Published in 1913, O Pioneers! is a story of the American West in the late 19th Century. It demonstrates the difficulties faced by Americans during the settlement of the West and the changes in technology and society seen late in the 1800s. Willa Cather was raised in Virginia, but moved with her family to Nebraska at the age of ten, where she was traumatised by the open, barren landscape and the hardships faced in settling it. Her works tell about these hardships and the changes they wrought in people on the edges of a rapidly changing civilisation—it is the story of individuals struggling to fit into society.Willa Cather, O Pioneers! Video guide
Important characters:
Hannover, Nebraska—the setting
Alexandra Bergson, the female lead
who takes care of her brothers and the family farm after her father’s death.
Lou and Oscar Bergson, her slightly
younger brothers who work on the farm and resent her guidance.
Emil Bergson, her much younger brother
who she works hard to take care of and get educated, and who is apparently
the successful American of the turn of the century.
Carl Linstrum, a neighbour of Alexandra
in their youth, he later moves away and pursues an artistic career, but
they remain in love, although they do not admit it to themselves.
Marie Shabata, a friend of Alexandra
and married to Frank Shabata.
Crazy Ivar, a religious mystic who
understands nature.
Amedee Chevalier, a French immigrant
and Emil’s best friend.
Things to watch for:
immigrants
technology such as the telephone and
railroad
half-sections (a reference to the
old sections created by the Land Ordinance in 1785)
mortgages
education
scientific land management and the
use of new crops
sod houses
resentment of the poor for the rich,
the West for the East, which hint at the rise of Populism
changing roles of women
This page last updated 22 October, 2003.