Neighboteur Rosicky Summary

In a survey conducted by psychologist and professor Ed Diener he found that there was limited to no connection between wealth and happiness. The professor found that out of the Forbes’ 100 wealthiest Americans and lottery winners had only the smallest bit more happiness than an average citizen and that their money only brought temporary delight. Willa Cather expresses the relationship between wealth and emotion in her short story, “Neighbour Rosicky”.Cather believes that the idea of a more common American Dream of wealth and prosperity contrasts with a farmer’s more refined and simple American Dream of being completely satisfied with being happy and working on a farm, despite suffering financially by doing so.
Cather reveals in the first passage

what is desirable about living on a farm and that Anton Rosicky decides to go there because of the refined lifestyle. In this part of the story Anton Rosicky is thinking to himself about his time before he moved westward while he was still living in New York. Anton thinks about his desire to move westward and that all he wants is to work on another man’s farm, when he is sitting in a park. Rosicky talks about the west using phrases he associates with living on a farm, “to see the sun rise and set and to plant things and watch them grow” (Cather 9). Cather uses these romantic phrases to create imagery. It creates an image of peacefulness and comfort in the reader through talking about the beautiful and calming sun. This romantic description of the farm shows the reader what was desirable about being out west, which is essentially the American Dream. All that farmers wanted at the time was to work on their farm and enjoy the refined and simplistic lifestyle that it brought. The description of the sun and watching the plants grow contribute to the ideal of a farming life through the romantic description and the serene imagery. In the same passage Anton mentions his desire to relocate westward. Anton mentions about wanting to work on another man’s farm saying that, “He was a very simple man”(9). The simplicity of the man reflects what the American Dream was like for farmers. The use of the word shows the audience what was wanted by farmers, just to see the nature around them and to live on a farm, only the most refined way of life.
In this passage Cather exhibits that health is more important to the Rosicky’s than anything else, even though they lack wealth from their farm.

Mary and Anton Rosicky are witnessing their neighbours continuously buying more land and feed more stock without hesitation. When a creamery agent comes to the Rosicky’s persuading them to sell him their cream, they deny his request saying they’d rather have the creams for themselves to feed their family than have money. Mary responds to the agent saying that she’d, “Rather put some colour in my children’s faces than put money into the bank”(7). She speaks using a metaphor in this quotation to describe what it is that she wants for her family. She compares health to having color in the cheeks and being wealthy to putting money into the bank. The presence of the metaphor impacts the message that Cather is trying to display by comparing the two things to help the reader understand what is important to the Rosicky’s family. The metaphor itself is another way of showing the reader that health is more important to farmers than anything else. In the same passage Cather depicts how being healthy is more important than having money. When talking about the neighbor’s children she says that they look like, “Pale pinched little things”(7). She mentions that because they sell more from their farm and don’t keep enough for them they look unhealthy. Cather shows through these words that even though the Rosicky’s neighbors may have had more wealth, they didn’t look healthy or happy. The use of the word “pale” depicts the lack of food that the children have had in a ghostly way. Similarly, the word “pinched” shows how their faces were pale from worry or

hunger.