Elements In Willa Carter's 'Neighbour Rosicky'

After reading Willa Carter’s “Neighbour Rosicky” story, one can see that there are puritan, transcendental, regionalism, naturalism and realism characteristics in the story (1863). Carter was able to identify the puritan characteristics when describing Rosicky’s mental and physical toughness. The transcendental characteristic is experienced when Rosicky becomes a resident of New York City, which becomes as natural as walking the busy, noisy streets; in contrast, it can also be unnatural when the streets are empty or when the nostalgia of the big city wears off. The regionalism characteristics are represented throughout the story, as it relates to the specific places and people being impacted. Naturalism is discussed in the extreme situations

The family had difficulties adjusting to the farm, with many ups and downs; but it never seems to get the best of him. Rosicky came to the realization that basics in life are by far the most important things. He discerns that Polly, his son’s wife, is lonely and becoming unhappy. She misses the people in the city. He would direct his son to take Polly to have a night on the town and away from the farm (Cather 1872). The simple things in life made him happy, caring for others and not worrying about himself was what he did best. At the age of sixty-five and having never seen a doctor, he senses heart problems and goes to see his friend, Dr Ed. He is given news no farmer wants to hear; he would not be allowed to work in the fields (Cather 1864). As Carter depicts, Rosicky believed a man’s place is in the fields and a woman’s place is in the house doing house work. On his way home, he stops by a cemetery to reminisce on his life (Cather1867). Not one to stay out of the fields, one day while he was working he had another heart attack. His daughter in-law, Polly, found him. He died the next