Willa Cather Accomplishments

O Pioneers by Willa Cather is a different novel from those of its time. It is a novel that stands for women equality represented by the main character Alexandra. O Pioneers reveals a story about Alexandra’s struggle against nature and being a strong woman in a male dominated profession and society. She succeeded in establishing her female identity and achieved a sense of female self-fulfillment by transforming the wild land and struggling for her equal rights with men. This paper focuses on the feminist thoughts and pioneering spirit of the great image of the heroine Alexandra, who was independent, brave, and optimistic. Getting strength and courage from her such spirit, Alexandra would never be defeated by either men or nature.

O Pioneers by Willa Cather sets itself apart from other novels of its time because of what its stands for, feminism. It exemplifies women’s equality, represented by the main character, Alexandra, by showing her survival in a male dominated society. She succeeded in building her female identity and achieved a sense of female attainment by revolutionizing the wild land and struggling for her equal rights with all that surrounded her. This paper focuses on the feminist thoughts and the positive attitude of the image of the strong character Alexandra, who was independent, brave, and optimistic. A spirit like hers, of strength and courage, insisted that she would never be defeated by man or nature.

Many things influence a person’s overall perception and opinions about the world around them, such as their education, geographic location of upbringing, or religious views. All of these factors, combined with countless others, shape each person into who they are and how they interact with society. The time period a person lives through is another exceptionally important contribution, as it is creates the entire backdrop of their experiences -- socially, economically, and politically. A psychoanalytical look at O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, explains how the social and cultural implications of Willa’s life are transferred to this piece of literature. I believe that Willa Cather created the primary, male characters in O Pioneers! based on the unfortunate experiences she had with men in her early adulthood, which caused these strongly biased characters, while the female characters are given exaggerated positive personality traits.

Willa Sibert Cather was born in Winchester, Virginia on December 7, 1873 to Charles and Mary Cather. Willa’s father was a deputy sheriff and farmer, and her mother was a school teacher. When Willa was nine, in 1883, her family moved to the Nebraska prairie to follow her grandparents, William and Caroline in Webster County. The prairie life was an unfamiliar landscape, which was crucial in Cather’s life.

As we know, Willa Cather was very open about her sexuality and her feelings towards women. She dressed like a man for most of her life and even in her college days at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, she had a haircut much like mine. One fact that is very impressive about Willa Cather is that she lived this life of “manhood” during a time when that was extremely taboo. During the time Willa Cather grew up, men were the dominant ones that could do anything they please. The fact that Willa Cather broke through that stigma is inspiring to me, even as a male in the 21st century. I am confident in saying that Willa Cather wrote very strong women characters, because she wanted to show the women of the time that anything is possible. While winning a Pulitzer Prize and writing many best selling books, I believe she accomplished that challenge very well.

She used her writing as a way to accuse real neighborhoods of this persecution and prejudice that was happening within their communities. Those outside factors led to the downfall of her characters opposed to other works where her character’s downfall was themselves.

In the novel O Pioneers! the author Willa Cather?s vision of Alexandra Bergson is consistent in character treatment with other authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne (Scarlet Letter), and Stephan Crane (Maggie: A Girl of the Streets). In each novel, all authors possess a central character that has an obvious tension between themselves and their community. Unlike the previous authors, Cather?s sympathies lie toward Alexandra. She makes Alexandra seem artificial because she has given a woman (also being her main character) strength and courage, along with power to overcome those who wish to pull her down.

Throughout her short story, The Sculptor’s Funeral, Willa Cather exposes the harsh double standard between men and women that is held even in drastic situations in order to shed light on the oppression of women that is brought upon by the patriarch. Harvey Merrick, an accomplished sculptor that has recently passed away, returns to his hometown to seek his final resting place. He has defied the expectations of everyone by following his dream in the city, away from everything he has known. This accomplishment begins to show the ability of men to leave and become successful but still be accepted as opposed to women who are told to stay at home and are not allowed to become anything of worth. If they were to do so, they would be completely disregarded

Harriet Beecher Stowe was an amazing talented women.Who stood up for what she believed in.She took her pain from her own experiences to turn into something powerful.She wrote the book as a woman as a mother her own deep thoughts and feelings.She was not scared to write what she felt.

Willa Cather, a ninteenth century American female writer, used her childhood experiences growing up on the great plains of Nebraska to write about a woman named Alexandra Bergson and her struggles on her family’s farm on the Nebraskan frontier in the book, O Pioneers! (. The narrator follows Alexandra throughout her life, and shows how she became successful while overcoming the patriarchy. On the other hand, Cather also wrote about a young, somewhat confused girl named Marie Tovesky, who found herself in a crumbling relationship, not sure if she loved the man she married, or Alexandra’s sibling Emil. Her story both regales the reader with a tragedy, but also shows how women of the time were treated. Cather’s O Pioneers! tells the tales of two women who find themselves on varying walks of life.

The last time I read Will’s tale was in 2013 when my grandfather suddenly passed away. I remember the feeling of grief and for some time I didn’t know how to deal with the loss since it was my first experience with death. I remember sitting at my kitchen table. Dad had picked me up from school that day, which was an odd occurrence since that duty usually belonged to my mom. When we pulled into the garage, Mom wasn’t home yet. Her not being home was odd, especially since she was always home by 4:30 and it was nearing 5:00. It wasn't until we reached the top of the steps and had sat down to eat when Dad

In her novel My Antonia, Willa Cather, while writing in a sexist time, calls attention to the power of the female in life and society through Antonia, Lena Lingard, Tiny Soderball and Frances Harling and accentuates and celebrates the significance of the matriarchal world by use of Jim Burden as the narrator. Jim holds an enlightened consciousness of the female because, after spending most of his life with these women, he sees how they started with nothing ended with a successful life. In a time when women were expected to be subordinate to men, Cather’s female characters defy the stereotype and prove their self reliance and independence with the accomplishment of a prosperous life. The strength of the female is primarily revealed to Jim through Antonia, whose determination and confidence show to him that despite her struggles, she continues to give birth to multiple children which further triumphs her challenges that led to successes. Since most women are accompanied by a male in life, Lena proves that even with their absence, success can come from female independence. Frances serves as a more obvious explanation to how females thrived in a non supported environment because she has the same job as many men, but victoriously triumphs over them. By declining the conform to the typical female role, Antonia, Lena, Frances, and Tiny advocate to the female character their importance in life and society, showing that their absence would be virtually useless to males.

Aphra Behn is not your ordinary English playwright; in fact she was an adventurous young women. Even so, most of her early life is still a mystery today, she has accomplished goals most women haven’t in her time. During her life she’s traveled, severed as a spy and even entertained people from all around. Aphra Behn became a literate role model for later generations of women authors.

Aphra Behn injured many difficulties in her lifetime, but she never let any of them stop her. She completed her dream and an achievement that no other woman had come close before her. Even after the trouble she got into with the king and leaving her with nothing, she still managed to make herself into something. The king decided that since she did not do what she wanted that she should not get any money. She got thrown into jail and suffered, but she realized that it is not worth it to get back at the king, but, instead to get back on her feet and show the king that he did not ruin her. She was writing while she was a spy and she enjoyed it a lot. She tried to sell her novel in a male dominate world and open a new door for women. Her book

Cather wrote this book to show a family's not perfect, and that spending time complaining about life’s a waste of time. I also believe that Cather wrote this book to prove a message to people such as be careful with your choices because they can affect you in the future. She split the book between three main philosophies of life, realism, romanticism, and naturalism. All the characters went through all of these at different times, and some at the same. I think she made the book more romanticism because of the different types of love stories.