Abstract This paper looks at how Alexandra Bergson, the main character of Willa Cather's "O Pioneers!", is portrayed as a pastoral heroine. She essentially takes on nontraditional gender roles as she performs and acts like a strong and independent woman. During the time period of the novel, this was unheard of and would be considered behavior appropriate for a man. The paper supports its thesis by using quotes from Willa Cather's "O Pioneers!" and two other sources.
From the Paper "Carl's decision to come back to Nebraska illustrates his rejection of the scripted male practice of traveling around the country in order to make more money. He ultimately realizes that he belongs with Alexandra, as he settles down to start a new life with her. Arguably, this creates a certain type of role reversal, as the younger, sensitive and uncertain Carl comes back to Alexandra's confident and stable arms. The conventional ending to this story would have entailed Alexandra relying on Carl as the 'man of the house,' but this is not the case. Carl's genuine feelings can be summed up as Alexandra does not belong to him but that she belongs ?to the land [?] now more than ever.? (Cather 307) Cather ends the novel putting both Alexandra and Carl on the same level ..."
Abstract The paper introduces Willa Cather, who lived in Nebraska in the late 1800s, as having a writing style that was a fresh, new approach to the American experience. The paper reviews her book, "O Pioneers", which is a personification of the Bergson family's life on the frontier. The author concludes that Cather used intense detail to project the main theme, man pitted against nature.
From the Paper "Alexandra emerged rather quickly as the protagonist of the novel, and evolved into a female heroine. One of the most dominant characters however, wasn?t human at all. The land itself was the greatest enemy that Alexandra faced at times. Their relationship was symbolic of the overall theme of the "grand struggle" that existed between humanity and forces out of human control. Alexandra tried to control the land, and tried to exert her wishes upon the land, but the land was bending her at the same time."
Abstract This paper examines and compares three novels which deal with immigration to the promised land of America and movement through society and classes within the country itself. The paper shows how the characters in each novel deal with their new surroundings, language and mentality and compares the three novels. The works chosen to analyze are: "O, Pioneer" by Willa Cather which describes settlement in the American West, "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser which describes the rise from poverty and the fall from power and, finally, "Promised Land" an autobiography by Mary Antin, who immigrated to America at the age of 13 with her family.
From the Paper "It is assumed that the so-called great American urge to settle and farm western prairies was at its peak immediately following the Civil War. This was the time when Willa Cather's family moved to the east coast of Nebraska in 1873. She got her first sense of small-town life in Nebraska in 1884 when her family migrated to Red Cloud, another settlement, which she used as the setting for Hanover in ?O Pioneer!?. Her experiences and familiarity during her formative years in and among the settlers, her conversations with immigrant European farmers and the violent character of the prairie altogether created that huge impact that she translated into her novel. Ralph Waldo Emerson noted more than half a century later that such exceptional frontier experiences had to be recorded. It was Willa Cather who seized the essence of 19th century America and recorded her own experiences, first-hand, on the might of the land itself, the impersonal forces emitting from it, the hardships and tragedies in pioneer life much like a history in motion in her novel."
Abstract The three-dimensional Rubik's Cube - an icon of the 1980s ? brought a certain cerebral quality to the modern toy. This paper shows the similarities in the mechanism of the Rubik's cube and the way in which humor functions. It shows these similarities with reference to relevant academics such as Sigmund Freud and Henry Bergson. Examples used to illustrate the argument are drawn from a variety of sources including novels, live stage performance, theatre and cinema.
From the Paper "Freud's work Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious dissects the technique, purposes and motives of jokes and reveals a remarkably similar mechanism to that of Rubik's Cube. The jumble of colors into matching sets may be likened to ?the ability to find similarity in dissimilar things.? A joke begins in the mind as a puzzle for the audience as they try to guess its outcome or make sense of nonsense. Humor has to be expressed physically - whether it is through voice, mime or writing - but is essentially a materialization of intellectual thought (behind bumbling Mr. Bean in fact lies Cambridge-educated Rowan Atkinson)."
Abstract This paper reviews an 2003 Internet article "Keeping the Customer Satisfied" by Lisa Bergson about the organizing function of management and its applicability to General Motors. The author points out that this article offers insights for both entrepreneurs and larger corporations.
From the Paper "The organizing function of management encompasses a wide variety of tasks from human resource management to the organizational structure of the firm and individual groups within the company. Effective managers understand how to bring together all of the necessary elements human resources, physical resources and informational resources necessary to achieve organizational goals. This is all part of the organizing function of management. The function is critical regardless of whether the organization is as large as General Motors or a small business and lessons from ..."
Tags: organizing function, management, General Motors
