mary would've been able to get a teaching certificate that young? I think the idea that they'd let her teach without one is ridiculous. I know Laura was underage too when she got hers but that was an exceptional case and she was only two weeks shy of sixteen. I think Mary's even younger in this episode though it's not clear exactly how old. "Turning fifteen" or thereabouts I would guess.

whitelighter wrote:

So do people think in real life Mary would've been able to get a teaching certificate that young? I think the idea that they'd let her teach without one is ridiculous. I know Laura was underage too when she got hers but that was an exceptional case and she was only two weeks shy of sixteen. I think Mary's even younger in this episode though it's not clear exactly how old. "Turning fifteen" or thereabouts I would guess.

I don't know if she could get it being so young. As you've said, Laura did...But I don't think Mary got a teaching certificate in this episode. I think she is doing what in Argentine we call "practices". That's a teacher's student who must perform as a real teacher while he/she gets the actual certificate. In our country (and I think that in other parts of the world is the same way), these performances are part of the learning of this teacher students. They are even qualified and if they didn'ty do their practice in a good way, they must redo them, as if they fail in any other subject.

Mary didn't got any certificate in this episode. She only performs as a teacher before getting it, a little like medicine students would do...THis makes any sense?

Vanesa.

I guess that's possible, especially since this community was so desparate for a teacher, but I still think it should've been addressed in the episode. Also, why didn't Mary wear her hair up? Doesn't seem propper for her to wear it down. (and where's her glasses in this episode -she would have needed them for entering names in her role-book).

And can someone adress my question about what the walnut grove school would've done once Ms. Bedal married? Mary wasn't old enough or qualified yet to be a permanent teacher.

I agree. Michael Landon had Melissa Sue Anderson around with her hair hanging down, only to show how nice it was...She even wore it loose AFTER be married, a thing that was unnacceptable back then.

I don't know which teacher would Walnut Grove have after Miss Bedal-Beadle motherhood. Pssible thei would hire a teacher for the community, as Laura was hired for Bouchie's school and such, in waiting of Mary being 16.

Vanesa.