Daddy Long-Legs is a 1912 novel by an American writer Jean Webster. It follows the protagonist, a young girl named Jerusha "Judy" Abbott, through her college years. She writes the letters to her benefactor, a rich man whom she has never seen.
Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were wholly dependent on charity. They were badly fed and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Jerusha's unusual first name was selected by the headmistress off a grave stone while her surname was selected out of the phone book. At the age of 18, she has finished her education and is at loose ends, still working in the dormitories at the institution where she was brought up.When the asylum's trustees make their monthly visit, Jerusha is informed by the asylum's dour headmistress that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. He has spoken to her former teachers and knows that she is an excellent writer. He will pay her tuition and also give her a generous monthly allowance.
Jerusha must write him a monthly letter, because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. However, she will never know his identity, and he will never reply.Jerusha catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him 'Daddy Long-Legs'. She attends a girls' college, but the name and location are never identified; however, men from Princeton University are frequently mentioned as dates, so it is certainly on the East Coast. She illustrates her letters with childlike line drawings, also created by Jean Webster.The book chronicles Jerusha's educational, personal, and social growth. One of the first things she does at college is to change her name to "Judy." She designs a rigorous reading program for herself and struggles to gain the basic cultural knowledge to which she, growing up in the bleak environment of the orphan asylum, was never exposed.At the end of the book, the identity of 'Daddy Long-Legs' is revealed.[edit] Dedication
The book is dedicated "To You." Today this book is often classified as young adult literature or even children’s literature, but at the time it was part of a trend of "girl" or "college girl" books which featured young female protagonists dealing with post-high-school concerns such as college, career, and marriage.
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