Realism In Willa Cather's A Lost Lady

Detailing the deceit within the small fictional town of Sweet Water, Willa Cather’s A Lost Lady warns of the ignorance of the subjectivity of man’s perspective. Written when the nation was embroiled in turmoil from the aftermath of the world war, A Lost Lady mirrors the literary conflict of the time between romanticism and realism. Redefining the argument between viewing the world in terms of ideals and flaws into one over the view of women, A Lost Lady critiques the belief in the idealistic true woman through the shattering of a young man’s worldview as he grows up. Depicting the male narrator Neil’s discovery of the flaws of his perfect woman, Mrs. Forrester, A Lost Lady utilizes the crumbling of a romanticized outlook of life to strengthen its

Entertaining discussion with Neil over the beauty of a visiting mistress, Mrs. Forrester comments that the girl is “considered pretty,” purposefully omitting her opinion to implicitly imply that the girl is not pretty in the eyes of Mrs. Forrester (28). By specifically using “considered,” Mrs. Forrester only furthers Cather’s argument that perfection is subjective as the girl is flawed to Mrs. Forrester (28). Instead of highlighting her impolite behavior, Neil takes it in stride and later tells her that she is still “lovely” (30), even after realizing that, whenever Mrs. Forrester describes other women, “she always made fun of them a little” (28). By creating the contrast from a young idealistic Neil desiring to see the best in Mrs. Forrester and the older Neil wishing for things to stay “the same,” Cather draws a distinction between idealism drawn from hope compared to idealism drawn from complacency, harping on Neil’s desire to maintain his ideals even after realizing its flaws