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Realism In Willa Cather's O Pioneers

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As Willa Cather wrote “O Pioneers!” she drew from 3 main philosophies of life, Realism, Romanticism, and Naturalism. While one book or story may adhere to just one of these philosophies, Cather was able to masterfully combine all of them.

For starters, realism gets best described as “A faithful representation of reality”. One example of this in O Pioneers! Would come in chapter 1 of part 1 when Alexandra says "Yes. He is coming over to-morrow. But he says father can 't get better; can 't get well.". This is an example of realism in that she is just saying it how it is instead of trying to sugar coat it. Another example would show up in chapter 12 of part 4 Alexandra says "And now you are going away. I thought so.". This is realism in that she sees his tendencies in how he leaves. Those are just some of the many examples of Cather using realism in O Pioneers!. …show more content…

One example of this in O Pioneers! would come in chapter 3 of part 1 when Alexandra says "Yes, yes, Carl, I know. You are wasting your life here. You are able, to do much better things. “. This was her over glorifying the fact that Carl is leaving to learn something as useless as Engraving thinking it will improve his situation in life.Another example of romanticism would show up in chapter 7 of part 4 when Emil says "don 't take my dream away!" showing that the characters have dreams and aspirations to become bigger than themselves at that point in

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In Willa Cather’s, O Pioneers!, the main character, Alexandra displays great leadership, persistence, and strength compared to the Olympic gymnast, Aly Raisman. Alexandra Bergson was a natural born leader. When both of her parents passed away, she took charge of her family farm as she was the oldest out of the four siblings. Although men mostly took charge of households and farms, Alexandra’s father knew she was the child who would continue her family legacy. She compares with Aly Raisman who was the leader of

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In the book “O Pioneers!” Willa Cather discusses her views on the three philosophies of life. She makes it clear as to which one she personally adheres, from a Realistic, Romantic and Naturalistic view of the world. Cather uses many circumstances of each type of philosophy. Willa uses Romanticism lots of times in her story.

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Butterflies and moths can be interpreted as a lot more than beautiful, flying insects. In O Pioneers these insects are mostly shown as being white in color, this color can be understood in many different ways. Willa Cather uses moths and butterflies many times throughout her novel. There are several legends and beliefs that show how the butterfly is a spiritual being, that represents humans. She uses them as a way to compare the characters to the insects.

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Paradox and Dream” by John Steinbeck are perfect examples to prove that the American dream is unattainable. This is shown in many different ways throughout both. The Great Gatsby shows it in more of a made up way. “Paradox and Dream” shows it in a more realistic way. No matter how the unattainability is portrayed, it is all meant to have the same meaning.

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He let the reader feel emotion, without him being emotional. An example of this is when Frederick says “The first step, in the wrong direction, was the violence done to nature and to conscience, in arresting the benevolence that would have enlightened my young mind.” This is an example of his formal writing. Another example that expresses that he has the ability to communicate facts without

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In “O Pioneers!” by Willa Cather it is easy to see how similar Cather is to her own character Alexandra Bergson, who many of Cather’s own views can be learned through. Throughout the story there are many examples of realistic, romantic, and naturalistic thinking. Realistic thinking may not be represented the most by in “O Pioneers!”, but I believe Cather leaned toward it a little more than the other types of thinking. She had a realistic view of a woman’s place in society and refused to just be a housewife.

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Among the three philosophies of life: Realism, Romanticism, and Naturalism, people tend to believe in one more strongly than others. After reading Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers!” and the poem she named the book after, “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” , I have come to the conclusion that she had more of a Romantic outlook.

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