O Pioneers, by Willa Cather

 

Characters

John Bergson – father, dying Alexandra – eldest child, best sense for business Oscar Lou Emil   Carl Linstrum   Ivar “Crazy Ivar” – lost land and moved in with Alexander   Marie Tovesky – ran away from convent to marry Frank Joe Tovesky – uncle   Frank Shabata – married Marie   Amedee – Emil’s best friend Angelique - wife

 

For discussion:

NOTE: This was first published in 1913 and is in the public domain.  Page numbers are from an independently published book.

1.      The author describes a pioneer as having “imagination” and being “able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves” (page 18).  What part of the pioneer spirit is applicable today?

2.      Discuss Alexandra.  Why was she so successful at farm management?  What skills did she have that Oscar and Lou lacked?  The author wrote that she “read papers and followed the markets and who learned by the mistakes of their neighbors” while Lou and Oscar “were industrious, but he could never teach them to use their heads about their work” (page 9).

3.      Discuss Oscar and Lou.  Lou was “funny and flighty; always planned to get through two days work in one, and often got only the least important things done” (page 21).  On the other hand, Oscar loved routine and “worked like an insect, always doing the same thing over in the same way, regardless of whether it was best or not” (page 21).

4.      What was Alexandra’s recurring dream about being carried away about?

5.      Discuss the murder of Emil and Marie by Frank.  Alexandra felt partly to blame because she had thrown Emil and Marie together.  Should she have felt guilty?

6.      Why did Frank marry Marie if he only wanted to change her?  He blamed Marie and said he had been trying to break her spirit for years.

7.      If Frank had been a better husband to Marie, would the murders have happened?  Would she still have felt drawn to Emil and acted on it?

8.      When Alexandra was discussing the murders with Carl three month later, Carl said of Marie, “There are women who spread ruin around them through no fault of theirs, just by being too beautiful, too full of life and love.  They can’t help it” (page 112).  Is he trying to take some of the guilt away from Frank?

9.      What was the point of including Ivar in the story?  After he lost his land he moved in with Alexandra.  He had spells that he said came from God.  After that he seemed to disappear from the story.

10.  After Marie had her ears pierced, she wore pieces of straw in the holes until they healed.  If you have any piercing, how is this different from what you experienced?

11.  In Alexandra’s house the dining room was decorated for company with a lot of “colored glass and useless pieces of china [that] were conspicuous enough to satisfy the standards of the new prosperity,,,the more useless and utterly unusable objects were, the greater their value as ornament” (page 36).  What did you think about this idea?  Is it the same thing today?

12.  Aside from the murders, did you like the ending when Alexandra married Carl?

13.  This was first published in 1913.  Why has it continued to be so popular?  Is it pertinent today?