This paper discusses Willa Cather's 'O Pioneers!', her second published novel, about homesteaders in Nebraska in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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Paper Summary:
This paper explains that the protagonist in Willa Cather's 'O Pioneers!' is a woman, Swedish by birth, who worked her land up to rich production and brought prosperity to her whole family; for the time the novel was written, this was somewhat out of the ordinary. The author is impressed by the way Cather set the mood in her story by beginning with a Great Plains winter scene as the backdrop to the struggle of the Borgson family, which was going to lose their father no matter what anyone did. The paper stresses that, in the time and place O Pioneers! was written, a father was the one with the power, not the mother, and the attitudes expressed by the brothers also provide a clear denunciation of patriarchy.
From the Paper:
"Perhaps in our time it is difficult to imagine that people would actually just do what they were told by a dying father but that was the world of late Victorian America and I believe that in setting the story as she did, the case can be made that Cather did criticize patriarchy. She made it very plain. If the father had not commanded, the brothers would have been in charge and Alexandra's fine capabilities would have been relegated to the kitchen. As the story progresses it isn't hard to see what would have happened to the family farm if the brothers had been running things. They are not only easily discouraged, but time and again it is shown that they just plain don't have Alexandra's ability to look at a situation and see a creative, positive way to deal with it. She not only keeps the original homestead, but as others in the areas do give up under drought and other challenges, she mortgages the home farm to buy these places as well."
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