Literature / American Girls: Samantha

One of the original American Girl Historical Characters released in 1986, Samantha represents the turn of the twentieth century for the Historical Collection. Even though she is advertised as a representative of the Victorian era, her story starts in 1904, meaning her stories take place in the early years of The Edwardian Era.

Samantha Parkington is growing up in Bedford, New York, at the beginning of the 1900s. Her parents died when she was five, and she is under the care of her wealthy, conservative grandmother. Grandmary, while genuinely loving, is quite strict, and is raising her granddaughter to be a Proper Lady and take her place in high society. Everything changes however, when Samantha meets Nellie O’Malley, a poor servant girl who is below Samantha’s class, and therefore forbidden to interact with her, and vice versa. But the more Samantha gets to know Nellie, the more she realizes how well they get along, and her worldview expands as Nellie offers glimpses into her half of society.

1. Meet Samantha: Samantha meets Nellie for the first time, and the two plan a daring escapade to solve a mystery.
2. Samantha Learns A Lesson: Samantha tutors Nellie to help her catch up to her new schoolmates...but Nellie ends up teaching Samantha a few things, too.
3. Samantha’s Surprise: Samantha feels like her Uncle Gard’s guest, Cornelia, is spoiling her plans for Christmas, until the woman reveals Hidden Depths to her.
4. Happy Birthday, Samantha!: Aunt Cornelia and her sisters treat Samantha to a trip to the big city for her birthday, and from there, trouble ensues.
5. Samantha Saves the Day: Samantha searches for clues and memories of her parents, but disaster strikes when a storm begins, just like the one her mother and father perished in.
6. Changes For Samantha: Samantha is horrified when she finds out Nellie’s parents have died, forcing her to move to the big city. But many worse surprises await her in the near future.

After the BeForever reboot, they combined six books into two. The first three books were joined in “Samantha: Manners and Mischief”, and the last three were put in “Samantha: Lost and Found”. In 2004, Samantha was the first Historical Character to have her stories adapted into a feature-length movie, starring AnnaSophia Robb as the titular character.

This series includes the following tropes:

• Affectionate Nickname: Samantha's Uncle Gard calls her "Sam."
• Alpha Bitch: Edith Eddleton and Clarisse Van Sicklen, who sniff at Samantha for being friends with Nellie.
  • Academic Alpha Bitch: Edith is the smartest girl in Samantha’s class, and thus acts superior to her classmates.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In Changes for Samantha, Aunt Cornelia and Uncle Gard's maid Gertrude is antagonistic with Samantha and is the one who eventually goes snooping and finds out about Nellie and her sisters staying there^note admittedly, this was an untenable situation long-term anyway, but Gertrude clearly did it because she was trying to prove Samantha was up to no good, not out of concern that there was an actual problem. After the O'Malleys are adopted, she behaves similarly antagonistically towards them, leading Nellie to suspect that Gertrude is resentful of serving girls that would have been of her social class had they not been adopted. In the movie, she is much friendlier towards Samantha and the O'Malleys, is downright indignant on Samantha's behalf when Miss Frouchy accuses her of stealing, and praises Samantha when her speech is chosen for the school assembly. She also has nothing to do with the discovery of Nellie and her sisters, as in the adaptation Samantha is forced to come clean of her own accord after Bridget becomes seriously ill and needs a doctor.
• The Bully: Eddie Ryland is Samantha’s aggressive next door neighbor who merely exists to be a source of annoyance to Sam.
• Character Development: A product of the Victorian Era, Grandmary believes that a lady’s place is at home or in high society. She is raising her orphaned granddaughter to be a Proper Lady, with sewing lessons and everything. She doesn’t think women should vote or make their own money. However, in “Happy Birthday, Samantha!”, Grandmary witnesses her new daughter-in-law advocating for women’s sufferage in the park, and is deeply moved by her speech, changing her mind and supporting votes for women.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Since this is 1904, women still aren’t permitted to vote politically. Aunt Cornelia is fighting to change that. Grandmary thinks that a woman’s place is at home and not at the box office, and shakes her head at the suffragettes for making “spectacles of themselves”. However, she has a change of heart when she sees Cornelia making a speech for women’s suffrage in the park.
• Don't Split Us Up: Nellie is chosen to go on the orphan train to find work, but her sisters must stay behind at the orphanage because they’re too young. Samantha helps Nellie and her sisters escape before they are separated.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsey: Since this is the Victorian Era, Samantha is expected to curtsey before her elders.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Samantha is usually prim and proper and has a love for fashion, bows, and dolls, but has an action side for climbing trees.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Samantha usually doesn't get along with Edith, a rude and snobby girl in her class. However, a later book has Edith attending Samantha's birthday party, and the two girls show no animosity towards one another.
• Good with Numbers: When Samantha is teaching Nellie, she is surprised to find out how quickly the other girl can add and subtract. Nellie explains that it's because she had to do the shopping for her family in the city, and had to know how much everything cost.
• Guess Who I'm Marrying?: Gardner Edwards, Samantha’s uncle, is due to be married to one Cornelia Pitt, whom Samantha takes an initial disliking to because she thinks Cornelia isn’t right for him. Unlike most examples of this trope, Cornelia isn’t malicious, and she ends up becoming a very kind and gentle aunt to Sam and the O’Malley’s.
• Happily Adopted: Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia end up adopting, Nellie, Bridget and Jenny in the final book.
• Interclass Friendship: Samantha, an upper-class girl, and Nellie, a poor immigrant girl. Some of Samantha's peers sneer at her for being friends with a servant girl, but she couldn't care less.
• Nice Girl: Samantha is a girl who is very kind and generous.
• Object-Shaped Landmass: In "Samantha Saves the Day", Samantha and her grandmother and cousins go on vacation to Goose Lake. Inside the goose's "head" is one island shaped like an eye and another shaped like a teardrop. The latter is called Teardrop Island, and it's where Samantha's parents died. They had been visiting the island by boat and were heading back when they were caught in a storm and their boat was destroyed by sharp underwater rocks, causing them to drown.
• Orphanage of Fear: Downplayed. The Coldrock House For Homeless Girls isn’t terrifying or haunted, but the girls are abused. Any small gifts or luxuries, like sweets or gloves, are withheld and/or confiscated. The girls are trained to become servants and “know their place”, and punished for small offenses. Little Bridget is sickly and cannot do her chores, but the matron, Miss Frouchy, accuses her of laziness, and gets mad if her sisters try to help her.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket: Samantha’s locket with her parents’ picture seems like a perfect fit, but since she still has other family, just not parents, and a warm and loving home, and she knows how her parents died, it serves no real plot significance. However, in the fifth book, Samantha finds a sketchbook her mother made of the three of them—three-year-old Samantha and her mother and father—having vacation on Teardrop Island, it inspires her to journey to Teardrop Island in the hope of jogging any lost memories of her parents.
• Practically Different Generations: Cornelia is dating and eventually marries Samantha's Uncle Gard, and has three younger sisters: Agnes and Agatha, who are about Samantha's age, and Alice, who is three years old.
• Proper Lady: Grandmary could be the poster woman for this trope. She also expects Samantha to act like one as well, even though she’s only nine. It’s justified, since Grandmary grew up in the early to mid-Victorian Era, and even by the time she’s caring for Samantha, society is still pretty strict on proper behavior, even for young girls.
• Raised by Grandparents: Samantha’s parents perished in a storm when she was five, and ever since, Samantha had lived with her wealthy but old-fashioned grandmother. Soon after turning ten, however, she moves in with her Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia in the city when Grandmary remarries.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Samantha's friendly red to Nellie's bashful blue.
• Second Love: Grandmary is still friends with her husband’s best friend, called the Admiral, even years after becoming widowed. Every summer, the Admiral asks her to marry him. After the events of "Samantha Saves the Day", Grandmary finally accepts.
• Spoiled Sweet: Samantha is definitely not spoiled, but she lives with her rich Grandmary. Despite that, she is 100% kind, generous, and thoughtful.
• A Storm Is Coming: In “Samantha Saves the Day”, Grandmary finds out that her granddaughter went to Teardrop Island. When a storm hits, it is just like the night Samantha’s parents drowned, and Grandmary is terrified that her grandchild might meet the same fate.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: In Happy Birthday, Eddie ruins the molded ice cream at Samantha's birthday party by pouring rock salt in it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Samantha loves peppermint ice cream.