O Pioneers Literary Analysis

Since the beginning of the 2014 California drought, farm lands have been deteriorating just like the beginning of the O Pioneers novel. The California drought is extremely similar to the poor farm lands in O Pioneers because it shows the same effects both farms are facing. The farm situation in O Pioneers is foreshadowing to California’s drought because it is leading into the same exact situation. However, Cather teaches Californians that not all is lost. Cather describes that the lands were made prosperous again by Alexandra. Cather explains how to make the farm lands prosperous again and shows all the great effects it has. She is able to clearly illustrate the teachings that she is demonstrating. Concern and awareness for management is what

Cather teaches Californians to be concerned and aware of their management so they can succeed in having tremendous farm land. Californians must carefully take care of their land to have it prosper from the atrocious regional drought. Once Alexandra has succeeded in making her land prosperous after going through tough times, Cather describes it by saying, “There was something individual about the great farm, a most usual trimness and care for detail” (80). Cather describes Alexandra’s land to have such uniqueness with great attention to every tiny bit of the element. By saying the land is “something individual”, Cather is describing the land to have unique characteristics that has led to Alexandra’s success. Cather teaches Californians to have unique characteristics like strong attention to detail to succeed. The adjective “most” explains that Californians must put in a

Cather describes Amédée to excessively dedicate himself to his own land resulting in being too problematic for him. Cather uses Amédée’s wife to describe that Amédée “has to be everywhere at once. He’s sick, too, and ought to be in his bed” (215). Cather specifically has Angélique describe Amédée because she is the one who knows most about Amédée since she is always around him. Cather uses her to bring adherence that over dedication will result in failure. Cather describes that Amédée needs to be in multiple place at once to emphasize the amount of work he has taken in. His dedication has proven to be too much for him since he physically cannot handle it anymore. His concern and awareness has led to sickness yet he still works because he has tremendous dedication. Cather teaches Californians to not over dedicate themselves all to one single problem. Cather suggests to not work until you feel sick. Amédée is too concerned about his work that he forgets about his own health. Once again, Cather chose Angelique specifically to say this line to show the misery that over dedication has brought. Too much concern and awareness on one problem will result in a complicated situation filled with dilemmas. Cather describes Amédée work more immensely when she characterizes a piece of machinery that Amédée has, to have “a movement that looked as complicated a wheel