In the beginning, Charlie Hawley, who stuck up for Hattie Brooks when she first came to live with her aunt and uncle in Arlington, Iowa, was voted for by the class to be sent off at the station. He would be fighting the Kaiser in France. Hattie, constantly shuffled from one relative to another after the death of both parents at age five, was taken in by “Aunt Ivy” at thirteen. Ivy’s really not an aunt at all because “Uncle Holt” is a distant cousin to her. However, Hattie valued that they allowed her the opportunity to attend school. Every day before this, Hattie had nothing and no one except the sick people who needed help and didn’t mind an extra mouth to feed to get it. A letter from Hattie’s true uncle, Chester, would offer her the opportunity …show more content…
Brief knowledge was provided about the Kaiser in France through Charlie’s letters to Hattie. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the emperor of Germany, called for an increase in army, navy, and military strength. This frightened Great Britain and France. Militarism was one cause of World War I. It was noted that any man between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one were required to enlist for the draft and younger men were voted to be sent off. The difficulties of farming were elaborated upon, just as I learned in previous chapters this year. Storms and droughts killed crops and debt continued to pile up after the war. The Homestead Act offered land to citizens willing to settle on and farm the land, and was important in this book given that it is what Hattie chose to participate in. By including the stress that the Council of Defense members placed on their community, the amount of money and assistance they demanded was seen as extremely unreasonable. Hattie constantly encountered struggles while lending a helping hand to neighbors and the community to entertain and engage the reader. Each of the previous points relate to what I have learned this year, making for a well-researched