Farmer Boy

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1933

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-29

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Half-Dollar

The story uses the half-dollar to symbolize the value of hard work, maturity, and learning life lessons. Almanzo learns that only through work can one be rewarded with money, which can buy both wants, such as lemonade, and needs, such as clothing or a farming tool. The half-dollar is the largest amount of money Almanzo has ever been given. Father makes sure Almanzo understands it’s worth much more than the nickel he asked for, thus instilling a priceless lesson about the value of hard work:

Father looked at him a long time. Then he took out his wallet and opened it, and slowly he took out a round, big silver half-dollar. He asked: ‘Almanzo, do you know what this is?’ ‘Half a dollar,’ Almanzo answered. ‘Yes. But do you know what half a dollar is?’ Almanzo didn’t know it was anything but half a dollar. ‘It’s work, son,’ Father said. [...] ‘That’s what’s in this half-dollar, Almanzo. The work that raised half a bushel of potatoes is in it.’ Almanzo looked at the round piece of money that Father held up. It looked small, compared with all that work (182).

Almanzo recognizes that hours of sweaty, physical work turn into money, learning money should be valued highly for all the time, effort, and strain that goes into earning it. Thus, Almanzo knows he shouldn’t spend money needlessly or without thought behind it. He intentionally chooses to purchase Lucy the piglet because he knows Lucy will have babies in the future, which he can sell for more money. The pattern of working hard for rewards doesn't reflect greed but a respect for putting in effort to have a prosperous life. The half-dollar reflects this lesson of respecting the hard work one must do to earn a single dollar and taking time to carefully decide how to spend one’s money.

Horses

The many horses on the farm and in the larger community symbolize strength, power, freedom, and goal-setting. Mirroring the people, horses have similar dedication to work the land and serve as companions and trusted partners in farming life. In addition, during the period in which the novel is set, horses were valued as the main mode of travel and as workers on farms. In the novel’s context, horses pull buggies, wagons, plows, and tillers. Horses are admired, especially by Almanzo, throughout the book, which gives many descriptions of their beauty and strength. Besides representing strength and power for travel and farm work, horses love to run and be free. In one scene, they even stampede over Almanzo as they run through the pasture, showing their independent spirit and proving Father’s lesson that training horses requires gentle, patient work rather than trying to harshly break their free spirits and control them. Because Almanzo loves horses, he desires a horse of his own more than anything in the world. He yearns to raise his own colt, spending much of the story dutifully doing his chores and proving to Father that he can accomplish more advanced tasks, like wood hauling with Bright and Star, so that he may be given a horse to train. Thus, horses symbolize goal-setting for Almanzo, since his ultimate goal is to have a colt for himself. He finally earns his companion, Starlight, by the novel’s conclusion.

The Harvest and Seasons

Two harvest seasons occur each year, and this cyclical event symbolizes the rewards of labor, the cycle of life, and the importance of planning and preparation. Harvesting the crops, which have grown for months, is the culmination of hard work, cooperation, and self-sustainability. Almanzo and his family can harvest robust, healthy crops only because they put hours of diligent daily effort into caring for the crops, such as watering them, tending the soil, and pulling weeds. Harvest seasons are extremely important to farm life, as the family must follow along with the crop’s growth and listen to the land to prosper. In the cycle of life, the crops start as seeds, are planted and grow into tiny buds, become full plants, and then become fully grown crops that are finally edible. The crops are then ready to be picked, cleaned, and stored. Almanzo’s family expertly prepares the soil, tilling it to a rich brown, for the next planting. In this cyclical pattern of planting and harvesting the land, they also know how to store the crops so that they won’t mold or go bad and how to prepare the crops as meals for their family and the animals.

Likewise, Almanzo’s family must follow seasonal and weather patterns to have successful crops. The book uses a linear timeline following the seasons, starting in January and ending in the next year’s spring. Through this structure, the story details how the seasons and weather play a big role in the characters’ actions; the weather rules farm life. For example, they can plant only after the ground is thawed and they can till the land for seeds. They’d never be able to plant seeds in the middle of winter, given the snow and hard ground. Multiple times, the characters must work together to adapt to the weather, such as when they must pull the potatoes early due to frost to save the crop.