In the novel, “O Pioneers!”, the character Alexandra Bergson ties to the author, Willa Cather. When Cather wrote this story, she used a lot of her own characteristics to develop Alexandra. In the story, Alexandra learns that Realistic, Romantic, and Naturalistic views exist throughout everything one might go through in life, very similar to what Cather most likely experienced. Cather’s three philosophies on life go along with the topics of Realistic, Romantic, and Naturalistic. I personally think
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. Some may say that because many of the events in her book were Naturalistic she had a Naturalistic outlook, and while I understand where this thought stems from, I have to disagree. Although
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. For instance, in Part 4, Chapter 7-8 after Frank kills Marie and Emil, Cather says, “two white butterflies from Frank's alfalfa-field were fluttering in and out among the interlacing
The story that I had presented for my oral presentation in Task 1 is ‘Boys and Girls’ is a by Alice Munro. This simple short story is about a young girl’s resistance to womanhood in a society infested with gender roles and stereotypes but have to accept the gender stereotyping in the end of the story. The story takes place in the 1940s on a fox farm outside of Jubilee, Ontario. The relevant theories of literary criticisms that can be applied to the ‘Boys and Girls’ short story are historical criticism
In O Pioneers there were three important relationships to the progression of the story, those are the relationships between Alexandra and Carl, and Marie with both Frank and Emil. There were many different things which held each relationship back and not one of them was completely smooth sailing. The relationship between Frank and Marie failed due to Frank’s lack of love for Marie and his melancholy behavior, that paired with Marie’s infidelity crashed their relationship straight into the ground
After reading and rereading both versions of Walt Whitman’s poem, “Pioneers! O pioneers!”, I noticed that the 1891 version compared to the 1867 version seems a little more “laid back” so to speak. In other words, the stanzas are somewhat more constricted in the 1867 version and that makes me wonder why Walt Whitman even decided to have different versions of the poem. I mean, based on the photos of the printed versions, the pages look different overall, which might mean that the pages were smaller
Willa Cather 's O Pioneers! indeed influenced her life, Cather reflected herself on the main protagonist of O Pioneers! Alexandra. She is a resourceful, practical person who loves and understands the land as no one else in the novel does. Cather feels that her career as a novelist really began with O Pioneers! was an abiding one and was restated in an essay she wrote in 1931 for The Colophon titled "My First Novels
Alexandra, a pioneer woman in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! Sanjeev Kumar Research Scholar, P.G. Department of English, Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University Bhagalpur. Mob: 09470282915 ; Email: dr.sanjeev_kr@rediffmail.com (Abstract) It accepted that Alexandra became
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
In the story O Pioneers, Cather presents the frontier in a way that writers generally describe in a romantic point of view. Cather raises the story in a naturalistic way, where the divide always has ways of making the situation worse. However, despite Cather writing the story, who has such naturalistic views about life, some areas portray romantic or realistic values. The title of her book, O Pioneers, comes from the romanticised poem by Walt Whitman about the frontier. This could foreshadow the
Cather when writing "O Pioneers!”, reflects parts of her life and her views of herself and the world into the story. She lived in a time period when everyone automatically thought women could not accomplish the work of a man. In the story Cather shows the troubles she may have went though as a young girl and grew stronger than her peers because of her of her naturalistic and realistic views while everyone else 's views seem romantic. Romantic views like the men will do all the work because a woman
exactly where her benefits and advantages lay in comparing with men. The essential factors to Alexandra’s success under the difficult and terrible situations include her willingness to learn from others, and her strong will, passion, and desire. In O Pioneer, Alexandra was an emancipated woman to some degree because she was financial independence by managing the land and her hard work. Her economic independence enabled her to have a final decision in her affair to get married to Carl oppose her brothers
open minded to the world's strength, it enlightens us to all the possibilities and opportunities the world has for us. Maybe Willa Cather, author of O Pioneers! has proven to us that the idea that love can conquer all is indeed achievable, and that maybe love, in all forms, is the key to all life’s difficulties. The characters in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! demonstrate that ecstatic infatuation with the land keeps us united, fosters gratitude, and frames our self-perception. We all seem to fight infatuation
O Pioneers! is a novel by American author and poet Willa Cather. It is set in the late 19th century and follows the story of Alexandra Bergson, a young woman of Swedish descent who takes over her father’s struggling Nebraska farm. She works diligently and with ingenuity to build up the farm, ultimately succeeding to great success. Throughout her journey, Alexandra faces a number of challenges, but also experiences a range of complex relationships, both personal and professional. Alexandra's love
This essay is about O Pioneers by Willa Cather. This book is based on life in the west, Nebraska specifically. The Bergson family comes to the west for better but they cannot find it. Their first years were very hard and became even worse when the soul provider John Bergson dies. Alexandra, his oldest child is left to care for the land and she swears she will never leave it. Many years later Alexandra and her family have finally succeeded in the west and became rich. Each character throughout the
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. Throughout O Pioneers white butterflies and moths are always found fluttering
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
“O’ Pioneers,” by Willa Cather, follows a group of frontiersmen trying to survive in the harsh conditions of the untamed west. The story follows the Bergsons, particularly the main character, a girl named Alexandra Bergson. Throughout the story, Alexandra grows up to her full potential, and we are able to see her character grow just as rich and mesmerizing as Willa hoped to achieve. Alexandra is the character that Willa decides to revolve her story around and throughout the book, directs the reader
Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! depicts a barren, wind torn prairie in Hanover, Nebraska. The pioneers that live there try desperately to work the land, but the land continues to be working against them. The character referred to in this statement is Alexandra Bergson. She is focused and motivated, with an overall androgynous look. After her father dies, Alexandra is left in charge of the operations of the farm because she is the smartest of all of the children. The barren land needs a tough person to
Willa Cather's O Pioneers highlights the undercurrent of Cather's talent to establish symbolism, deliver a direct written linguistic for easy interpretation among readers, dictate an exceptional control of pace which foreshadows coming events, as well as give a detailed description of the setting of the "land" which gives its own distinct characterization which not only reflects the desires of the settlers but is a created force to disrupt their lives and cause their own character to bend and change