Chapter Three Synopsis of Discussion

Week of July 22, 2007

Chapter 3 – Up McIntosh Lane

This is a very emotional chapter. We certainly can contrast Miss Hickory's practical lifestyle with Hitty's passive lifestyle.
__________________________

This is a dramatic chapter, beginning with Miss Hickory in despair at the foot of the arbor, and Crow feeling responsible for her situation. He has to urge her through the orchard, and up the old apple tree, to the nest he has found for her. She is not completely convinced, but Crow feels that he can leave with a clear conscience, and encourages her to find things to keep her busy. He leaves on the note that Spring always comes, and Miss Hickory watches him fly south.
__________________________

It is a dramatic chapter! To lose your home to an interloper, and to be humbled into asking for help. And being forced to take help! It is quite a comedown for proud Miss Hickory. She was used to the city life and now must live in the rough.
__________________________

I am so glad Crow cared enough about Miss Hickory to seek her out at the rose trellis. I like Crow’s belief that change is good. Sometimes I think we get stuck in our problems or we are stuck in a rut. Just getting out and doing something – anything - can be good and can clear the head and perhaps open up the mind to new possibilities.

Crow is firmly forcing Miss Hickory to realize that she has grown so accustomed to “people things” that she has gotten soft. He has found her a new home and is determined to take her there. As they are headed up McIntosh Lane, Miss Hickory actually started feeling better – she again felt the energy that the woods always gave her, the exercise of trying to keep up with Crow warmed her, and her heart pounded with excitement for she believed Crow was helping her to begin a new adventure. She did think that maybe Crow had found her a small log cabin. She couldn’t understand why Crow wanted her to climb up into an apple tree in the orchard. She did it, though, and it felt very homelike to her. She finally found herself in front of a large and deep nest resting securely in the crotch of the apple tree. Before she could speak, Crow started raving about all the advantages of her new home: light and heat free whenever the sun shines, a long lease, hooks for hanging her clothes, and insulated from the cold with good country mud. Miss Hickory then looked at the nest a little differently: it was, indeed, well placed, sheltered and strong; it was cushioned with milkweed down and lined with rose-brown oak leaves. She stepped inside and “sank down deliciously into its warm comfort”; it was well suited to her size, and when she lay down, she was snug and unseen.

She started to slip back into her depression by thinking she was alone in a world that had no need of the things she left behind, but Crow reminded her that she will have plenty to do, new things to collect, new friends, new places to explore. Change can be good.

Why Are We Enjoying Miss Hickory?

Why are we having more fun with this? Is it because we don't know it or Miss Hickory so well so we feel a little freer? Miss Hickory looks so satisfied in new home; finally she has a place for the Winter! Good old Crow came through!
__________________________

I didn't comment on this yesterday, because the question really made me think....why are we enjoying her so much? I feel that on the one hand, it is probably because she is new and we don't know a lot about her or her character....but I don't think that is all of it. I think (to me) Miss Hickory represents a much different personality from Hitty. Where Hitty is firm but polite, Miss Hickory is often rude and outspoken. Where Hitty is (in the book) passive, Miss Hickory is very take-charge. Where Hitty is, well, 'sacred' to most of us—Miss Hickory is open to our interpretations! I feel that with Miss Hickory I can play more, and I am not constrained to accept the good nature or understanding nature of a Hitty. Miss Hickory is often prickly, rude, and thoughtless, while also being kind and generous.
__________________________

I also think that Hitty lives forever and can take her time, while Miss Hickory is usually a little behind, and rushed to find quick answers. That makes many of us more inclined to be rude or abrupt. Miss Hickory has the proverbial heart of gold, which she hides behind her prickly exterior. Miss Hickory lives only 2 or 3 years as we know her.
__________________________

Very well said. I think she definitely has a unique character of her own and I really like her, too.
__________________________

I've been surprising myself at how much I like Miss Hickory and I agree that I don't feel constrained with her. In my mind Miss Hickory has a huge range of emotions and is growing and learning so there will be even more to come. Of course my Miss Hickory will not have the same ending as the book and will continue to grow and develop as she continues to live here with the Flatiron Hittys. There's something about that nut head that is very endearing. Kind of like ET!
__________________________

I think Miss Hickory is easier in some ways to identify with. We all have our moments when we are not our best and may come across as rude or cranky. We might not even realize that's how we sound. I don't think Miss Hickory is trying to be those things, she's just trying to cope with what are for her very challenging circumstances. Now Hitty is always the perfect lady, which is a wonderful ideal, but not really realistic. I know I couldn't live up to it!
__________________________

I agree with your assessment! I also think that Hitty lives forever and can take her time, while Miss Hickory is usually a little behind, and rushed to find quick answers. That makes many of us more inclined to be rude or abrupt. Miss Hickory has the proverbial heart of gold, which she hides behind her prickly exterior. Miss Hickory lives only 2 or 3 years as we know her.
__________________________

I think you are right about Miss Hickory. She has so many things we all have in our lives.
__________________________

For me Miss Hickory is a story I can identify with more than Hitty – I used to play a lot of "survival" type games with my dolls in trees and hedgerows.

I like how flustered she gets compared with Hitty's calm and accepting demeanor.
__________________________

That may be why she is finding a good home here on the list! Because she's a lot more like us. Hitty is who I would like to be and Miss Hickory is closer to my real life - although I never had to live in a nest.
___________________________

She gets flustered like I do at times, te he he, has a lot of my qualities I am sorry to say,
__________________________

I don't like her as much as Hitty...I'm sorry. Boo. She is just NOT Inspiring me as much. But then I do have Miss rude Hitty Bookish to keep me on my toes and the Bittys are quite mischievous as well, so perhaps I don't feel the need for that in my life. Also, my DH and my daughter (a little bit) are a tad curmudgeon-y, so Hitty's sweet nature is just what I need. I DO love Elise's little cabin house though. I want one of those just for me!
__________________________

Cranky! Yes! I think I identify with that part--I am often impatient and cranky. Whereas Hitty is always a lot calmer and wiser than I feel.
__________________________

I personally am enjoying Miss Hickory because I was actually acquainted with her first. I met her in the library when I was 8 years old. It is fun getting reacquainted.
__________________________

I don't think MH is inspiring at all--certainly not in the way Hitty is. But she is fun!
__________________________

See. Maybe I just need to get going on it. I will admit, I PRE-read the book; and the ending, which I will NOT discuss, gave me an opinion that has made play hard. Was that cryptic enough?
__________________________

I was shocked at the end, but have decided that, like Ash Grove Academy's MH, mine is acting in a Miss Hickory production and will come back to her own cabin at the end of the run. I enjoy her cantankerous, stubborn little self too much to put her away. Like our Beccasine, she will visit the Hittys on occasion, but not live with them.
__________________________

I pre-read the book too, and after some soul-searching and discussion decided that Bonsai Miss Hickory will have a different ending from the book! She wants to live near, not with, the Bonsai Hittys and be their prickly friend. Of course that is easy, since she really, really, really wanted her own corncob house, which SOMEONE thoughtfully and carefully assembled especially for her.
__________________________

I think another reason I like this story is because Miss Hickory can walk, climb, skate, etc. and she eats - just like my dolls used to when I played with them as a child. There's always such a difference in doll stories where the dolls can move and where they can't. (I used to like the books where the dolls could move once the children were sleeping.
__________________________

Me too! When I young girl reading, I was amazed that dolls had a magic world of their own, where trees and dolls talked. There was the raggedy's and then came Miss Hickory. Boy, did she take my imagination a step further than I had been. Then came "The Borrowers" and "FANTASIA". My wish had come true!!!

HOME