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,
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.