Reflection: "from O Pioneers" Willa Cather

The story, "from O Pioneers" was set in Nebraska in the late 1800s. This was when Manifest Destiny was fist introduced. People thought that God had made the entire continent of North America with the intention that Christian Americans would spread out and live all throughout the country. This was controversial at the time because it was causing people to be racist. The Christian American were moving west as God wanted, but they were taking the land of the Native Americans that were already settled there. This cause some huge problems. Eventually the Americans paid some of the Native Americans to move north into the country of Canada. This made Americans look very arrogant and selfish. For some reason, the Christian Americans were better than anyone else that was trying to live in North America.

In the story, Emil and Alexandra have an argument on whether they should move out of Nebraska when the corn crops failed. Emil thought that they should move away and find better farm land, but Alexandra believed that the land in Nebraska was good and they just needed to be patient and use different farming techniques. The story then jumps sixteen years into the future and Alexandra's beliefs have paid off. Her land has been paid off and is prospering. Emil is killed towards the end of the story because he was found laying in the orchard next to Marie. He had always had a crush on Marie even though he was in another relationship. Frank, Marie's husband finds them in the orchard laying down, so he shoots them both dead right on the spot.

One of the characteristics of Realism was that some choices or decisions were shaped by the environment (Diamond). This was shown in "from O Pioneers!" when Alexandra and Emil were making their decisions about whether to leave their fields in Nebraska and find better farm land. This story also showed life as it really was, not as it was ideally thought of (Diamond). Because the land in Nebraska terrible they thought about moving. Ideally, the land in Nebraska would have been perfect for growing crops, but in this case the story was told in the Realistic style so thing were talked about as they really were.

Cather, Willa. "from O Pioneers!." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 489. Print.

Diamond, Marie Josephine, ed. "realism." Encyclopedia of World Writers, 1800 to the Present. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= GEWW480&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 21, 2012).

"O Pioneers!" SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/opioneers/summary.html>.