O Pioneers By Willa Cather Analysis

“A pioneer should have imagination, should be able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves” (Cather 38). This quote from the book, O Pioneers! by Willa Cather it’s basically saying that a pioneer isn’t supposed to need a perfect world because they should be able to imagine one even in the harshest times and conditions. Their work and imagination should be what creates a better world for themselves. Alexandra Bergson’s family immigrated to the United States and settled in Omaha, Nebraska they were pioneers. There father worked hard to get this life and after his death it became Alexandra and her brother’s responsibility to keep his wishes alive. Over the course of the novel, O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, Alexandra Bergson

Life on the Divide isn’t satisfactory because Alexandra knows that there is so much more to the world that she has yet to experience and see. “"I don't know. Perhaps I am like Carrie Jensen, the sister of one of my hired men. She had never been out of the cornfields, and a few years ago she got despondent and said life was just the same thing over and over, and she didn't see the use of it. After she tried to kill herself once or twice...” (Cather 90). Alexandra compares herself to a woman who lived on a farm her whole life, and got so depressed she tried taking her own life. The girl gets sent away to live with other family not on a farm and there she is happier. Alexandra compares herself to this woman in the sense that she also sometimes feels trapped and unhappy living on the Divide when she knows that there is so much more to the world. Alexandra finds freedom, gains a whole new attitude and is satisfied. “"There is great peace here, Carl, and freedom...I thought when I came out of that prison, where poor Frank is, that I should never feel free again. But I do, here." Alexandra took a deep breath and looked off into the red west” (Cather 218). Alexandra leaves the farm with Carl after Emil’s death. When she returns to the farm she feels a sense of happiness and freedom because she realizes that the farm wasn’t keeping her and that even though the Divide is apart of her story that it doesn’t hold her back from going different places. She takes a deep breath of freedom when she visits the Divide again and she is satisfied. Expressing your feelings may be difficult for some and it certainly was for Alexandra but when she finally expressed what she wanted a whole new perspective of the world came to light and she was beyond