O Pioneers

For the 2009 opera, see O Pioneers! (opera).
O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by American author Willa Cather. It was written in part when Cather was living in Cherry Valley, New York with Isabelle McClung and was completed at the McClungs' home in Pittsburgh.


Plot introduction
O Pioneers! tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish immigrants in the farm country near the fictional town of Hanover, Nebraska, at the turn of the 20th century.

The main character, Alexandra Bergson, inherits the family farmland when her father dies, and she devotes her life to making the farm a viable enterprise at a time when other immigrant families are giving up and leaving the prairie. The novel is also concerned with two romantic relationships - one between Alexandra and family friend Carl Linstrum, and another between Alexandra's brother Emil and the married Marie Shabata.
Plot summary
The book is divided into five parts, each of which has numerous (unnumbered) chapters.
Part I - The Wild Land
On a windy day in Hanover, Nebraska, Alexandra Bergson is with her four-year-old brother Emil.

Emil's little kitten has climbed a telegraph pole and is afraid to come down. Alexandra finds her neighbor and friend Carl Linstrum, who retrieves the kitten.In the general store, Alexandra finds Emil with Marie Tovesky, the same age as Emil. Alexandra's father is dying, and he wishes that she run the farm after he is gone.

They later visit Crazy Ivar, who advises them to keep their hogs clean. After visiting villages downwards to see how they are getting on, she talks her brothers Oscar and Lou into mortgaging the farm to buy more land, in hopes of ending up as rich landowners.
Part II - Neighboring Fields
Sixteen years later, the farms are now prosperous.

The Linstrum farm has failed, and Marie, now married to one Frank Shabata, has bought it. He is on his way to Alaska, but decides to stay with Alexandra for a while.Alexandra is left alone.
Part III - Winter Memories
Alexandra spends the winter alone, except for occasional visits from Marie, whom she visits with Mrs. She also begins to have mysterious dreams.
Part IV - The White Mulberry Tree
Emil returns from Mexico City.

His best friend, Amédée, is now married with a young son. At a fair at the French church, Emil and Marie kiss for the first time.

They later confess their illicit love, and Emil determines to leave for law school in Michigan. Before he leaves Amédée dies from a ruptured appendix, and as a result both he and Marie realize what they value most.Ivar goes looking for her and brings her back home, where she sleeps fitfully and dreams about death. He is bedraggled and can barely speak properly, and she promises to do what she can to see him released; she bears no ill will toward him.

They decide to marry, unconcerned with her brothers' approval.
Characters in "O Pioneers!"
Alexandra Bergson: The main character of the book. It takes her a long time to realize that she loves Carl Linstrum.

But tragically he is in love with Marie Shabata who is unhappily married. He becomes disillusioned with urban life and returns to see Alexandra before he wanders to Alaska.
Marie Tovesky: A Bohemian girl who crossed paths with the Bergson's as a child and then takes up one of Alexandra's homesteads.He likes to read the Sunday newspaper about rich people's bold gestures. His character is a representation of anger and irrationality on the prairie.
Albert Tovesky, Marie's father; an adviser in Omaha.
Amédée Chevalier, a Frenchman, friends with Emil.
Angélique Chevalier, Amédée's wife.
Father Duchesne, the French priest.
Raoul Marcel
Moses Marcel, Raoul's father.
Jean Bordelau
Jan Smirka
Mr Schwartz, the warden at the prison where Frank is being kept.
Major themes
Pioneers in Nebraska.
Love and marriage.
Feminism – Alexandra, despite having made money, is dismissed by her brothers as unfit for business because she is a woman.
Isolation.
Allusions to other works
Marie is first described as being dressed as a Kate Greenaway character would be.
In the first chapter, the children are said to be reading Hans Christian Andersen and "the Swiss family Robinson" .
In the fourth chapter, Alexandra is said to like to read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry.
Many copies of the book are accompanied with the poem, "Pioneers! O Pioneers!" by Walt Whitman, which is said to be where the title comes from.
The romance between Emil and Marie and their death alludes to the similarly tragic lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's book Metamorphoses.