O Pioneers By Willa Cather

638 Words2 Pages

Changwook Hong
Professor Horwitz
BUS 3223
Second Essay
Who Deserves Ownership?

It is difficult to tell which person has ownership of a business if it has been run by partnership. Each of business partners may claim that they did the most important role in running the business and leaded the business to success. When we look at Willa Cather`s “O Pioneers!”, we are able to notice that a person who actually makes important decisions and manages the business effectively has the ownership. Having an ownership has nothing to do with gender or age but competence and ability.
Willa Cather`s “O Pioneers!” is a story of John Bergson`s family. He is a farmer in the lands of Nebraska. Before he dies, John advises his children for running the farm and tells Alexandra to take care of her brothers. He devolves ownership and responsibility of his farmland on Alexandra as well because he thought that Alexandra is more competent at running the farmland than his sons. Three years after John Bergson`s death, there is a severe drought in the Divide. Many families in the town started to sell their land and leave. The two sons of John Bergson suggest that they should sell the farm and leave the Divide as others. However, Alexandra disagrees with them and tries to find out if there is any better alternative to farming the Divide. She goes on a journey to the river country and learns new method of farming. After all, she realizes that the river country is no more prosperous than the highlands. She determines to continue farming on the Divide and tries to persuade her brothers by telling that their efforts will be paid back if they keep farming on the Divide. By taking risks, Alexandra takes out another mortgage and buys more land. Years later, Alexandra...

... middle of paper ...

...thing similar to leadership. When everyone else was leaving the town due to severe drought, Alexandra had her own vision and confidence to make the farm successful, which was a creative and innovative idea. Even though her brothers suggested Alexandra to leave the town, she persuaded them with rational reasons to stay and continue farming. Not only did she make difficult decisions though learnings from journey to the river country but also she motivated and leaded her brothers to accomplish the success. As Alexandra and her brothers’ claims, labor or difficult decisions would be an important factor for the success. However, none of them would be important if there was no motivation and management. Management and motivation skills of Alexandra let her deserve ownership.

Works Cited
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Dover Publications, 1993. Print.

Open Document