SOURCE: Hughes, Kenneth J., and Birk Sproxton. “‘Malcolm's Katie’: Images and Songs.” Canadian Literature, no. 55 (summer 1975): 55-64.

In the following essay, Hughes and Sproxton argue that “Malcolm's Katie” consists of several intertwined love stories.

Isabella Valancy Crawford's “Malcolm's Katie,” as we learn from the sub-title, is a love story. But even the most cursory reading reveals that this is not simply the story of love between a man and a woman. “Malcolm's Katie” in fact consists of a series of interrelated love stories. In addition to the story of the love of Max and Katie, we have the story of Malcolm's love for his daughter, the story of Katie's love for her father, the story of Alfred's perverse love for Malcolm's gold, and the story of Max's patriotic love of his wilderness community and the nation of which it is a part. These stories culminate in the triumph...