Quote: "I wish you'd worry more about saving the farm than cleaning soot off the ceiling" (Dagg 11).

Helga (the mother) is just getting over a sickness and is starting to work on the farm again, but is helping in the wrong way. She isn't thinking of ways to help the family farm from being foreclosed. She isn't able to do as much work as everyone else because she is still weak from being sick for so long.

Quote: "A month ago, Ma could hardly make it from her bed to the house without me wrapping one arm around her waist to support her. How could she hope to walk clear across the country?" (Dagg 16).

Helga (the mother) is just getting over a sickness and is trying to help the farm. Helga is offered a reward of $10,000 by a newspaper writer if she can walk across the country from Spokane, Washington to New York City. Ole (father) asks Clara to attend the walk with her mother to make sure she arrives safely to New York. This is man vs. society, because no one believes the Estbys can walk that far.

Quote: "I can't take a man with me. That's the whole point-that a woman can make it clear across the country on her own, without a man's help" (Dagg 21).

Clara and Helga are not only going on the walk for the money for their farm, they want to go on the journey for women's rights. They want to prove to everyone that women are strong, and deserve equal rights. They want to be able to vote and have the same right as men. Along their journey, they are interviewed by many newspapers, and a lot of the people don't believe they will make it across the country.

Quote: "But I don't want to get married-not now- I want to see more of the world" (Dagg 25).

Clara is supposed to be marrying Erick, a local boy in the town of Spokane. She doesn't want to admit to her father that's he isn't ready to be married at 17. She doesn't want to and be a housewife. She wants to be able to gets job and explore the world while she's still young. This conflict is man vs. self, because she is conflicted about is she should marry Erick.

Quote: "Ole is not your father. Your father- your natural father- is Patrick O'Keefe" (Dagg 190.)

Helga has told Clara that the man she grew up with isn't her real father. Helga met Patrick before her current husband Ole. Patrick was also forced to marry another girl he did not love, leaving Helga behind. Clara's real father lives in Colorado, which was another reason why Helga wanted to come on the trip. This is man vs. self because Clara is confused about who she is. Its also man vs. man because she doesn't want to meet her real father.