If you’re interested in (Canadian) history or in learning more about the settling of North America, Roughing It In the Bush is priceless. Susanna Moodie tells us about her journey from England to Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1832, what the conditions were like, and what the people were like. What I like most about this book are the stories and descriptions of all the people/characters they come across in their travels; friends, neighbours, servants and scallywags. It is also fascinating to be inside the head of a young woman from almost 200 years ago, newly married with a young family, coping with being far from home with little hope of returning, and learning how to live in a new world where all the rules have changed.
Reasons NOT TO Emigrate from England to Canada in 1832 and Proceed to Live in the Bush:
- Severe homesickness.
- Strange people who don’t understand you or care about your deprivations.
- Lack of privacy.
- Having to squeeze your family and servants all into tiny shacks and cabins.
- Your servants, your neighbours, and everyone else think they are just as good as you are and demand fair treatment. This does not necessarily apply in the case of Indigenous people or people of African descent.
- You will most likely end up with crass and nosey neighbours who like to swear and who want to “borrow” all your nice things.
- Extreme temperatures.
- Extreme workload. Heavy toiling in the fields/woods/house.
- You will probably be swindled out of all your money, or lose it all paying servants to do all the heavy toiling for you. Then you will be left with very little to eat and will be doing all the heavy toiling yourself.
- The dark woods with bears and wolves (and cows).
- Dangerous fires, most likely to happen when your husband is not at home.
- Frequent illness, mostly The Ague.
- Even worse, back flies. Nothing is worse than the black flies.
- If you are a married woman, you may be pregnant and giving birth much of the time, and during much of the above, making everything on this list exponentially worse.
Reasons TO Emigrate to Canada in 1832 and Endure All the Things Listed Above:
- Despite all the things listed above, or maybe because of it, you will form a fierce pride and love for your new country.
- You will feel as though everything you have sacrificed and endured was for the benefit of your offspring and for others coming after you, and this feeling will give you the warm fuzzies.
- The beauty of your new country will wash away all your feelings of homesickness, and you may also be able to use it to make some extra money. For example, by painting pictures on giant fungi and selling them. Or by writing a book.
- Optimistic and a good sport.
- Sometimes overly dramatic.
- Surprisingly funny, and able to make fun of herself. (eg. fear of cows and wild animals)
- Aware of the differences in society between England and Canada, and willing to adjust to them.
- Always prepared to help someone out, or to let them “borrow” something they might need, even though she knows she may never see it again.
- The chapters of the book provided by Mr. Moodie are more about the economics and politics of the area at the time. Perhaps valuable and interesting to some, but you may find them to be a little dry and long-winded.
- He seems to be a decent guy. No sign of abuse, neglect, or strong attachments to the bottle. He also seems to have a deep affection for his wife and children. I’ll let you know if I find out differently in any further reading.
- Mr. Moodie and Susanna both wrote a lot of poems and songs about Canada and their experiences, many of which are included in the book.
- Susanna seemed to revel in the study of other people, much to the delight of this reader.
- Bold, generalizing comparisons are made between Canadians, Americans, and Europeans. “The great fault of the Canadian character is the unwillingness to admit the just claims of education and talent, however unpretending, to some share of consideration. In this respect the Americans of the United States are greatly superior to the Canadians, because they are better educated and their country longer settled.” Huh.
- A whole chapter is devoted to “our Indian friends”, and her impressions of them. It’s interesting to read her thoughts about what she thinks versus what was generally believed to be true at the time. “It is a melancholy truth, and deeply to be lamented, that the vicinity of European settlers has always produced a very demoralising effect upon the Indians.”
- Many individual character sketches are also made – these are probably the most entertaining part of the book.
- Odd Tom Wilson, who came to Canada ahead of the Moodies but turned around and went home again after running out of money and becoming completely and utterly sick of pork and mosquitoes. “The best part of me I have left to fatten the mosquitoes and black flies in that infernal bush.”
- The man who gave his sons a “strong aversion to drink” by deliberately making them very drunk at the age of 5. It worked on all his sons, but one.
- Old Jenny, who is just as much at home out in the fields as in the house with Susanna. Whenever there is threat of a wild animal, she comes running with her knife to “help”.
- Probably my favourite story is about “the Little Stumpy Man”. He came to the house one day for a night’s lodging and stayed for 9 months. All he did was complain about everything, including the food he was served, and did very little to help out. He had an affection for the Moodies’ little son, but was quite nasty to their girls. One day he asked little Katie for a kiss in exchange for some raspberries and she raged back at him, calling him the ‘Little Stumpy Man’. If you only read one chapter from this book, it should be this one.
At the end of the book, there is an Introductory Chapter to the 1871 Edition of Roughing It In the Bush, in which Susanna contrasts Canada of 1871 with Canada of 40 years before. She talks about the leaps and bounds Canada has made in terms of growth in population size, towns and cities, art and culture, science and literature, and education (perhaps we had caught up a bit to the Americans by this time). But most significantly, she talks about the freedom of living in the new world; the freedom of religion, politics, speech, and socialization.
Susanna’s older sister and brother were both already settled in Upper Canada when the Moodies came over. And, being from a literary family, they both have also written books about their experiences in Canada; The Backwoods of Canada by Catherine Parr Traill and Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West V1 by Samuel Strickland. Susanna has written other books, including Life in the Clearings, a sequel to Roughing It In the Bush.
Charlotte Gray has written a book about Susanna and Catherine, and their family, that I’m excited to get to, called Sisters In the Wilderness.
Coming this spring is a graphic version of Roughing It In the Bush for younger readers, called Susanna Moodie: Roughing It In the Bush. Created by Carol Shields and Patrick Crowe, illustrated by Selena Goulding, and with a foreword by Margaret Atwood.