from "O Pioneers" and "A Wagner Matinée" - Willa Cather

from "O Pioneers" is a great example of realism and especially the realism subset of regionalism. "from O Pioneers" is about a family in what I presume to be in the Western portion of the United States like Colorado or west Nebraska. It is about the Bergson family and how their lives were after the death of their beloved John, They only prospered for a little bit three years after his death. Then they dealt with the droughts that were bound to come to their area because of the harsh climate which they had decided to live in. It talks of depression in their area and of how cheap labor was because no one had money. There are people on wooden sidewalks who describe how they should have never have settled in this rough are of the United States and of how they should have stayed in the prosperous lands of Iowa and Illinois. This fits realism because of how descriptive they are with everything going on around them. It is a brutal life they live in and they have a brutal time managing just to survive. It is because they do not choose they happy details and only what happens to them without leaving anything out that makes "from O Pioneers" a realism work of literature.

from "O Pioneers" is also in the regionalism subset because it applies directly to this small part of Nebraska or Colorado that deal with these droughts. In regionalism, " the primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). This is exactly what happens in "from O Pioneers." The American dream in this work would be to farm and be prosperous. They try so hard to get by and they o, but they do not prosper. That is their dream is for rain to come and the crops grow. The hero of this short passage would be the Pioneer, who " should have imagination, should be able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves" (Cather, "from O" 489). These are the men who were the dream of the people, be able to enjoy the times when they are not enjoyable.

"A Wagner Matinée" is a pretty story about a girl and her aunt who go to an orchestra and the aunt is reminded of the times she had as a younger lady and child. It tells of as her aunt is listening to the song, "though her fingers worked mechanically upon her black dress, as if, of themselves, they were recalling the piano score they had once played. Poor hands! They had been stretched and twisted into mere tentacles to hold and lift and knead with; on one of them a thin, worn band that had once been a wedding ring" (Cather, "A Wagner" 525). It is the sad story of a woman who is past her prime and wishes she could be with the cowboy she loved. For this reason, and all of the sadness she felt, "A Wagner Matinée" fits into the realism category.



Cather, Willa. "from O Pioneers!" Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 489. Print.



Cather, Willa. "A Wagner Matinée." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 521-526. Print.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 12, 2011.



Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 12, 2011.