The Social Criticism of Ole Edvart R�lvaag

Abstract

by NEIL T.ECKSTEIN 5 The Social Criticism of Ole Edvart R0lvaag Ole world Edvart inheritance, R0lvaag, possessed highly conscious the dual of orientation his oldworld inheritance, possessed the dual orientation which seems necessary for objectivity and perspective in evaluating a culture; yet in his social criticism, as in his economic and political criticisms, he failed to achieve the remarkable perspicacity of an Alexis de Tocqueville, a Lord Bryce, or a Thorstein Vehlen. Perhaps this failure may be accounted for by the limited nature of his exposure to the mainstream of American society. Nevertheless, R0lvaag, with some display of critical acumen, probed deeply into American domestic institutions, examining the role of women in our society, evaluating American education, and assessing our religious attitudes. His resistance to the "Americanizing " process and his conviction that the unique cultural values of the Norwegian immigrants should be conserved determined the character and tone of his social criticism. In the fictionalized account of his earliest experiences in South Dakota as a farm hand and student, recorded in Amerika-breve, R0lvaag noted that women were well treated in America - perhaps too well treated. Per Smevik, the fictitious writer of these letters, is rather taken aback that men in America milked cows and did other barnyard chores normally done by their wives and daughters on a Norwegian farm. These early observations were not unusual. Most forili THE SOCIAL CRITICISM OP OLE EDVART R0LVAAG eign observers throughout the nineteenth century noted the unique status of women in America. As Francis Grund expressed it: "There is one particular sentiment pervading all classes of Americans, which, though something similar exists in England, is in no other country carried to the same extent, or productive of the same consequences. I mean the universal respect for women, and the protection offered them, to whatever order of society they may belong." 1 This author saw the domestic virtue of the Americans as the principal source of all their other qualities, and their belief in it as something reinforced by powerful moral and religious sanctions. In R0lvaag, the idea was quite clearly derived from his orthodox religious position. The Norwegian immigrant communities in South Dakota and Minnesota, which formed the vantage point of R0lvaag 's observations of American society, had accepted the so-called "Victorian" codes. It was the initial absence of the restraints of family and tradition on the frontier that had led to the establishment of stricter rules of moral discipline than the immigrants had known in the Old World. According to Marcus L. Hansen, this "Puritanism" was a typical outgrowth of the acculturation experience of the immigrants .2 The historian points out an interesting parallel from New England history, noting that John Winthrop had observed that crime and disorder began to appear very early among the Massachusetts Bay settlers. But the ministers and the magistrates conferred, and as a result a stricter code was introduced. "The next morning they delivered their several reasons, which all sorted to this conclusion, that strict discipline both in criminal offenses and in marital affairs , was more needful in plantations than in a settled state, as tending to the honor and safety of the gospel." 2 1 Francis J. Grund, The Americans in Their Moral , Social, and Political Relations , 169 (Boston, 1837) . 'Marcus L. Hansen, "Immigration and Puritanism," in Norwegian-American Studies and Records , 9: 6 (Northfield, Minnesota, 1936) . 8 John Winthrop, History of New England from 1630 to 16JĻ9 , 1:212 (Boston, 1863). 113 Neil T. Eckstein In Peder Victorious, Oline Tuftan, a young girl, kills her illegitimate child and is brought to a strict accounting for her act before a congregational meeting. R0lvaag implies that the immigrant community was under a stricter observance of the moral code than had been the case in the Old World: "As his [Peder s' mother and he walked along over to the wagon they passed a group of men who stood talking. One of them was saying in low tones: 'A fellow can't fool with the girls over here - in the old country a brat or two didn't make much difference!' Laughing, another added: 'Well, you've got to be smarter about it here, you...