A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832, penned by award-winning children’s author Joan W. Blos, offers a captivating glimpse into the life of a young girl in pre-Civil War New Hampshire. This A Gathering of Days study guide will help you navigate Catherine Hall’s world, exploring themes of family, friendship, loss, and social conscience.
Delving into Catherine Hall’s World
The novel unfolds as the fictional journal of Catherine Hall, a young girl navigating the complexities of life in the 1830s. Through her entries, readers experience the daily rhythms, challenges, and transformative events that shape her world. Published in 1979, this celebrated work garnered both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award, solidifying its place as a cornerstone of American children’s literature. This guide utilizes the Kindle edition of the Aladdin paperback version.
This image depicts the cover of “A Gathering of Days,” illustrating Catherine Hall’s world in 1830s New England.
Plot Overview
The narrative commences with a letter from an elderly Catherine Hall Onesti, written in 1899 to her great-granddaughter. Catherine bestows upon her namesake the journal, a chronicle of her 14th year – a year marked by profound personal change, including her father’s remarriage, the loss of her dearest friend, and her departure from the family farm.
Catherine’s journal begins on October 17, 1830. The journal, a gift from her father, Charles Hall, documents her life in Meredith, New Hampshire. Her entries encompass a wide range of experiences, from school events and recipes to family anecdotes and personal reflections. Catherine lives with her widowed father and younger sister, Matty. Her mother passed away shortly after giving birth to a son who also died. Her close friend and neighbor is Cassie Shipman.
Key Events and Themes
Family and Loss: Catherine grapples with the loss of her mother and brother, while also navigating her evolving relationship with her father.
Friendship and Community: The novel explores the importance of friendship, particularly Catherine’s bond with Cassie Shipman. The community in Meredith also plays a significant role in Catherine’s life.
Moral Dilemmas: Catherine wrestles with her conscience when she encounters a man escaping enslavement, highlighting the complex moral landscape of the time.
Social Issues: The introduction of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper, sparks debate and exposes the growing tensions surrounding slavery.
One evening, Charles tells his daughters a ghost story that leads to an important life lesson. Charles teaches them that intelligence and reason must prevail over fear.
Later, Catherine catches sight of a mysterious, thin man in torn clothes in Piper’s Woods. The man disappears before Catherine can point him out to Cassie and her brother, Asa Shipman.
Uncle Jack and Father discuss how often “bound boys” are running away. Father says he would turn him in. Jack suggests that maybe the “boy” is right to run off. Catherine thinks that Father is honorable.
Catherine sees the “phantom” in Piper’s Woods again and resolves to examine the area. Her school lesson book disappears. After several days, the book reappears on a rock close to the school. Someone has written a plea for help in the book, asking for pity because the writer is cold. Asa suggests that the writer might be someone escaping enslavement and says that they should help him. Catherine feels conflicted because of her father’s attitude.
An image of a historical journal. Journals like Catherine’s provide personal and intimate accounts of historical periods.
Days after they find the lesson book, a few pies go missing from Cassie and Asa’s family. Asa accepts the blame, and his parents whip him. He and Catherine secretly suspect that the self-emancipated man took the pies.
Relationships and Change
Cassie’s unmarried and stylish Aunt Lucy visits town, hoping to catch the eye of Charles. Despite her elegant looks and cooking abilities, Charles is uninterested, and Lucy stops pursuing him.
One day, Catherine’s teacher, Edward Holt, brings to school a copy of The Liberator, a newspaper put out by William Lloyd Garrison that calls for the emancipation of enslaved people. This controversial move causes people in the town to believe that Holt aided the self-emancipated man in the woods. Holt moves in with Cassie’s family and no longer reads the abolitionist text at school, but he continues to teach its contents after school. Catherine turns 14 in March 1831. While living with the Shipmans, Holt has a romantic connection with Aunt Lucy, and the two are soon engaged.
Charles arrives back from a trading trip to Boston and announces his engagement to a widow named Ann Higham. They marry in May, and Ann comes to live with the Halls. At first hesitant around Ann and jealous of her relationship with Father, Catherine eventually becomes more comfortable with her and her son, Daniel. When Matty unwittingly describes to Ann the quilt that Catherine gave to the self-emancipated man and the truth comes out, Ann gives Catherine the task of making a new quilt. The experience brings the two closer together, and Catherine begins calling her stepmother “Mammann.”
Grief and New Beginnings
One day, when Cassie’s and Catherine’s families are picking berries together, Cassie gets a chill and comes down with a fever. Her condition worsens over the next several days, and she dies in August 1831, greatly mourned by Catherine. Soon after the marriage of Lucy and Holt, Catherine receives a letter from the self-emancipated man saying that he is now free in Canada. The older boys in school, including Daniel and Asa, begin flouting rules of the strict new schoolmaster, causing trouble. Disapproving of the schoolmaster, Ann begins to homeschool Catherine and Matty.
Lucy and Holt have a new baby, and in December 1831, they ask Catherine to come to help out. She agrees, and the journal ends in March 1832 as Catherine prepares to leave. A final letter from the older Catherine to her namesake, written in December 1899, describes what happened to some of the neighbors and reflects on the new century starting.
Significance
A Gathering of Days offers a poignant and insightful portrayal of a young girl’s life in 19th-century New England. Through Catherine’s journal entries, readers gain a deeper understanding of the social, political, and personal challenges of the time. This A Gathering of Days study guide will enhance your reading experience and appreciation for this timeless classic.
