Heidi, published 1880 in two parts named in full Heidi's Years of Learning and Travelnote and Heidi Makes Use of What She has Learnednote , is a novel by Swiss author Johanna Spyri.
Heidi, defined by its author as a book "for children and those who love children", quickly became a classic of Children's Literature and is still one of the world's most popular books for children. Possibly it is also the internationally best known work of Swiss literature.
The novel's eponymous heroine is an orphaned Swiss girl who, at the age of five and out of necessity, is given by her Aunt Dete into the care of her grumpy grandfather, who lives as a recluse in the Swiss Alps. The grandfather, an embittered man commonly known as the Alp-Öhi (or "Alm Uncle" in English; an 'alm' is a mountain pasture such the one where he feeds his goats), is not at all happy about this, but eventually Heidi's blithe spirit thaws the old man's heart. But the happiness of the two is not to last, when Aunt Dete, having found employment in Frankfurt, returns to take Heidi with her to the city.
In Frankfurt, Heidi pines for the Alps, but she also finds a friend in Klara, the delicate daughter of Aunt Dete's employer, Herr Sesemann. When Heidi's health begins to suffer, she and Klara both return to the mountains, where clean air, sunshine, and friendship work a minor miracle.
The book spawned four sequels written decades later by Spyri's translator Charles Tritten, Heidi Grows Up, Heidi's Children and two that haven't been translated to English.
The story has been adapted many times, see the Derivative Works page for a list of adaptations.
The novels contain examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Sebastian's general attitude at Heidi's Innocently Insensitive Fish Out of Water moments. Fräulein Rottenmeier is horrified at Heidi's "lack of manners," but Sebastian is clearly struggling not to laugh out loud.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Sesemann rails against Dr. Classen's advice that Heidi be sent back to the mountains in her current state of poor health and begs him to cure her illness first, Dr. Classen immediately shuts him down with one of these.Dr. Classen: Sesemann, you would not have her return to her grandfather incurably ill, or return no more?
- Beta Bitch: While probably not personal friends, Tinette is certainly this to Fraulein Rottenmeier regarding their shared contempt for Heidi. So much so that when Herr Sesemann returns to catch the supposed ghost haunting his mansion, Heidi chooses to sleep alone and risk being possessed or worse rather than suffer an entire night at Tinette's side.
- Big Eater: Peter the goatherd. Actually, everyone who arrives or visits the Alps discover that they become Big Eaters — even Klara, who barely ate at all back in Frankfurt — which is explained as the effect of the mountain air. Peter is still the biggest eater, though; he's always hungry and never turns down food.
- Boarding School: Heidi goes away to a girls finishing school in Heidi Grows Up as the Dorfli school master is cruel and a terrible teacher. Although she doesn't get as ill as she does going away in the first book, she chooses to return to Dorfli after she's done rather than going onto Paris to study with Klara.
- Character Development: Several characters throughout the first book and into the sequels. The Alm Uncle becomes much friendlier and more cheerful thanks to Heidi's influence, Peter matures and is less selfish and Heidi herself becomes less naive.
- Cool Old Guy: The Alm Uncle after his character development and the Doctor, a family friend of Klara's.
- Cool Old Lady:
- Klara's grandmother, so much. She's young in spirit and everybody respects her. She's wonderful to Klara and Heidi.
- Peter's grandmother is a sweet old lady.
- Cute Kitten: Heidi and Klara like them and probably Sebastian too. Fräulein Rottenmeier, on the other hand, can't stand them.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Why the Alm Uncle originally secluded himself on the mountain is an ongoing mystery.
- The original book hints that while serving in the army he nursed a close friend and officer who died under his care which left him heartbroken.
- Then Heidi's Children establishes that also during his time as a soldier and presumably after his friend's death, he fell in love with and married a wealthy young woman and proceeded to bankrupt his (now deceased) parents and himself trying to please her. The couple separated, taking a son each, and he returned to Dorfli. Despite gossip he settled fairly happily, but a few years later his beloved son and daughter-in-law both died, Dete took their daughter and the village turned on him and said he deserved everything as punishment for what he'd done to his parents.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone Calls Him "Alm-Uncle" or "Alp-Öhi" in the original German. We never learn his real name. Same with Peter's grandmother (who is only ever called "grandmother") and Klara's grandmother ("Grandmamma").
- Food Porn: Heidi's diet of milk, bread and toasted yellow cheese, which she thrives on. As one writer put it, "raclette is essentially the book's protagonist."
- Good Shepherd: The pastor talks with Heidi's grandfather because he's worried about his grumpiness, especially since her education would suffer when she grows up isolated. When the misanthropic Alm-Uncle later gets better and decides to spend the winters in the village next to the pastor's house again, he has no problem forgiving him his rude behavior and welcomes his neighbor.
- Gossipy Hens: The village below the mountain is full of these. Especially on the matter of Heidi's grandfather and the myriad possible reasons for his seclusion. In some versions of the book, one of the village women (Elisabeth) even talks to Dete on their way up there so Dete can become Ms. Exposition and explain Heidi's backstory.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Peter resents the attention that Klara receives from Heidi and in a momentary fit of pique, destroys her expensive wheelchair.
- Happily Adopted: Marta, the younger sister of Heidi's friend Jamy, who comes to live with Heidi in Heidi's Children. Her parents can't deal with her but she quickly settles into a home "surrounded by love", refuses to even visit her parents for years and the book ends with Heidi admitting she will always think of Marta as one of her children.
- Chel, a wild, orphaned boy who is adopted by the good doctor in Heidi Grows Up.
- Happily Married: Heidi's parents, Adelheidi and Tobias; according to village gossip, Adelheidi died of shock and grief when he was killed. In the sequels, Heidi and Peter.
- Haughty Help: When Heidi is sent to live with the Sesemann family, she is treated with contempt only by Miss Rottenmeier, the snooty and strict housekeeper.
- The Incomparable Bliss of Low Cuisine: The title character was raised in the Swiss Alps on a diet of bread, cheese, goat meat, and potatoes. Upon going to Frankfurt she is exposed to fancy food and it takes some time to get used to it. Her friend Clara is used to the food, but not very enthused. When Clara visits Heidi's house and breathes the fresh air her health and appetite improve. The simple act of reaching for a second piece of bread and melted cheese is treated as an earth-shaking miracle.
- In Harmony with Nature: Alm-Uncle has many elements of this (with the comeuppance that he is not a people person). Heidi manages to live in harmony with the goats and charm everyone around her. She also suffers in city environments.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Fraulein Rottenmeier isn't exactly the nicest governess in children's literature, especially how she reprimands Heidi for her mannerisms, but she does have a good point to make at times.
- Not really a jerkass, since he's not being rude, just negative, but in Heidi's Children, Peter does have a point that Heidi suddenly taking in an apparently sickly child while having a baby on the way and without much money or help probably isn't the best idea. Not to mention she didn't even ask him, her husband, about it beforehand.
- Kick the Dog: Fräulein Rottenmeier's treatment of the kittens and her abusive behavior towards Heidi is horrible. Dete didn't relish on her own behavior, unlike her.
- Last-Name Basis: We never learn Miss Rottenmeier or Mr. Sesemann's first names.
- Lonely Rich Kid: In the sequels, Jamy — Heidi's school friend — and her little sister Marta, whose parents have no interest in their children and push them off to their grandmother, who later passes away.
- Loners Are Freaks: Until Heidi comes in...
- Long-Lost Relative: A complicated version. In Heidi's Children, Jamy and Marta turn out to be Heidi's cousins. Their grandmother was married to Heidi's grandfather but the couple separated under difficult circumstances, the Alm Uncle taking their older son Tobias (Heidi's father) and the grandmother taking the younger son (Jamy and Marta's father). Guess it's just lucky Heidi and Jamy ended up attending the same school.
- Lovable Coward: Though Sebastian tells himself he's not afraid at all, he is very easy to spook, and more likely to run away from things that frighten him than stay and face them. He's still one of the more sympathetic characters in the book.
- Lying on a Hillside: Heidi and Peter do this daily when they go up onto the mountainside.
- Madden Into Misanthropy: The implied reason for Grandfather's long years of seclusion up a mountain.
- Mama's Boy: Peter. In the sequels, Brigitte still calls him Peterli (Little Peter), despite the fact that he's now "six feet tall and strong and brown as a chestnut" and is also an expecting father. Heidi jokes that Brigitta still hasn't quite forgiven her son for growing up.
- Matron Chaperone: Fräulein Rottenmeier's role seems to be preventing Heidi from having too much influence on Klara.
- Meaningful Name: Is it any wonder that someone with the name 'Rottenmeier' isn't such a nice person?
- Memento MacGuffin: The broken half cross necklace Jamy and Marta inherit from their grandmother. It turns out that Heidi's grandfather has the other half because he used to be married to Jamy's grandmother and broke it when they separated under painful circumstances. Which makes Jamy, Marta and Heidi cousins.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Heidi was named after her mother Adelheid. Her children in the sequels are named Tobias Peter, after his late grandfather (also his great grandfather, as it's later revealed) and father and Marta Brigitta, after her adopted sister and paternal grandmother.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Heidi's real name is Adelheid, like her mother. Everyone who cares the slightest bit about her calls her Heidi.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Heidi's grandfather has outlived his son, her father. Within the story itself, Klara's doctor loses his own daughter, but finds comfort in his Intergenerational Friendship with Heidi while visiting the Alps.
- Parental Abandonment: Heidi's parents both died when she was a baby: her father in a work accident, her mother of an illness caused by grief soon afterward. Peter's father and Klara's mother have also died.
- Parental Neglect: Jamy and Marta's wealthy parents barely pay attention to them and they're raised by their grandmother.
- Parental Substitute: In Heidi Grows Up, the doctor, Heidi's godfather, takes in and later formally adopts Chel, an orphaned village boy.
- Parents as People: Mr. Sesemann does love his girl, but can't be with her as much as he likes.
- Pet the Dog: Grandfather gets more and more moments like this as time goes by. Fixing Peter's grandmother's rickety shack for the sake of it was just the start.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Heidi is often seen going barefoot, and only wears shoes when she absolutely has to. Peter can be this way as well.
- Puppy Love: In-Universe with Heidi and Peter. Aww. They do, in fact, get married in the sequel by Charles Tritten.
- Raised by Grandparents:
- When Heidi's parents died, she was first sent to live with her maternal grandmother, but the latter also died not long afterwards, leaving her in the care of her aunt Dete. When Heidi is five, Dete hands her over to her paternal grandfather, the Alm Uncle, and apart from her brief time living in Frankfurt with Klara at age eight, he raises her from then on.
- In the sequels, Jamy and her sister Marta are virtually raised by their grandmother — although they have living parents, they're too concerned with society and parties to pay attention to their daughters.In a twist, it turns out the Alm Uncle and the grandmother were married, meaning the pair actually raised all three of their grandchildren between them.
- Rich Bitch:
- Averted by Klara and pretty much the entire Sesemann family, who are rich but pretty nice. Their head housekeeper, on the other hand, is not.
- Dete tries at this: Even though she's only ever a maid to rich families not wealthy herself she likes returning to Dorfli to show off her new clothes.
- Jamy and Marta's mother is implied to be this, as she admits she was more interested in throwing parties and buying clothes than her own daughters.
- Right Behind Me: In Heidi's Children, right after Heidi gives birth, the townspeople are already arguing about what she should call them (nevermind the fact that they're minutes old and their father hasn't even seen them yet), with one suggesting she should call the boy Peter, after his father, prompting Marta to tell them to leave Heidi and the babies alone and she says that Peter is a boring name anyways, as there's too many of them. Right on cue, Peter walks up behind her and he actually agrees. They do end up naming the boy Peter, but it's his middle name.
- Sadistic Teacher: The original school master who beats students and even locked them in his "dungeon." It takes Heidi a while to win back the villagers and children and restart the school.
- Scare 'Em Straight: This is the tactic employed by Heidi (and to a lesser extent her grandfather) in order to motivate Peter to learn to read — she tells him about the horrible schools in Frankfurt and that he'll have to go there unless he learns... and then follows up with teaching him the letters through a series of verses that warns of the terrible things that'll happen to him if he doesn't learn. It works, to the extent that he does learn to read, but the weakness of the tactic becomes apparent when it's made clear that he still hates doing it and tends to skip words that look like they'll be too difficult.
- Schoolmarm: In the sequel, Heidi and later Jamy, take over teaching and running the small village school.
- Servile Snarker: Both Sebastian, the butler and Tinette, the maid, have their moments. Sebastian, who's generally good-natured and has a sense of humor about himself, is played a lot more sympathetically than Tinette, who is more haughty and impatient.
- Sleepwalking: As part of Heidi's deteriorating condition in Frankfurt she begins doing this. Apparently her mother was also prone to sleepwalking and "fits".
- Throwing Off the Disability: One of the more famous examples in children's literature. After Peter destroys Klara's wheelchair in a fit of jealous spite, she decides she "doesn't want to be dependent anymore" and is coaxed to try walking, which she is quickly able to do and declared "cured". The impression given is that all she ever had to do was make an effort.
- Token Good Teammate: Sebastian is the only one of Herr Sesemann's staff who has any tolerance for Heidi's antics or empathy for her homesickness. Sadly, not even he is willing to scale to mountain to visit her in Dorfli, finding the environment just as 'uncivilized' as do his collogues.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy Heidi likes playing with the goats and being outdoors, snuck in some kittens and a turtle into the Sessemann house, and asked quite a few impertinent questions. Girly Girl Klara was always prim and proper, and had to be motivated to go outdoors and try to walk again.
- Trope Codifier: Spyri's Heidi single-handedly popularized and set the standard for all of the later Blithe Spirited, Heartwarming Orphan Girls who would go on to "rescue" other towns and villages across the Western world and each become hallmarks of Victorian-era literature across the next 35 years in doing so. This article
is but one analysis of how the others built upon her (and each other's) foundation. - Unnamed Parent: Mr. Sesemann, Klara's father. There are also three unnamed grandparents: Heidi's grandfather, Klara's grandmother and Peter's grandmother.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: Heidi and Peter have children in the third book, with Heidi ultimately giving birth to a pair of boy-girl fraternal twins.
- Yodel Land: The Trope Codifier, with its Scenery Porn of the Swiss Alps and Food Porn of Heidi's simple diet of bread and dairy.
- Ironically enough, the one who averts this the most is Heidi herself: she has dark, curly hair, she's not described as wearing a drindl, she has a babyface, she doesn't sing folk songs (though she recites hymns multiple times), nor yodels, she never eats chocolate or fondue, the cheese she does eat is not holey, she doesn't dance the landier and she never wears a apron.