Freckles is a novel by
Gene Stratton Porter about a young adult orphan who finds work, and the beauty of nature, in a job at a lumber camp.
Available online
here
.
A sequel was published by the same author,
A Girl of the Limberlost, which follows a protege of Freckles.
Tropes included
- Abusive Parents: Freckles fears this in his backstory.
- Alcohol Induced Idiocy: One villain will not return without being at least half drunk.
- Alone in a Crowd: How Freckles felt in the orphange.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Freckles fears his parents would be this.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Angel dreads that she will find bad parents at the end of her quest, because they are aristocrats.
"A Lord-man!" she groaned despairingly. "A Lord-man! Bet my hoecake's scorched! Here I've gone and pledged my word to Freckles I'd find him some decent relatives, that he could be proud of, and now there isn't a chance out of a dozen that he'll have to be ashamed of them after all. It's too mean!"
- Benevolent Boss: McLean
- Blood on These Hands: One villain objects to murder.
- Blue Blood: Angel has ancestors that reach back to Plymouth Rock. Freckles turns out to be a grandson of a nobleman.
- Bound and Gagged: Freckles as prisoner
- Butterfly Of Transformation: A Luna moth causes Freckles deep frustration at his ignorance, a fit which lasts until it occurs to him that he could learn better.
- Camp Cook: First person Freckles meets at the lumbering camp.
- Changeling Fantasy: Inverted
- Cold-Blooded Torture: How Wessner intends to kill Freckles.
- Contrived Coincidence: Angel's finding Freckles's aunt and uncle.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Freckles. He was not only a Door Stop Baby but seriously injured at the point at which he was found.
- Death By Despair: Starts to kill Freckles at one point.
- Dirty Business: Black Jack realizes this when he thinks he has a chance with Angel.
- Dirty Coward: Several villains
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Freckles fears pity.
- Door Stop Baby: Freckles's Back Story
- Dramatic Thunder: Rouses Freckles from his thoughts at one point.
- Even Evil Has Standards: One villain objects to watching torture. Another objects to the notion of murder.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A bribe attempt is made
- Face Your Fears: Freckles faces down the swamp through his first weeks, and then when he kills a rattlesnake.
- First Kiss: Angel doesn't quite realize its significance, but Freckles does.
- Fish out of Water: Freckles in the Limberlost at first
- Friend to All Living Things: Freckles.
- Funetik Aksent: Freckles speaks with an Irish accent despite being born and raised in Chicago.
- Genius Loci: Freckles takes Angel for this.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Angel threatens to slap Freckles once.
- Ghibli Hills: The Limberlost, at least among those who know it.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: Angel is convinced she will just heal after a cut.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Freckles ponders it when he finds a feather.
- Gray Eyes: Freckles
- Guardian Angel: Angel hails Freckles as this.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Freckles is a bit old for the role but still pulls it off.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Freckles pushes Angel out of the way of a fallen tree and gets hurt himself.
- Home Sweet Home: Freckles longs for a place to claim as home.
- How Dare You Die on Me!
- I Choose To Stay: Freckles in the end
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Angel
- In the Blood: Freckles fears this
- Known Only by Their Nickname: Many characters in Freckles are known solely by nickname, such as Freckles himself and the bird woman.
- The Lady's Favour: A blue ribbon for Freckles
- Laughing Mad: Freckles's reaction to learning his Secret Legacy is known.
- Loners Are Freaks: Mrs. Duncan worries about the effect of solitude on Freckles.
- The Lost Woods
- Love at First Sight: Freckles for Angel.
- Manly Tears: When Lord O'More hears that Angel can tell them about their nephew.
- Meaningful Rename: Freckles is given a new legal name when he's hired
- Nature Lover: Freckles.
- Non-Idle Rich: Freckles is much impressed by them.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Angel before the villains.
- Oireland: Freckles has a notable number of tropes.
- Orphanage of Fear: Freckles's orphanage was not cruel, but it was not pleasant, either.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Of less sentimental importance to Freckles that usual.
- Owl Be Damned: The owls' hoots at night are unnerving.
- Parental Abandonment: Freckles
- Parental Marriage Veto: Discussed
- Parental Substitute: Freckles has two, McLean for father and Mrs. Duncan for mother.
- People of Hair Color: redhaired Irish
- Post Victory Collapse: Freckles, after a fight.
- Plucky Girl: What seals the Love at First Sight for Freckles is the knowledge that she knows about, and does not fear, the snakes
- The Promise: Freckles makes one when he realizes he can cure his ignorance.
- Red-Headed Hero: Freckles
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Freckles is a friend to all living things — except snakes.
- Revenge: Freckles confesses to desiring this.
- Scars Are Forever: Freckles warns Angel that her cut could scar.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Freckles doesn't recognize the Bird Woman dressed for a party.
- So Proud of You: McLean of Freckles
- Suddenly Suitable Suitor
- Swamps Are Evil: Subverted and played with
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Angel speaks at length on how mothers sew their babies' clothes.
- They Call Me Mister Tibbs: Angel is struck by Freckles talking of Mr. McLean, after McLean called Freckles his son.
- They Have The Scent: They try to catch Black Jack with bloodhounds in Freckles
- Threshold Guardians: The cook tells Freckles the boss won't have a place for him.
- The Tramp: Freckles looks like this but is truly seeking work.
- Unable To Support A Wife: In the Back Story.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Freckles to his uncle
- Vice City: Chicago, where parents might die and no one be able to find out who their children belonged to
- Youthful Freckles: Guess who?
0 reviews