A Lantern in Her Hand

A Lantern in Her Hand emphasizes the importance of family. The novel is set in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when family units relied on one another for survival. Families lived and worked together so they could all eat and prosper. The reliance that individuals had on their families placed the family unit on a necessarily high pedestal. In this novel, the family is also the source of love, which empowers people to survive and find joy in otherwise challenging circumstances.

Growing up, Abbie is close to her family. But when she becomes a wife, mother, and then a grandmother, she discovers that the power of love and the importance of family lies in the never-ending and constant love she gives to her descendants. Abbie learns that “[t]here is no division nor subtraction in the heart-arithmetic of a good mother. There are only addition and multiplication” (85). This communicates that motherhood is valuable because it is—or should be—a limitless resource. Once Abbie becomes a mother, her life is automatically devoted to the well-being and happiness of her children over her own pleasures and other ambitions.

As idyllic as motherhood sometimes feels, Abbie’s complex