Willa Cather wrote several wonderful stories and novels. After reading or viewing three of them and reading a little about her other works on the Internet, I have noticed that all of them have things in common. I have observed that her works often times involve family situations and how different types of people deal with death. The stories tend to reflect a time in her life I would assume. They are also reflected close to her home in many times. The stories tend to use the same types of dialogue and have similar characters as well.
In the movie, O Pioneers!, the family is torn by death in several ways. The father dies in the beginning of the movie. He makes Alexandra the head of the family because he knows she will keep the land and that she can care for the family the best. In a way, it seemed he knew she would best respect his decisions prior to his death. It is in this way already that death and families are introduced. In an opposing circumstance, the sculptor, Harvey, in “The Sculptor’s Funeral,” had no family to miss. He was basically thrown out of the family after they realized he didn’t quite fit in where he was born. It didn’t seem like he cared though because he still became successful in Boston. He died and was brought back to his hometown after being an outcast there prior to his success. When he was buried in his hometown he was not talked of brightly. He was basically made an object for the town to ridicule. His only friend who was a lawyer there stood up for him at the end of the story showing all of the townspeople how cruel they were to Harvey.
I read an article on the Internet about her and as she wrote “Neighbor Rosicky” her father went through a heart attack and died from it. It almost seems in the writing you can tell the change in the mood after her father’s death. This brings her personal life into her writing and makes it unique while tying in with the story well. I believe it even said that her circumstances were used in her writing for the remainder to the story.
Willa Cather was raised in rural Kansas. Her writing also reflected a country-life atmosphere. Her stories rarely took place in larger cities because she didn’t know much about them.
The Life of Willa Cather One of the many authors who’s works we have read this year is Willa Cather. Cather is an author who in a way I feel I can relate to. Cather not only writes about Nebraska in many of her novels, she is also grew up in Red Cloud, The same town as me. Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley , Virginia. She was named Wilella after her aunt on her fathers side of the family (Norris). Later in her life she would have her name changed to Willa. In 1883 at
Willa Cather is perceived as one of the most outstanding American authors of the twentieth century. Although she became very successful, her writing years did not start with ease as she had trouble supporting herself through her writings. Cather drew from experience to make herself a better writer. This essay covers a portion of her life as a writer and what led her to becoming a well-known author. Willa Cather began her career in 1895 as an editor for the Home Monthly magazine in Pittsburgh. To
throughout the story, especially when the story flashbacks to her childhood. Willa Cather tells rather than shows her characters. 1. Caroline Noble- She is the protagonist/hero and her plausible motivation for not wanting to build the new summer house was her musical past and how the garden lodge reminded her of that. She quickly says to how it would be “ almost a shame, doesn't it, after d'Esquerre has used it”(Cather 3) as a good excuse for not replacing the lodge. She eventually changes her mind
caring, vibrant, graceful, and kind young lady but then shifts into a gold-digging, adulterous, deceitful lady from the way she is interpreted throughout the book through the eyes of Niel Herbert. The way that the reader is able to construe the Willa Cather on how Mr. and Mrs. Forrester fell in love is a concept that leads the reader to believe that it is merely psychological based. As Mrs. Forrester goes through her experiences such as the death of her husband, the affairs that she took part in
My Antonia by Willa Cather "Disapprobation hurt me, I found—even that of people whom I did not admire." (164). In the novel, My Antonia, by Willa Cather, society seems to govern the lives of many people. But for the others, who see past society's stereotypical values, had enough strength to overcome this and allowed them to achieve their dreams. Throughout the book, everyone seems to be trying to pursue the American Dream. While they all have different ideas of just exactly what the American
did all the chores their parents couldn’t. Work was their life and it formed them into people that were unrecognizable. The evolved to survive and had to make sacrifices, but this doesn’t make them bad people. Within the story A Wagner Matinee by Willa Cather, it portrayed three things about Nebraska and Boston: living conditions, out of place, and isolated. People in the two different places have different living condition as shown in Matinee. Culture in different states and towns are never exactly
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers!. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1997 O Pioneers!, a novel by Willa Cather is a dramatic romance. The story takes place in a Farm outside of Hanover, Nebraska. This story is set in 1997. This story is about a romance in two different relationships. Alexandra Bergson is a hard working women. She struggles at first but does not give up. Alexandra’s hard work finally pays off. She is really successful and really wealthy. She is a mentor to her under brother. She does not
In "Paul's Case," Willa Cather manages to apply the emotions, feelings, troubles, and thoughts of modern society, allowing the reader to relate to the story. By incorporating the same heavy burdens that bother and aggravate people in their daily lives, Willa explores the pain and treatment unwanted people experience. Obviously, nobody wants to feel rejection or alienation from the world, but instead they desire to encounter acceptance and agreement with the world's standards. In the story, the
time spent with Antonia because he has had feelings for her his entire life Talki... ... middle of paper ... ...ey sent on the Nebraska landscape. Both characters are happy throughout the novel, however, they refer to the time thy spent together. Cather is trying to show that Jim and Antonia are fond of a simple part of their lives; where they would explore the land. The last stanza of the novel reads, “I had the sense of coming home to myself, and of having found out what a little circle man’s experience
My Ántonia by Willa Cather is a story of the coming of age of Jim Burden and Ántonia Shimerda. The recently orphaned Jim moves to Blackhawk Nebraska to live with his grandparents. On his trip from Virginia to Nebraska, Jim first catches glimpse of the Bohemian immigrant family who happen to be moving in near the Burdens. Because she Shimerda’s speak no english, they are quickly cheated out of their money and have moved into a small lean-to on the side of a hill. Jim’s grandmother is a very kind
Each of Willa Cather’s protagonists experiences this same hunger for finding their place on Earth and, at the same time, their connection to something much larger. Though each hunger is unique, in Cather’s works what satiates this longing is somewhat constant. In such works as The Great Short Works of Willa Cather, My Ántonia, and One of Ours, Cather’s consistently unsettled characters find meaning and personal fulfillment in music and the environment. Music is everywhere in the works of Willa Cather
Courtney Duban English 202 4/27/14 “Paul’s Case” By Willa Cather In the short story, “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather”, a young male named Paul, has his own life of dreams but consequences that later come with it. Paul is obsessed with money, thinking that money is the only thing in life that makes life better. Paul is later tangled up in the” high class” life and ends up making his way through by stealing money. He then runs away to New York to experience his life dreams until he ends up taking his
A Symbolic Perception Imagine being entrapped in a life that you did not feel you belonged in. That is the story of Paul in “Paul’s Case,” written by Willa Cather. He lived in a suburban home where everyone seemed the same and there was a feeling of despair. Paul, who was a young man, felt that his father, teachers and classmates misunderstood him and therefore were unworthy of his company. In the story there are many symbolic elements. Flowers, for instance, symbolize Paul’s personality
Willa Cather on Art “Style is how you write, and you write well when you are interested. A writer’s own interest in the story is the essential thing. If there is a flash of warmth in him it is repeated in the reader. The emotion is bigger than style. I don’t think there is anything in ideas. When a young writer tells me he has an idea for a story, he means he has had an emotion that he wants to pass on. An artist has an emotion, and the first thing that he wants to do with it is to find
Answer: Writing Assignment #1: 1.) My Ántonia written by Willa Cather is overflowing with symbolization, from land to animals to pieces of furniture. There are three though that have deep roots and meaning, both in the book and in the reader's interpretation of the scenario surrounding it. The first being Mr. Shimerda’s grave. After Mr. Shimerda commits suicide, he is buried in the prairie on what later becomes a crossroads. Jim expresses how "in all that country [the gravesite] was the spot most