Post 11:
“The Love of Johnny Johnson”

Post 11: “The Love of Johnny Johnson”

From 12-Year-Old Anne’s Journal —

November 15, 1982  – GOOD        

Laura starts to like Johnny Johnson, but he starts to like Mary. Laura gets mad when Johnny carves Mary’s initials in the sweetheart tree. Ma tells her not to worry & that’s the end.

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From Anne —

Here we go again: Johnny Johnson chasing skirts. The sheep just aren’t enough for him.

Just kidding. What strikes me in this puppy love episode is Mary’s contempt for Johnny. She calls him, in the aggregate, a “stupid, addle-brained, homely numbskull who looks like a scarecrow.”

Looks like I goofed, though. The tail end of my synopsis states that Ma tells Laura not to worry; it’s actually Pa. Tending toward the moody and moon-faced myself when it comes to love, I’m not sure why Laura feels any better after the creekside chat with Pa that supposedly resolves the whole drama. It would have been a more satisfying resolution to see Mary tell Johnny that she considers him a “stupid, addle-brained, homely numbskull who looks like a scarecrow.”

The real Johnny Johnson, mentioned in “On The Banks of Plum Creek,” is a mystery. Was he, in fact, the Norwegian immigrant who lived near Plum Creek? Could he have flirted with Mary, four years his junior, at Plum Creek, circa 1875? Absolutely. But what happens at Plum Creek stays at Plum Creek.

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From Tracy —

You always know that it’s going to be a looove episode when that flirty music starts up. Also you could be sure no one was going to get maimed or die. I’m sure some kids dreaded that music without even knowing why.

I remembering so much relating to Laura in this episode. I never got the guy. And I still feel that way sometimes. The scene with Pa makes my heart melt. Sometimes you just need to hear “It will be okay. I love you.”

Also I just have to say that I forgot what a terribly fussy fun-less little prig Mary was.

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