РефератыИностранный языкO O Pioneers Essay Research Paper O PioneersAfter

O Pioneers Essay Research Paper O PioneersAfter

O Pioneers! Essay, Research Paper


O Pioneers!


After reading the novel, O Pioneers!, it was


hard to judge whether it was a tragedy or a


triumph. I think the answer you are looking for


would be a triumph. The only way I see it as a


tragedy is that Emil and Maria died. I knew, since


page six of the book, that they were destined to be


together. It kind of broke my heart to see later


on that she had married someone else. But when her


and Emil got shot, I thought it may finish as a


tragedy. But overall, I would see it as a triumph


in the way that the Bergson’s finally got what they


wanted out of their land. It made them rich.


Also, Alexandra and Carl finally married. And


being that the whole novel was basically based on


“the land”, they were triumphant in getting what


they risked, what they longed for.


In my opinion, I think the land broke the


characters rather than the characters breaking the


land. Of course the characters had to plant and


sew the fields, but they did that every year. It


took the forever, it seemed like, for the land to


break them. That’s what the Bergson’s had worked


for their whole life. The land pulls the family


together and makes them work hard to get what they


want,…money, happiness. It makes them happy. So


yes, the land does break them more than they break


the land.


In considering Cather’s characters, I don’t


think they become fully Americanized within a


generation. At the beginning of the novel, it


seems like they are more in tuned with the rest of


America. They are economically stable. But when


Carl comes back on his first visit, Lou and Oscar


scorn him about burning Wall Street. Obviously,


America is building and becoming more advanced.


While still in Nebraska, people are relying on


their crops to get them by. They are still


dwelling on their traits, beliefs, and actions that


past generations had.


Romantic love in this particular novel is very


hard to judge whether it is necessary for human


happiness. I don’t think that it was meant to be


the moral of the story, or that love was the basis


of this particular novel, but I do think that after


reading this that it was necessary in order to be


happy. Of course, in one instance,

love did end in


heartbreak, desolation, and destruction with the


scenario of Emil and Maria. But in every story,


there has to be a sad moment or a fatality that


occurs. But overall, it seemed like Alexandra


wasn’t going to be happy unless Carl came back and


she could be with him. Also, she acted as if her


money didn’t make her as happy as he did. Lou and


Oscar also had love in their life. They moved away


from the land in order to marry. Love took them


over, not the land or the desire to be rich. So


yes, I do think that love is necessary for human


happiness.


Physically, I consider the men in the novel to


be the strongest. But if you look at what the


people in the novel had to overcome, emotionally, I


think the women were stronger. Well into the


novel, Lou and Oscar wanted to get rid of the land


because they didn’t believe that it was worth


anything. They kind of gave up. But Alexandra,


being the strong one of the family, hung in there


and convinced them that it would one day be worth a


lot more than when they started out. Alexandra,


throughout the whole novel had to deal with some


big tragedies. Her mother, father and brother


dying. Her best friend dying, Carl walking in and


out of her life, and having Lou and Oscar on her


back all the time. She was made to be the


strongest character of all. I found that the women


of this novel to be stronger than the men.


I never really considered generational values


all that important until I read this story. While


trying to wear Alexandra’s shoes, it made me


realize that the things we carry on generation


after generation keep getting more and more


valuable. For example, farming that land meant


more to John Bergson than anything it seemed like.


He wanted to keep that land for generations to come


because he knew it would be worth a good amount.


Alexandra wanted to keep the land in order to have


a better lifestyle. It seems like today, no one is


worried about farming the land in order to survive


in the real world. It seems that in reality,


people have to go to college and get an education


in order to make it in the world. The concerns,


anxieties, and dreams of the characters do not seem


relevant to the modern world today.

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