When the little girl is only three, she dies from a freak accident. When she has Mary Elizabeth, Rosanna feels that she has a gift from heaven. She has guilt and shame for her feelings about Joe because Jesus loved all children the same. Rosanna struggles with her private thoughts about Joe – he’s weak and has every bad feature from both sides of the family. Rosanna has a second son, Joe, who is not big and strong like his older brother, Frank. But Walter perseveres so that he can support his growing family.
Both of these events hit the farmers hard.
Walter is a hard worker and dedicated to making the farm profitable even through the years and challenges of the Great Depression and the Great Drought. It is tempting, but Walter is independent and proud. Wilmer invites the young family to live at his farm. He criticizes Walter for buying a farm when the market price was at its highest. Walter’s father, Wilmer Langdon, is a successful farmer with a 320-acre farm that is bought and paid for. Walter has doubts about whether he’ll be successful at crop growing, dairy farming, and to a lesser extent, raising livestock. Rosanna remains conflicted about religion throughout her life. The couple marries in a Methodist church. There are elements of the Catholic religion that she cannot sanction such as she does not believe that God would punish an innocent baby who was not baptized by damning it to Hell. Rosanna was raised as a Catholic but she thinks independently and is rebellious. She is a raving beauty of German descent with thick blonde hair, lovely features, and a quick smile. When he returns, he becomes enamored by young Rosanna Vogel. Walter serves in Europe during World War I. As the story unfolds, Walter is twenty-four years old with a wife, Rosanna, and baby, Frank.
“Some Luck” by Jane Smiley is the story of the Langford family of Iowa.
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