Willa Cather, from “The Joy of Nelly Deane” (p. 223)
Willa Cather writes the story of The Joy of Nelly Deane, describing Nelly’s joy as “unquenchable,” especially, Nelly’s joy attracted all the Baptist ladies who admired the prettiest girl in Riverbend, Nebraska (Cather, p. 225). Nelly fluttered from one social event to another, parties, picnics and dances, and sings like a “prima-donna” in the Baptist Church choir, where she met Peggy, the narrator of the story.
Peggy was named, by the Baptist sewing women, as a good influence for Nelly because she was quiet and although quiet, Peggy actually was a good influence because she was discerning, she gave subtle warnings to Nelly on how she felt about the young men whom Nelly chose, like, Scott Spinney whom Peggy describes as “so set in dark” and “Taciturn and domineering.” Peggy later writes about her discerning intuition when she shakes Scott’s hand as he was walking out of the Post Office, “ He gave me a hard grip with one black hand” (Cather, p. 231).
Cather writes Peggy’s description of Nelly’s baptism, before her marriage to Scott, which sealed the quenching of Nelly’s worldly joy into the cement Baptismal pit that swallowed Nelly into
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The argument begins when the man arrived after the two mile walk from the store without the woman’s anticipated coffee. Instead of the coffee the man held a 24 foot rope. The man did not drink coffee and that must be, according to the woman, why it was forgotten. The woman wondered, “What was the rope for?” The man could not think of anything, at the moment that the rope could be used for, in addition, the woman discovered the eggs had been broken, apparently when the rope had been laid on top of the them. The rope argument escalated and hate prevailed and worked it’s way into other surface issues, household chores,
In the exposition of the story, Minus immediately delves into the characters, introducing us to both and young Carrie Johnson and Mrs. Cado P. Clark, the main characters in the story. She also gives us a physical description of Carrie, as well as a beginning presentation of Mrs. Clark’s character. Of Carrie, Minus writes, “…Carrie had come out of the South, the red clay clinging to her misshapen heels, made migrant by the disintegration of a crumbling age” also “Carrie’s wide brown nostrils...”(Girl, Colored 1940). Of Mrs. Clark’s character as person from the upper class; she writes “A pale blonde woman opened the door. Wisps of inoffensive hair strayed from the leather thongs of a dozen curlers set at variance on her head.”Minus instantly offers a feel for how each character will shape up to be, and presents a chance for us (the reader) to attach ourselves to these perhaps not-so-unique individuals. Without further ado, Minus expounds on her both her characters initial descriptions of throughout the remainder of the story. We learn that Carrie has a quick temper and she easily angered but manages to keep of her emotions under control, Mrs. Clark ha...
Randall III, John H. "Intrepretation of My Antonia." Willa Cather and Her Critics. Ed. James Schroeter. New York: Cornell University Press, 1967. 272-323.
Cather, Willa. A Lost Lady. Ed. Susan J. Rosowski with Kari Ronning, Charles W. Mignon and Frederick M. Link. The Willa Cather Scholarly Edition. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1997.
Margaretta Large Fitler came from one of the richest families in the nation, attaining their eight million inheritance from rope-making. It was a “blue-nosed society that advised a girl to get her name in the papers only four times: when you are born, when you make your debut, when you are married, and when you die” (N. pag.). Even when Happy was taken in as blissful and was never seen without a smile on her face there always seemed to be an unspoken sadness that weighted her quiet disposition heavily. Perhaps this came from her mother and father separating when she was only ten, or it could be because her mother being the extremely self-centered woman that she ha...
At the beginning of the short story Maggie's family is introduced, from her scrappy little brother Jimmie, to her short lived brother Tommie, her alcoholic mentally-abusive mother Mary, and her brutish father. Jimmie's friend Pete is introduced and becomes a mirror image of Jimmie later on in the book. They both are portrayed as Don Juans, the seducers of young women who treat women as objects rather than people. Maggie's father is as short-lived as her brother Tommie. However, he becomes a negative social factor in Maggie's life. Maggie’s mother was an essential symbol of hypocrisy and pessimism throughout the book, from her drinking to her last comment in the book “I'll Forgive Her” (Crane).
Showalter, Elaine. "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book." Martin 33-55.
The novel shadows the life of Janie Crawford pursuing the steps of becoming the women that her grandmother encouraged her to become. By the means of doing so, she undergoes a journey of discovering her authentic self and real love. Despise the roller-coaster obstacles, Janie Crawford’s strong-will refuses to get comfortable with remorse, hostility, fright, and insanity.
...she describes the pompous women. The author uses the women's conversations to emphasize the reasons Scout remains a tomboy and refuses the traits of Maycomb females.
Brown M. & Crone R. Willa Cather the Woman and Her Works. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1970.
The warm blackness of summer nights, settling over your lawn and drifting down familiar street signs, over coffee shops closed for the night and broken down asphalt. Dust, collecting on creaking wooden floorboards and swirling through age-old sunlight. A song forgotten, notes away from your ears. Nostalgia is an emotion that all human beings experience and know well. Willa Cather expands on this fact, infusing her award-winning novel, My Ántonia, with sentimentalism and melancholy. Cather tells a tale of home, drawing from the idealistic “American dream” that all Americans know well. Jim Burden, a young orphan, moves to the countryside, spending his days watching men work in the dusty fields and find community amongst themselves. He adores
In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” O’Connor introduces the reader to a family who represents the juxtaposition between old and new Southern culture. The grandmother, in particular, represents the old South because she focuses on her appearance, manners, and other attributes that are considered the stereotypical image of femininity. She is a self proclaimed lady whose “collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace” and “at her neckline, she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet” (405-406). In fact, she yearned to dress ideally so that “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead...
Published in 1913, Willa Cather is the author of O’ Pioneers!. Set in the Nebraskan Prairie, Cather tells the story of Alexandra Bergson. Far from stagnant, Alexandra is a very complex character because of her independence as a woman and her acceptance of others. Analyzing some aspects of Cather’s life provides insight into O’ Pioneers! , specifically, why Alexandra’s character traits and choices make sense. If Cather consciously or subconsciously influenced Alexandra’s character with her own, then Alexandra’s independence could be due to Cather’s career success and Alexandra’s tendency to welcome outcasts and to judge gently could be due to Cather’s gender struggles and to her lesbianism.
Margaret is an intelligent, articulate, and ambitious woman who desires to rise up in social status by marrying a man of higher social rank. She attends to those above her, in hopes of elevating her status as she becomes closer to the upper-class. As a minor character, she plays a small yet crucial role in advancing Don John’s plot to slander Hero and spoil her wedding. As a lower-class character, Margaret serves as a foil to the rich girls, particularly Hero, who embodies every attitude and mindset Margaret does not. But she also offers an alternative perspective on the upper-class characters in the play. Because Margaret is victimized because of her social ambitions, punished for wanting to rise above her ...
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
Clarissa’s memories of Bourton, of her youth, are brought back to her vividly by just the “squeak of the hinges”. . . [and] she had burst open the French windows and plunged at Bourton into the open air” (3). The intensity of these memories is what makes them so much a part of what she is– everything in life reminds her of Bourton, of Sally Seton, of Peter Walsh. Peter and Sally were her best friends as a girl, and “with the two of them”. . . she shared her past.... ...