History YMMV / ElsieDinsmore

** The theme of the first two Elsie books seems to originate in the 12th chapter of St. Luke and the 11th chapter of St. Matthew in which Christ says families will be divided because of him and his sword. He predicted serious trouble for families in which some people followed his words and others not. Horace, who thinks he is a Christian because he goes to church, cannot believe Elsie is serious and thinks she is pretending extreme faith as a clever way to defy his authority. When Elsie ''does'' stand up for herself, she is harshly chastised for "setting up her opinion" against an adult's.

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

* ValuesDissonance: There's a lot. To modern-day readers of the original series, how her grandparents treat her as well as her father qualifies as AbusiveParents. Then again, it was normal relations. There is also rampant racism towards the slaves, who are also portrayed as enjoying slavery and that it is good for them. On top of this, many misogynistic views are expressed by both male and female characters.

*** On that similar note, Elsie's MayDecemberRomance with [[spoiler: Edward Travilla]]. Her father does make her wait until she's 22 to marry him... but on the other hand, [[spoiler: Edward]] talks about having wanted to marry Elsie when she was ''seven'', and says thing like she'd be the perfect bride if she were older. [[{{Squick}} Yikes...]]

* 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.
* TheWoobie: Despite the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation mentioned above, Elsie undeniably had a pretty crappy early life. Her step-grandmother treated her like dirt, her grandfather's children bullied her to seemingly no end, and when her father comes back from Europe he almost immediately assumes the worst about his daughter and treats her even worse, which eventually leads to her becoming sick from the stress of her father refusing to talk to her (and he won't allow anyone else to either). As an adult, she falls for a man that turned out to only be interested in her money, only discovering this after having happened to pass by a saloon with said GoldDigger bragging to his buddies he never loved her. Ouch.

* 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 refers to 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.

** Enna is a bit of a JerkassWoobie. When you consider her parent's [[DotingParent way of raising her]], it's easy to see why she became such a brat and [[WomanChild emotionally stunted]], still actinh like a child in her mid-30's, Not helping is the authoress gave her a particularly harsh demise.

** Enna is a bit of a JerkassWoobie. When you consider her parent's [[DotingParent way of raising her]], it's easy to see why she was [[WomanChild emotionally stunted]] and still acts like a child, even in her mid-30's, Not helping is the authoress gave her a particularly harsh demise.

* TheScrappy: To people who hate the series, practically ''everyone'' is this, especially [[PuritySue Elsie]], [[SpoiledBrat Enna]], [[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.

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

* FairForItsDay: While a lot of the views in this series are...dated, to say the least, when Elsie comes of age, she inherits her mother's plantation, Viamede, and her father informs her that she is old enough to be responsible for her own money, teaching her business and money management before their trip there, despite her innitial reluctance. Later on when she's married to [[spoiler: Edawrd Travilla]], he doesn't touch a cent of Elsie's money without her permission, even though he is entitled to it by law as her husband.

* ValuesDissonance: There's a lot. To modern day readers of the original series, how her grandparents treat her as well as her father qualifies as AbusiveParents. Then again, it was normal relations. There is also rampant racism towards the slaves, who are also portrayed as enjoying slavery and that it is good for them. On top of this, many misogynistic views are expressed by both male and female characters.

** Enna is a bit of a JerkassWoobie. When you consider her parent's [[DotingParent way of raising her]], it's easy to see why she was [[WomanChild emotionally stunted]] and still acts like a child, even in her mid-30's, Not helping is the authoress gave her a particularly harsh demise.

** Aunt Chloe is something of a StoicWoobie. She lost three of her children to now-preventable childhood diseases, her only living daughter was taken from her, and was sold away from her husband 20 years before the books begin, but she never shows her grief
** Enna is a bit of a JerkassWoobie. When you consider her parents [[DotingParent way of raising her]] at least

** After the first two books when Elsie's father converts, he is quite physically affectionate with her, including kissing her on the lips from time to time. [[PaedoHunt This wouldn't fly in today's media]], especially since the dialogue makes it seem like they're ''lovers''.

** Aunt Chloe is something of a StoicWoobie. She lost three of her children to now-preventable childhood diseases, her only living daughter was taken from her, and was sold away from her husband 20 years before the books begin, but she never shows her grief

* FairForItsDay: While a lot of the views in this series are...dated, to say the least, when Elsie comes of age, she inherits her mother's plantation, Viamede, and her father informs her that she is old enough to be responsible for her own money, teaching her business and money management before their trip there. Later on when she's married to [[spoiler: Edawrd Travilla]], he doesn't touch a cent of Elsie's money without her permission, even though he is entitled to it by law as her husband.

** Aunt Chloe is something of a StoicWoobie. She lost three of her children to now-preventable childhood diseases, her only living daughter was taken from her, and was sold away from her husband 20 years before the books begin, but she never shows her grief,

* 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 in the ''same chapter'' said not to do; he told rich people to give their stuff to the poor.

** Aunt Chloe is something of a StoicWoobie. She lost three of her children to now-preventable childhood diseases, her only living daughter was taken from her, and was sold away from her husband 20 years before the books begin, but she never shows her grief.

** Aunt Chloe is something of a StoicWoobie. She lost her children to ow-preventable childhood diseases, and was sold away from her husband 20 years before the books begin, but she never shows her grief.

* TheWoobie: Despite the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation mentioned above, Elsie undeniably had a pretty crappy early life. Her step-grandmother treated her like dirt, her grandfather's children bullied her to seemingly no end, and when her father comes back from Europe he almost immediately assumes the worst about his daughter and treats her even worse, which eventually leads to her becoming sick from the stress of her father refusing to talk to her (and he won't allow anyone else to either). As an adult, she falls for a man that turned out to only be interested in her money, only discovering this after having happened to pass by a saloon with said GoldDigger bragging to his buddies he never loved her. Ouch.

* * FairForItsDay: While a lot of the views in this series are...dated, to say the least, when Elsie comes of age, she inherits her mother's plantation, Viamede, and her father informs her that she is old enough to be responsible for her own money, teaching her business and money management before their trip there. Later on when she's married to [[spoiler: Edawrd Travilla]], he doesn't touch a cent of Elsie's money without her permission, even though he is entitled to it by law as her husband.

* 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?
** The theme of the first two Elsie books seems to originate in the 12th chapter of St. Luke and the 11th chapter of St. Matthew in which Christ says families will be divided because of him and his sword. He predicted serious trouble for families in which some people followed his words and others not. Horace, who thinks he is a Christian because he goes to church, cannot believe Elsie is serious and thinks she is pretending extreme faith as a clever way to defy his authority. When Elsie ''does'' stand up for herself, she is harshly chastised for "setting up her opinion" against an adult's. This also doesn't prevent Elsie from enjoying an extremely rich lifestyle and fancy clothes, which Christ in the ''same chapter'' said not to do; he told rich people to give their stuff to the poor.
* TearJerker: Horace forcing Chloe away from Elsie, made worse in the "Life of Faith" reprints that state this wasn't the first time Chloe was separated from those she loved. Horace, you bastard.

* ValuesDissonance: There's a lot. To modern day readers of the original series, how her grandparents treat her as well as her father qualifies as AbusiveParents. Then again, it was normal relations. There is also rampant racism towards the slaves, who are also portrayed as enjoying slavery and that it is good for them. Even when she hits her majority, Elsie does not control her fortune, letting her father and later [[spoiler: Edward Travilla]] control her finances and her plantation. On top of this, many misogynistic views are expressed by both male and female characters.

* TearJerker: Horace forcing Chloe away from Elsie, made worse in the "Life of Faith" reprints that sate this wasn't the first time Chloe was separated from those she loved. Horace, you bastard.

** 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, out of fear that Welty would mimic the part where Elsie faints at the piano.

* TheWoobie: Despite the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and PuritySue mentioned above, Elsie undeniably had a pretty crappy early life. Her step-grandmother treated her like dirt, her grandfather's children bullied her to seemingly no end, and when her father comes back from Europe he almost immediately assumes the worst about his daughter and treats her even worse, which eventually leads to her becoming sick from the stress of her father refusing to talk to her (and he won't allow anyone else to either). As an adult, she falls for a man that turned out to only be interested in her money, only discovering this after having happened to pass by a saloon with said GoldDigger bragging to his buddies he never loved her. Ouch.

* {{Glurge}}: Good lord, so much.

* PuritySue: Elsie probably fits this Sue-archetype the best (along with being a SympatheticSue for the first two books). She is always portrayed as good and in the right despite never doing anything active aside from having the personality of a martyr, and everyone who disagrees or does her wrong is seen in a negative light. Her only flaws are her naivete and stubbornness, though the latter seems to be an InformedFlaw.