Hardships in O Pioneer During the middle to late 1800's, thousands upon thousands of Americans, as well as foreigners, flocked to the mid-western part of the United States. They flocked to this area hoping to gain free or cheap land promised to them by the United States Government. Most of the "pioneers" left cities and factory jobs to venture out into the American prairies and become farmers. They left their homes, not only because the land was either free or cheap, but also because they wanted to leave the hardships of city life. However, as most would find out, prairie life had its' share of hardships, that far out-reached the hardships of city life. Among these hardships were the death of siblings and friends due to starvation and/or hard work. Pioneers also had to face the stresses and burdens of trying to make a living off of the land. Along with these stress's, they had to worry about how to make money off of the land. All of these hardships, as well as others, were portrayed in Willa Cather's "O' Pioneers". In the beginning of the novel, we meet the Bergson family. As one reads the beginning chapters of the novel, one learns that the Bergson family has dealt with an awful toll on the family. They lost two children in between the births of Lou and Oscar. Not only did they lose two children, who they surely loved dearly, they lost a herd of cattle to a blizzard. They lost a very important plowing horse to a broken leg. They lost their hogs due to cholera. They also lost an important breeding stallion. All of these hardships occurred within a relatively short time of eleven years. Then at the end of chapter two, the Bergson's lost the head of their family in John. With the loss of the father, the famil... ... middle of paper ... ...on is a prime example of this problem (even though her flirtasous spirit was not much help). Willa Cather did a very good job by portraying the real life situations that American pioneers had to face. This novel opened the eyes of the American public to the courage these pioneers must have had to venture out on to wild and un-charted land. It also opened the heart, of the American public, to these pioneers because of the hardships and burdens these pioneers had to face. As one reads this novel, it is very easy to feel nothing but the utmost respect for these pioneers because they underwent so much turmoil, that very few others during this time, went through. These pioneers were family oriented and wanted nothing but the best possible for their families. The pioneer men back during this time were real men and the pioneer women during this time were real women.
By 1870, the rich Red River Valley grew more wheat than any other place in the nation. River routes were limited and some farmers settled where they were landlocked. As you know, the Lost River didn’t afford much in the way of water access to major cities. To get grain to market, farmers had to ship their harvest over 80 miles to Moorhead. To travel over land, the transportation cost was $0.15/ton for every mile shipped. The value of wheat was only $1.10/bushel. If they were lucky, farmers barely broke even. Most farmers lost money.
Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes .Changes that were a product of influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase on exported goods, do the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads. Moreover they were discontented with the approach that the government had taken towards the situation.
The availability of inexpensive land in the American West provided opportunity for many Americans to fulfill the American dream of individualism, economic opportunity and personal freedom. Immigrants, former slaves and other settlers moved across the country to become western farmers and ranchers to make a new life. One of the reasons why the west was a land of opportunity for the farmers and ranchers was the large quantity of cheap available land. This allowed for many Americans, both rich and poor, to buy land for farming and raising cattle. The Homestead Act of 1862 aided the process. The Homestead Act gave title to 160 acres of federal land to farmers who staked a claim and lived on the land for five years. Alternatively, a farmer could buy the land after six months for $1.25 an acre. Many blacks and immigrants joined the westward expansion, looking for a better life. Immigrants saw the land as opportunity because many could not own land in the countries where they were born. For example, in Nebraska, a fourth of the population was foreign born. These immigrants transformed...
On the east coast people were also being taken advantage of by the government. As a result of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, the government began giving out land grants ‒through the Homestead Act of 1862‒ for Americans to live on and farm; the only problem was that another culture was already living on the land: the Sioux Nation. After the S...
In the 1830's the Plains Indians were sent to the Great American Deserts in the west because the white men did not think they deserved the land. Afterwards, they were able to live peacefully, and to follow their traditions and customs, but when the white men found out the land they were on were still good for agricultural, or even for railroad land they took it back. Thus, the white man movement westward quickly begun. This prospect to expand westward caused the government to become thoroughly involved in the lives of the Plains Indians. These intrusions by the white men had caused spoilage of the Plains Indians buffalo hunting styles, damaged their social and cultural lives, and hurt their overall lives. The lives of the Plains Indians in the second half of the nineteenth century were greatly affected by the technological development and government actions.
Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford gives us an insight into the endurance of the early settlers and the kind of pain they went through in order build the foundation of our great nation. They embarked on the new world and developed a colony from the ground up. However, there troubles started long before they even stepped foot on the land. With a strong hold on their religious beliefs, they continued their voyage to the new world even though there were questions about the safety of the vessel. They managed to work hard on the ship and make it to the new world, tired and hungry, only to learn that there was no rest to be found, but even more work.
Willa Cather’s O Pioneers presents the land as symbolic and vital to the course of the plot. As a force of nature so powerful that it can crush the efforts of any settler in a fleeting moment. This display of supremacy presents itself in the opening lines of Cather's novel, in which she introduces the land as not only the setting but an active character within the story. When Cather’s states, “One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away,” she incarnates the spirit of the settlers within the land. As the novel progresses, the idea that one must be a force equal in strength to the land is apparent in the protagonist character of Alexandra Bergson. O Pioneers brings the works of Fredrick Jackson Turner and Solomon Butcher to life, through Alexandra and her affection for the land, Cather, gives a voice and a human persona to the expanding frontier, showcasing the lands innate ability to shape its own destiny.
White settlers started moving westward to settle the land gained by the victory over the Native Americans. A major factor that caused this major movement, other than by the victory of the war, was the homestead act. This act provided and granted 160 acres of free land to any citizen who was the head of a house or family. While moving, the settlers were challanged by the new enviornment of the plains and they had to start adapting to the new enviornment. While moving west, all farmers were supported by the government on technical aspects and on agricultural education.
The period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American Politics. The country was finally free of the threat of war, and many of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the sustenance of the agriculture industry, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Mother Nature was also showing no mercy with grasshoppers, floods, and major droughts that led to a downward spiral of business that devastated many of the nation’s farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, numerous farms groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what the farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture. During the final twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the loss in value of silver as threats to their way of life, all of which could be recognized as valid complaints.
This growth in population was attributed to both immigration and natural increase, as young women married and had children. As the population grew, the settlers’ needs quickly outgrew the confines of their small towns. Land was distributed within families by inheritance, divided between the children. However, when families would often have six or more children, land that was once more than sufficient to support a family, once divided, was no longer enough to support the newer generations as well. The young men who could no longer inherit a substantial amount of land were now forced to venture
Some found it difficult to disconnect form this existing life, but once they had survived one their own for a while they learned to appreciate what they were given the opportunity to do. In A Woman in the Westward Movement, the hardships that come with moving westward are spelled out. It discusses how difficult it was to travel west and all of the obstacles they faced just to get to their destination. Once they arrived, even though they did not want to go back where they came from, they had “the want of society, of church privileges, and in fact almost every thing that makes life desirable, would often make me sad in spite of all effort to the contrary.” They recognized that life was noticeably different without the attachment to a society. Moving west allowed the roles in society to disappear. Women who moved west were forced to break away from their natural place in the family and take on a new role as someone who worked hard to build a new life. “but I am satisfied that with all the disadvantages of raising a family in a new country, there is a consolation in knowing that our children are prepared to brave the ills of life.” This showed that even though moving west had a lot of difficulties tied to it, in the end a lot of people benefitted from being disconnected from society. Henry David Thoreau disconnected with society because
One of the most deadliest causes of the deaths of many settlers was the drought. The diagram in Document B shows there was no rainfall for a greater amount of time, than the amount of time rain fell. This wasn't enough water that was needed to survive. Water is an important need for the settlers, or just people in general. Without enough water, the settlers population decreased due to severe dehydration amongst the settlers. Not only did the people die, but the crops did as well. This left the settlers suffering from hunger due to the death of many crops because of the lack of water. There was barely any water for the livestock decreasing the amount of food ever more leaving even more settlers to starve.
The Roaring Twenties approached and the citizens in Colorado were facing rough times. In 1920, many people such as farm owners, manufacturers, and even miners were having a hard time making a living due to an economic downfall. The farmers especially, where facing the toughest of times. The price of various farm-grown goods like wheat, sugar beets, and even cattle was dropping because their goods were no longer needed by the public. Wheat had dropped in price from $2.02 in 1918 to $0.76 by the time 1921 came around. Sadly, the land that they were using to grow wheat became dry and many farmers had to learn to grow through “dryland farming” which became very popular in the eastern plains from 1910 to 1930 (Hard Times: 1920 - 1940). Apple trees began to die due to the lack of desire for apples, poor land, and decreased prices. Over the course of World War I, the prices of farm goods began to increase slowly. Farmers were not the only one facing this economic hardship while others in big cities were enjoying the Roaring Twenties.
Farmer’s had difficulties making a living because the rates of being a farmer was high. “Nothing has done more to injure the western region than these freight rates.” (Quoted from Document F) The high rates of being a farmer made it very difficult to make payments on the lands. Some farmers couldn’t even sell their produce for a reasonable profit. They worked long, hard hours and the government wasn’t on their side about paying them a decent income. Along with farm prices failing, railroad prices were increasing. Railroads were important very to farmers because they took farmers out to their lands, carried their produce to markets, and brought them the manufactured goods that they needed. Many farm settlements were made around railroads just because of this reason. Railroad managers were forced to charge very high rates and because of it, farmers would have to pay more money to use railroads.
Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so.