Freedom From The Land Literary Analysis

The West couldn’t be freed from all oppression and for the pioneers sometimes there is struggle with familiar expectations and social norms. There is a constant battle for success and survival for many settlers in the barren land of the West. There seemed to be a sense of loneliness between the characters in the novel. Alexandra was successful and independent, however she “had a pretty lonely life…” (Cather 125) and she still wishes “Freedom from the land” (Cather 89). It’s as though she truly enjoys hearing of others travels, such as Emil and lives vicariously through them. Carl expresses his loneliness to Alexandra telling her “Freedom so often means that one isn’t needed anywhere” (Cather 89). He always seems to be on a constant search

of fulfilling life’s uncertainty, even with all the freedom he has to move around. Frank seems challenged to find happiness in his new world, not acting as eccentric anymore, unlike when “he used to be awfully gay like that when he was a young man…Frank would be alright in the right place” (Cather 139). Most of the characters in this novel seem to try and fill the void of loneliness and hang onto previous expectations of life.
Social norms and expectations are hard to shake in the new Western Frontier but like the weather can change quickly if survival is at stake. A woman inheriting an authoritative position before her brothers is uncommon circumstance in the late nineteen century. Alexandra’s father put Alexandra in charge of the land and told the boys “you will be guided by your sister boys…” (Cather 23) because they understood each other and John knew she was intelligent. Lou and Oscar struggle with this concept and always try to find purpose in themselves and get frustrated in Alexandra’s decisions when in fact she has “made more on my farms since I’ve been alone than when we all worked together” (Cather 119). Old Ivar is seen as crazy because he lives differently than others by not wearing shoes and “living in a clay bank for three years…without defiling the face of nature…” (Cather 29). He exhausts himself worrying about be admitted into the asylum for doing something people perceive as crazy.