The American Narrative: Analyzing “O Pioneers” by Willa Cather What defines the Great American Novel? It's a literary work that not only employs rhetorical devices and themes reflecting the American Dream, but also provides a realistic portrayal of American life. Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers” is a shining example, encapsulating the essence of the ‘Great American Novel’ by delving into the themes of man and nature, love and relationships, and most importantly, the American Dream. Cather's strategic use of style and tone, structure, characters, and symbolism enrich these themes, elevating the novel's literary merit. “O Pioneers” captures the essence of the American Dream and the American life of pioneers settling the Nebraska frontier as told through the life of Alexandra …show more content…
After sixteen years of trials and tribulations, Alexandra’s efforts have paid off. She and her family are now wealthy and easily living off the land. When life seems to go her way, Alexandra’s brother, Emil, seeks a forbidden love with Marie Shabata. This love proves fatal to both Marie and Emil when her husband, Frank Shabata, kills them both from blind fury, leaving Alexandra alone. Recovering from her sorrow, she becomes exhausted with the life she has lived and tries to get Frank pardoned; upon her return home, her long-lost love, Carl Linstrum, is waiting for her to comfort her in her time of loss. At last, able to see that she must tend to her own needs and desires, she shares her feelings with Carl, and they decide to marry. Through tragedy and triumph, Alexandra persevered to tame the Nebraska frontier and follow her American dream. Cather uses a variety of literary elements to create a vivid picture of the Nebraska frontier and pioneer life. This work is written linearly with flashbacks to provide reason and motivation for the character's
Cormac McCarthy, an American novelist, and screenwriter attended an interview from a 2007 episode, hosted by Oprah Winfrey, an American media proprietor, actress, and producer.
The tone during the whole plot of in Brave New World changes when advancing throughout the plot, but it often contains a dark and satiric aspect. Since the novel was originally planned to be written as a satire, the tone is ironic and sarcastic. Huxley's sarcastic tone is most noticeable in the conversations between characters. For instance, when the director was educating the students about the past history, he states that "most facts about the past do sound incredible (Huxley 45)." Through the exaggeration of words in the statement of the director, Huxley's sarcastic tone obviously is portrayed. As a result of this, the satirical tone puts the mood to be carefree.
O Pioneers!, a novel by Willa Cather is a dramatic romance. The story takes place in a Farm outside of Hanover, Nebraska. This story is set in 1997. This story is about a romance in two different relationships.
Edward O. Wilson, the writer of this satire, writes about the opinions of two disagreeing sides to demonstrate the unproductive nature of these litigations. To do this, the author writes in a horatian manner and uses instances of exaggeration, parody, incongruity, and irony to help him convey his message that these arguments are pointless. The well distributed use of these strategies allows the writer to efficiently illustrate and mock the unproductive disagreement of these two groups of people.
How does Seward expand the antislavery argument beyond the moral appeal of the abolitionist? acknowledging his argument and appreciating his position.
In The Things They Carried, an engaging novel of war, author Tim O’Brien shares the unique warfare experience of the Alpha Company, an assembly of American military men that set off to fight for their country in the gruesome Vietnam War. Within the novel, the author O’Brien uses the character Tim O’Brien to narrate and remark on his own experience as well as the experiences of his fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company. Throughout the story, O’Brien gives the reader a raw perspective of the Alpha Company’s military life in Vietnam. He sheds light on both the tangible and intangible things a soldier must bear as he trudges along the battlefield in hope for freedom from war and bloodshed. As the narrator, O’Brien displayed a broad imagination, retentive memory, and detailed descriptions of his past as well as present situations. 5. The author successfully uses rhetoric devices such as imagery, personification, and repetition of O’Brien to provoke deep thought and allow the reader to see and understand the burden of the war through the eyes of Tim O’Brien and his soldiers.
...hemes fed their families, Alexandra’s hope was renewed continually by the promise of Emil’s future. When he dies, her dreams for his future are shattered, but her own are then able to be seen more clearly, without the filter of another person to care for. Ivar allows her to be herself to some extent, and more importantly can talk to her about things that only they can understand, about the land and the earth and the forces that move within it. Finally, Carl comes to his childhood friend’s rescue and reminds her that there is an entire world outside of Nebraska, and in that world she doesn’t always have to be the only one who truly cares. Through all of these men’s influences, Alexandra is in turn optimistic, hopeful, broken, and renewed. Without these changes within her self, she would never come to know exactly who and what she is– a farmer, a pioneer, and a woman.
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
In the small, desolate town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan Frome lives a life of poverty. Not only does he live hopelessly, but “he was a prisoner for life” to the economy (Ammons 2). A young engineer from outside of town narrates the beginning of the story. He develops a curiosity towards Ethan Frome and the smash-up that he hears about in bits and pieces. Later, due to a terrible winter storm that caused the snow itself to seem like “a part of the thickening darkness, to be the winter night itself descending on us layer by layer” (Wharton 20), the narrator is forced to stay the night at Frome’s. As he enters the unfamiliar house, the story flashes back twenty-four years to Ethan Frome’s young life. Living out his life with Zenobia Frome, his hypochondriac of a wife whom he does not love, Ethan has nowhere to turn for a glance at happiness. But when Zenobia’s, or Zeena’s, young cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to care for her, Ethan falls in love with the young aid. Mattie is Ethan’s sole light in life and “she is in contrast to everything in Starkfield; her feelings bubble near the surface” (Bernard 2). All through the novella, the two young lovers hide their feelings towards each other. When they finally let out their true emotions to each other in the end, the consequence is an unforeseen one. Throughout Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton portrays a twisted fairy tale similar to the story of Snow White with the traditional characters, but without a happy ending to show that in a bleak and stark reality, the beautiful and enchanting maiden could become the witch.
The introduction to Twain’s essay includes a flashback to create the frame of the essay and establish the themes. He uses imagery to really set the scene and emphasize its importance. Twain makes it obvious from the beginning that his audience is very broad, his tone is calm and reasonable. He is using this essay to show that people rely on public opinion, and that people conform in order to be in the majority. In the introduction, he lays out his plan very clearly and proceeds to plead his case.
At the beginning of this century, ships docked in American ports with their steerages filled with European immigrants. Willa Cather’s My Antonia, contains characters that immigrate to the country of America in search of hope and a new future in the Midwest prarie. This novel can be considered an American tale because it holds the American concept of the “melting pot,” the ideal of America as the “land of opportunity,” and the character’s struggles could only have occurred in America rather than their own country.
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers!. Eds. Susan J. Rosowski, Charles Mignon, and Kathleen Danker. The Willa Cather Scholarly Edition. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1992.
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.
not possible for a child…ever to use his family’s language in school.” His claim may throw
Willa Cather's novel My Ántonia dramatizes the effect the frontier has on both native-born people and immigrants that come to the West in search of new beginnings. The story centers around two families living in a remote area of Nebraska from completely diverse backgrounds. This tale suggests that regardless of where a person comes from, the trials and tribulations of living under such tough conditions will ultimately impact his/her future existence. Cather's characters, no matter the age or heritage, are continuously re-defined, as if reborn, into a new life by surviving the harsh realities of the frontier. Much of the creation of these characters takes place in the very first book of the story, with the middle books only showing the individuals sense of disconnection from the land from which they've come to make their living. They either love the frontier life, or they seek to escape it and create a new life for themselves elsewhere. The final book reunites the two main characters, Jim and Ántonia, and brings them full circle: back to the place where it all began.