84 pages • 2 hours read

Prairie Lotus

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-12

Chapters 13-17

Chapters 18-22

Chapters 23-Author’s Note

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

The Lotus

The image of the lotus flower is important to Hanna. It is inextricably tied to her memories of Mama. Mama taught Hanna to sew on a small piece of muslin using a stitched lotus for Hanna to copy for practice. Hanna keeps this piece of muslin and brings it with her to LaForge. Hanna also recalls how Mama stitched a tiny lotus into each piece of sewing she completed in their old shop in Los Angeles, and Hanna intends to do the same when she is a dressmaker, symbolizing her appreciation for her mother’s instruction and her own step in maturity as a skilled worker. Despite her emotional turmoil as she completes the green dress for the shop opening, Hanna remembers to add the lotus to the collar before Papa reveals it to the opening crowd. Papa also thinks of the lotus as an important symbol of Mama’s memory and their family. In one of his few emotional allowances in the book, he surprises Hanna with the shop’s new sign, which includes the image of a lotus.

The lotus is a significant symbol in many cultures and geographic locations with a long history of significance in visual art. The lotus can represent purity, rebirth and resilience, enlightenment, and love, depending on the color of the petals. The book’s title refers to Hanna and her resilient spirit.

Mirrors

Mama’s large and impressive mirror that Hanna recalls hanging in the Los Angeles shop symbolizes Mama’s contentment with her own role and identity. She chose love over convention and law; she wanted to sew and make dresses; and she raised Hanna to be well-mannered and skilled. She also had a heart that sought to help others, even if it meant danger for herself. Papa reveals that others assumed Mama was more of a servant than a wife to him, but Hanna wisely addresses Mama’s desire to work as the talented seamstress and dressmaker she wanted to be: “Mama must have known what people were thinking […] but she went ahead and worked in the shop anyway” (163). When Hanna wants a mirror for the LaForge shop, Papa refuses, indicating Hanna will not be making any clothes. He is too concerned about the town’s opinion, her age, her talents, her level of responsibility to allow her to pursue this work. By the end of the story, though, Papa comes to accept Hanna’s talent, business-sense, and goals, as well as her maturity and opinions. When he provides a new mirror for her dressmaking role, the mirror helps to show the young woman that Hanna becomes over the course of the novel: a strong and resilient worker like Mama with a strong sense of self.

Sewing and Stitches

Sewing and the various kinds of stitches Hanna and Bess use in creating the green dress represent a challenge for Hanna, one that she is determined to complete on time and to a degree of excellence. The basting stitches she directs Bess to use symbolize an investment of time and care in one’s work. As Mama told Hanna, “To save time, take time” (175). The buttonhole stitches which both girls detest represent the unlikable jobs one must tackle to see a project through to completion. Bess works to hem the dress in stitches that will keep it from wearing out on the floor; these represent one’s forethought. Hanna uses replacement stitches to correct the mistake she made in cutting the bodice to small; these stitches symbolize how one learns from making and righting mistakes. Finally, Hanna remembers in the middle of the night that the dress is not complete without her signature of lotus stitches. They symbolize pride and ownership in her work.

Sewing is beneficial to Hanna in more than one way in the book. Despite her panic as Mr. Swenson attempt to strongarm her, she shouts at him that she can sew up his loose button, which distracts him long enough to allow her to flee. It serves as a connection to her mother, a haven when she needs it, and a path for her career plans. Sewing provides Hanna with a safe and profitable livelihood for the future even when Papa grows old, and in the moment, it works to help ease her transition to living among the LaForge townspeople.