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Willa Cather's O Pioneers Research Paper

Decent Essays

Paola Lopez
English III AP
Kassbaum
October 6, 2016
O’ Pioneers by Willa Cather: Thesis Statement
Prompt: 1975 Lagerkvist The Marriage Feast: Define and discuss the subject of the story. Direct your remarks to the significance of the events described.
The 1910’s in itself, is known for its traditional lifestyle in the rural areas and in overall lense of love. Calling into question whether genuine or agapic love even existed due to the reason that marriage, the epitome of love, was organized based on every other factor except love. In the novel, O’ Pioneers written by Willa Cather, the dilemma of head versus heart is shown through numerous events. More specifically, the futility of forbidden love is exemplified between the novel’s characters …show more content…

He too, tries to keep distance from Marie by disappearing to Mexico on a trip in hopes of finding himself (138). But truth be told, it’s an excuse to escape his own mental love affair of Marie, in which he would fantasize about their nonexistent relationship (168). She was married to Frank Sataba, claiming to have once been in love with at one point, began to grow tired of him due to the reason in which “he wanted her to feel that life was as ugly and as unjust as he felt it” (147). Demonstrating a one-way love where she was the only one loving therefore, the relationship is never considered agapic; causing her to push away from him and pull in closer to Emil as she indulges herself in a affair with him. However, it wasn’t anything sexual but moreso emotional, it’s not that one could see, “it was something one felt in the air” (168). However, when both of them actually expresses themselves to one another in a sensual manner, under the Mulberry tree, Frank “fired three times without stopping”, killing them (145). Indicating that even when Marie and Emil tried their best to stay away from each other in respect of the Sataba marriage, keeping their morals by distancing themselves from one another, it isn't worth it. This is because when the moment came, they weren't able to express …show more content…

She carries an intimate relationship with her land because the land belongs to her and “[she] belongs to the land” (169). Like any relationship, she invests her time, energy, and determination by building it up as her own creation and in a sense, the land creates her back by providing money. Similarly enough, like the two relationships mentioned within this novel, the relationship between Alexandra and her farm is also faced with moments of doubts and mockery. Shown when she is doubted not only by society, but her own brothers as she reminds them of when “we put in the first big wheat planting and said everybody was laughing at us” (92). Alexandra makes the sacrifice in the very beginning to believe in her land or not, and her selfishness allows her to make the correct choice. By putting her thoughts first, the land eventually repaid her in a much greater sense that she came to the point where she realized “the land belongs to the future” (169). Hence, becoming less selfish as she realizes the land is something much bigger than

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