PLOT (Structure)

The novel is divided into five parts. The first part introduces Carol -the heroine of the novel. Her temperament and aspirations are elaborated upon in this part. Her work as a librarian and Kennicott's wooing her is also described in this part. The second part deals with her marriage and elaborates on her fears of life as the wife of Dr. Kennicott in the small prairie town. It also deals with her attempts to bring about the changes, she desires to effect in Gopher Prairie, and the opposition she has to face from the people of the town. She sees her husband as a typical man of Gopher Prairie and gets to know him better. The third part describes her house warming party in which Carol makes a statement about her taste and attitude followed by the details of the trials and tribulations of Carol as a reformer of the smug town. The fourth part is the thirty-sixth chapter, which may be called the climax of the story because Carol walks out of her marriage and Gopher Prairie. The following two chapters form the fifth part which describes Carol's work in Washington. Then follows the description of Kennicott wooing Carol for the second time. It is followed by the fifth part that describes her reconciliation to life in Gopher Prairie and it also reunites Carol and Kennicott.

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