How does Joanna Stratton use imagery in Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier?

The imagery surrounds frontier life in Kansas in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Intent on providing a platform for the forgotten voices of the past, this historical account is interwoven with excerpts from personal correspondence, diaries, and memoirs from some of the ordinary women who struggled through frontier life first-hand.

"Beautiful and bountiful, the land was the great lure of Kansas. Some settlers sought freedom, some yearned for prosperity, some craved adventure, but in the end it was the promise of the land that drew them halfway across a continent. Here they could build their own homes, cultivate their own fields and develop their own communities. Undoubtedly, it took a special kind of fortitude to adjust to this harsh terrain. Yet with hard work, imagination and tenacity, the future was theirs to mold. In this new land, God's own country, they reached to the stars through the wilderness."

"For all the terrors of isolation or attacking wolves, the frontier family soon learned that its worst enemy was nature itself. In Kansas, each season carried its own perils. Spring might favor the farmer with sunny skies and balmy temperatures; yet often melting snows and spring rainstorms caused torrential floods that menaced home and field alike. Tornadoes, with their deafening roar and deadly funnels, often ripped across the land, obliterating everything in their path. Summer, in turn, was apt to unleash droughts and hot winds that withered the crops and crippled the fall harvest. Plagues of grasshoppers devoured entire cultivated fields and miles of prairie foliage. Finally, the bitter winter season brought numbing temperatures and crushing blizzards."