Meet Kirsten

Author: Janet Shaw

Kirsten Larson comes from a family of Swedish immigrants in 1854. I have a deep connection to Kirsten. It was through her stories that my mother shared our family history of immigrating from Sweden to the American Midwest.

I need to address something: I am a librarian… in Massachusetts. I travel in some VERY liberal circles. I know some people today look at a book like Meet Kirsten and would call the Larson family “white colonizers.”

It is important to remember that the Larsons are not aristocrats. The Larsons are peasent farmers. They aren’t trying to make it rich, they are just trying to make it through the winter.

If you have a warm home, clean running water and food in your belly, you have WAY more privilege than the Larsons.

Since immigration looks different for different people, I wanted to learn more about the Larsons trip to America. I consultants the companion book “Kirsten’s World” it clarifies that the Larsons are from the farming village of Ryd Sweden.

A quick Google search reveals that Ryd- which in Kirsten’s time would have been called Almundsryd- is a small Swedish suburb. In 1854 the village was ruled by the church of Sweden, which discouraged leaving the country even making it illegal for a while! 1840- the year Kirsten was BORN- was the absolute earliest the Larsons could have left Sweden! Suddenly Mama’s line about how uncle Olav left Sweden when Kirsten was three has a lot more weight.

Meeting Kirsten

So all the American Girls are introduced doing something timeless that grounds the reader in their time period.

Samantha was climbing a tree, Kirsten is playing dolls with her best friend Marta on the deck of the ship taking them to America. We see Kirsten wrap her doll up to keep warm and right here we get a peek in Kirsten’s personality. Kirsten has a strong instinct to care. More than any other girl Kirsten is symbolized by heart, having heart, keeping heart, Kirsten even wears a heart shaped necklace. Sure Samantha and Molly both have heart shaped jewelry too, but it fits Kirsten in a way it just doesn’t fit the other girls.

The ship is called the Eagle. Eagles represent freedom in Scandinavian folklore. The other ship that the Larsons take down the Mississippi River is called the Redwing named after the Redwinged Blackbirds. While Blackbirds are common in many parts of the world the redwing blackbird is native to North America. So already in the naming of the ships we are seeing a shift from old world to new world.

One thing that has always puzzled me is travel logistics. How did Marta and her parents beat the Larsons to Chicago? Marta says they are leaving a day later than kirsten. Kirsten and her family hop on a train, and when they get to Chicago, Marta and her parents are already there. How?! And after looking at the Kirsten’s World book of their travel paths I’m even more confused.

That train must have been incredibly slow!

Kirsten’s Parents

Let’s talk about the Larsons as a family. They are clearly patriarchal, Papa manages the family money. He clearly cares about keeping everyone safe and in good spirits, or “have heart” as he says, but he isn’t perfect. Papa doesn’t know what to do with emotions. He just tells his daughter not to cry right after she learns her best friend died.

I don’t think Papa Larson means to emotionally neglect his children, I think  that he wants everyone to “have heart” that he can’t handle heartbreak. I think that’s why he wants Kirsten to stop crying when Marya dies, and why he is so insistent that Kirsten leave her doll, Sari, in the trunk. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s that he doesn’t have the emotional maturity to handle negative or conflicting emotions.

Next up: Meet Molly