History YMMV / ElsieDinsmore

** There are also several authors that have a more Freudian interpretation that not only is [[ElectraComplex Elsie in love with her father]], but the only reason she married Edward Travilla is so she can essentially have sex with her father without the taboo.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Elsie a good Christian girl who does what Literature/TheBible says or is she a whiny girl who believes she is HolierThanThou and does not stand up for herself? Even if she is just a good Christian girl, it doesn't prevent Elsie from enjoying an extremely rich lifestyle and fancy clothes, which Christ said ''not'' to do; he told rich people to give their stuff to the poor.

** There are also several authors that have a more Freudian interpretation that not only is [[OedipusComplex Elsie in love with her father]], but the only reason she married Edward Travilla is so she can essentially have sex with her father without the taboo.

** There are also several authors that have a more Freudian interpretation that not only is [[ElectraComplex Elsie in love with her father]], but the only reason she married Edward Travilla is so she can essentially have sex with her father without the taboo.

* WhatAnIdiot: Horace Jr, you receive letters from your stepmother telling you that Elsie is a naughty child, but when you meet her, she's nice, submissive, and wants nothing more than to love you. Would it ''kill you'' to even question your stepmother's credibility and suspect she's lying about Elsie's overall character? Especially since your stepmother has made it clear that she's never liked you? The fact that he never does this makes his treatment of Elsie in the first two books even worse in hindsight. Granted, the point of this was to show how prideful and stubborn he was pre-conversion. Still, this subplot could have been handled better.

** NarmCharm: The series does have its fans in spite of (or perhaps because of) the ridiculous melodrama surrounding the titular Southern heiress.

* WeirdAlEffect: In the early 20th century, the terms "Elsie Dinsmore", or alternatively "Don't be such an Elsie Dinsmore", were used against people who were considered dull sticks-in-the-mud. It's not so much used anymore, but plenty of older movies do use this insult, such as ''Theatre/TheManWhoCameToDinner'', where lead character Sheridan Whiteside jokingly calls his secretary as Elsie Dinsmore.
** There are also English students who first learned of the series though Eudora Welty's autobiographical novel ''One Writer's Beginnings'', where Welty talks about how the books were the ''only'' books she was forbidden to read by her mother during her childhood in the 1920's.
** Fans of Creator/ShirleyJackson might have first heard of Elsie from a chance remark by her daughter Jannie in ''Raising Demons'', as Jannie is trying to help solve a mystery (her brother's missing shoe) using examples from literature including the ''Beverly Gray'' series (Jackson refers to it as ''Beverly Lee'') and ''Elsie Dinsmore''.

* TheScrappy: To people who hate the series, many characters fall into this, especially [[PuritySue Elsie]], [[SpoiledBrat Enna]], [[SadistTeacher Miss Day]], [[AbusiveParents Horace Jr.]], and [[EvilMatriarch Mrs. Dinsmore]]. Much of this can be attributed to ValuesDissonance and the many, ''many'' UnfortunateImplications that come from Finley's writing and the time period.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Whenever people do mention this series in forums, most fan love goes to Herbert Carrington, and Elsie's aunts Adalaide and Lora, mostly because they're the only ones who aren't constantly mean to Elsie for petty reasons and genuinely care about her. Also, from much later in the series Elsie's step-granddaughter Lulu (step-daughter of Violet Travilla), who not only has a personality the opposite of her Elsie ([[HairTriggerTemper having a hot temper]], [[CuteClumsyGirl prone to childish mistakes]]), but is the main focus of much of the later books in the series.

* DesignatedHero: Horace Jr. He is constantly praised as being a good parent, but we only ever really see him discipline Elsie for the most ridiculous of things (see the hummingbird incident below). On top of that, he preaches about he doesn't punish Elsie to hurt her, despite that literally being the point of conflict in ''Holidays at Roselands''. Of course, he does mellow after the second book, but it's hard to swallow the fact that his parenting nearly led his daughter to death.

* TheScrappy: To people who hate the series, practically ''everyone'' is this, especially [[PuritySue Elsie]], [[SpoiledBrat Enna]], [[SadistTeacher Miss Day]], [[AbusiveParents Horace Jr.]], and [[EvilMatriarch Mrs. Dinsmore]]. Much of this can be attributed to ValuesDissonance and the many, many UnfortunateImplications that come from Finley's writing and the time period.

* ValuesDissonance: There's a lot.

* {{Wangst}}: This is one of the main reasons the books are looked down upon today, as Elsie tends to completely freak out over minor things. This calms down as Elsie matures into an adult, but occasionally pops up with her children, such as her daughter Violet nearly, oh horror of horrors, converting to Catholicism.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Whenever people do mention this series in forums, most fan love goes to Herbert Carrington, and Elsie's aunts Adalaide and Lora. Also, from much later in the series Elsie's step-granddaughter Lulu (step-daughter of Violet Travilla), who not only has a personality the opposite of her Elsie ([[HairTriggerTemper having a hot temper]], [[CuteClumsyGirl prone to childish mistakes]]), but is the main focus of much of the later books in the series.

* {{Wangst}}: This is one of the main reasons the books are looked down upon today, as Elsie tends to completely freak out over stupid things, usually by responding with "Oh! I failed to do X and Y, so I shall never be like Jesus!"