When Carol Kennicott arrives in Gopher Prairie, her dissatisfaction with the town is immediately noticeable. The townspeople refuse to change their old-fashioned ways, and are more concerned with gossip than reform. The opposition and judgment Carol constantly faces urges her to find solace elsewhere, starting with the fields and forests that surround the town. Nature soon becomes the only space where Carol can be herself, and from this relief grows a connection that ultimately transforms the countryside into a place Carol can call her own.
The audience first meets Carol in college, where she is young and gracious. She prides herself in how well developed her worldview is, and once she marries Will she cannot wait to make a name for herself…show more content… When Carol notices that her youth is beginning to disappear, she begins to search for an elixir of life and comes across Erik Valborg. The problem with Erik is that he is not a place that Carol can escape to, but a person. The result of spending too much time with Erik is similar to when she lets the college girl inside her free by jumping into a puddle, and “saw that in a window three old women were gasping. Their triple glare was paralyzing. Across the street, at another window, the curtain had secretively moved. She stopped, walked on sedately, changed from the girl Carol into Mrs. Dr. Kennicott” (Lewis 64). Nature is the only space where she can leave the weight of maturity behind, as earlier in the story “Carol walked from town into flashing country hysteric with new life. One enchanted hour when she returned to youth and a belief in the possibility of beauty” (Lewis 113). Even in the cold of winter, Carol finds herself overlooking the temperature while sledding, as “the words and the light blurred into one vast indefinite happiness, and she believed that some great thing was coming to her” (Lewis 161). While Erik may be a quick fix for Carol to feel young again, she realizes she will never be able to fully act on her urges without guilt, and he then leaves the town. Meanwhile, the open fields and forests are constantly faithful, and Carol can flee to nature without fear of criticism from the townspeople. Her youth may not be fully restored within the trees and along the railroad, but the countryside still exhilarates Carol enough to feel accepted and satisfied with her
