The Wagner Matinee Analysis

A Wagner Matinee and My Antonia share a lot of the same crucial elements of the spirit and values of what it is to be American. Both poem and story share similar characteristics towards the theme and setting of taking place in 19th century Nebraska "We grew up together in the same Nebraska town-and we had much to say to each other" (Cather, W., & Urgo, J. R. (2003). We see that Willa Cather has a fascination with the stories of the pioneer lifestyle and a fond tendency of using male protagonists in her stories. We also are available to see the somber and enduring reality of how life hard was for a pioneer we can most likely reference such a somber attitude towards the lifestyle by looking at the author's personal experiences living out west in Nebraska during the late 1900s.

As hardworking women living of the prairie, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can relate to Mrs. Wright’s situation. They know personally that long days of doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning can become very tiresome (Hedges 91). They realize that living on the prairie can force a woman to be confined to her own house for weeks at a time, and because Mrs. Wright never had children, the grueling loneliness that she suffered must have been excruciating. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both experience the constant patronization and sexual discrimination that most women in the early twentieth century lived with. They empathize with the difficulties of Mrs. Wright’s life and almost immediately a bond is formed with a woman they do not even know.

In the detailed story of an impoverished family during the late 1900’s, Jeannette Walls describes her experience from the young age of 3, up until adulthood. The family of 6, with Rex Walls as the father, Rose Mary as the mother, and her three siblings, Lori, Brian and Maureen, were constantly moving throughout the country with little to no food or cash. The memoir shows how dysfunctional the family was, but never seemed to force the reader to condemn the parents. In a life of poverty, the have to move for own to town, and often lived in various mining towns. Although they each found something they learned to love (like Jeannette’s rock collection) in the desert, they had to leave them behind once Rex’s alcoholism only worsened, and they ran

William hopes to acquire land and fortune so that eventually he can send for his younger sister, Bessie. Proud and independent, but also sensitive, William soon comes into conflict with his fellow colonists. His attitude toward the land itself and especially toward the “savages” change more than those of the other colonists,

As the family is driving along, the grandmother awakens from a nap and recalls “an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (189). This recollection happens while the family is driving through the town of Toomsboro, GA. The grandmother is extremely manipulative and selfish and coaxes the family into visiting the old plantation by lying to them with the possibility of finding hidden treasure. The name of the town is only a slight indication of the terrible tragedy that is yet to come. It is no

I am on the ship to the Connecticut Colony, Wethersfield. After days at sea and being seasick, I was eager to see land. I hear someone whisper behind me “There is Connecticut Colony.” I looked around and to my surprise; it was Nathaniel Eaton, a small boy who had barely spoken to me. I didn’t think he noticed me, but obviously I was wrong. Nathaniel is the captain’s son. His mother calls him Nat. Our first stop was Saybrook. I watched as people got off the ship and decided to do a bit of wandering. I stayed close to hear the call for boarding. After a short break we set out again for Wethersfield, my final destination. I felt restless, but excited to meet my Aunt Rachel for the first time. Our letters kept us connected, but seeing her face to face and meeting my family made me happy.

     Ada Monroe was the pampered daughter of a Charleston minister, Monroe. Sheltered by her father, who came to Cold Mountain to minister to the “heathen’s,” she is unprepared for his death. Like any lowland lady, she reads well, play the piano, and can plan parties. She knows not to plant, or sow, or reap. She comes very close to starving on her lovely mountain farm before Ruby comes walking up her lane. Ada’s savior is a scrawny mountain girl with will and work ethic for them both. She came to work the land with Ada, saying. “…if I’m to help you here, it’s with both us knowing that everybody empties their own night jar (68).” Ruby forces Ada off the porch rocker and into the fields. Through days of weeding,

In Gravesend, the Wheelwrights, one predominant family that immigrated on the Mayflower, continue to be successful, since they accomplished the American Dream in its roots. John “Johnny” Wheelwright is friends with Owen Meany, creating a contrast between the American Dream that was possible at the time. John’s grandmother Harriet paid everything for him, so there was nothing John “had to do” (586). Whereas, Owen began working in the quarries just when he was sixteen, a baffling concept to John. Owen worked at a young age out of necessity, since his family struggled to fully achieve the American Dream later than the Wheelwrights who had been successful in the lumber industry. Although the Meany’s had immigrated long earlier, it is evident that it is infeasible to fully achieve the American Dream alone as America grows older. Moreover, Owen is extremely intelligent, but he could not afford to attend Gravesend Academy, a prestigious school in New Hampshire for the most elite, because he would not have the proper attire. Due to this and Harriet Wheelwright’s fondness of him, she offered to buy all of Owen’s necessities, since he would get a scholarship because of his intellect. The Wheelwright’s generosity allows Owen the possibility to prosper more with aid from a prominent family in Gravesend,

Constance Squire’s Running Out Of Music portrays Major Collins as a minor character, but in reality his misunderstanding of music and the importance of it plays in Lucinda’s development of identity plays an integral role in the short story through the theme of the unknown importance of music.

LeGuin, portrays the heartbreaking life of a harpist named Gwilan. When Gwilan’s treasured instrument is destroyed in a cart crash, she loses a harp that was passed down from one great harpist to another and breaks one of her wrists, which causes arthritis in the future. After the tragedy, she agrees to marry a farmer named Torm, the man who was driving the cart that crashed and wept over the broken harp. They had two sons, neither of which inherited their mother’s musical talent, moreover, Torm and Gwilan lived peacefully together for thirty years, and when Torm falls ill and dies, Gwilan struggles with all her inner past and present losses. “I thought my harp was myself. But it was not. I thought Torm’s wife was myself, but she was not. I have nothing left… now but myself” (LeGuin). Gwilan’s musical life opened with hope and fame, and ends with loss and

John Henry Redwood’s The Old Settler is a play about an older woman who falls in love with a younger man, set in the early 1940’s in Harlem. Our protagonist Elizabeth lives in an apartment with her sister Quilly and the setting begins with the discussion of her decision to allow a young man to room with them. Husband arrives in Harlem to search for an old girlfriend but after his attempt to reacquaint with Lou Bessie, he chooses to propose to Elizabeth instead. Elizabeth accepts, much to her sister’s Quilly’s disapproval over the relationship.

Gladys Cowdery lived in an antique white cape with a huge barn attached. It sat across the road, south toward Cutler Harbor. The positioning of this aging cape gave way to commanding easterly views of the sunrises over the woods, as well as of the old Walker farmhouse, now inhabited by the Bauer family.

“ Carpenter, who of course had no money, took a homestead in Red Willow County, fifty miles from the railroad.” Antonia and Aunt Georgiana also have some similarities. They were not the “richest” people. In both stories, their clothing was similar. They were not wealthy enough to buy the nicest clothes.

Early in their lives, two young sisters, Ruth and Lucille, experience loss and abandonment from the men in the family. Their grandfather had died in a train derailment into Lake Fingerbone before they were born, and their father leaves them while they are very young. Then their mother commits suicide, but not before dropping the girls off on their grandmother’s porch. Moreover, then, “she sailed in Bernice’s Ford from the top of a cliff named Whiskey Rock into the blackest depth of the lake (23), again into Lake Fingerbone. After only a few months their grandmother dies leaving the girls to the remainder of the family, a collection of eccentric females. The girls deal with all of this by relying on each other. Soon, their great Aunt’s,

In the “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” short story, J.D. Salinger, draws a women living a meager life in despite of her wealth, and the unhappiness of not being a mother even though she has a daughter. Although this woman demonstrates an icy and bitter relationship to everything around her, including her descendent, the story’s end indicates self-awareness and resolution for the protagonist.