One of the great coming-of-age novels, Jean Webster’s Daddy-Long-Legs is the story of an orphan who is sent to college by an anonymous benefactor on one condition: that she write him one letter reporting her progress each month. Having lived in an orphanage since babyhood, Judy (as the books protagonist calls herself) is hungry for something more. Knowing only that her benefactor was tall and wealthy, Judy created a fatherly figure named Daddy-Long-Legs in her mind. Throughout her college career, she affectionately wrote to him as though he were a close family member.
Judy’s letters, with their rich, warm, and amusing tone, make it easy to fall in love with her as she fell in love with the life of a college student. Her spirit, intelligence, and drive inspire readers to keep actively interested in the happenings of Judy’ life.
Written during a time when women weren’t allowed to vote and even the issue of ‘higher education’ for women received quite a bit of criticism, Daddy-Long-Legs was quite forward-thinking for its day. During the 1800s, many orphanages were much more intent on raising their female charges to be competent servants, than in sending them off to college. On the question of higher education, schooling was assumed to be an unnecessary evil that would damage both the femininity and brains of female students.
Through this delightful story, which even features a romantic twist, Jean Webster was able to promote the importance of being well-educated, kind, and progressive in thinking. Written in a captivating but careful manner, Daddy-Long-Legs conveyed Webster’s revolutionary ideas in a way that charmed, instead of offended, her readers.
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