Symbolism In Willa Cather's O Pioneers !

Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! tells the gripping tale of Alexandra, a farmer on the Nebraska plains and her ordeals as she faces obstacles with her farm life and personal life. The novel expands into further character plots, however, specifically that of Emil and Marie, Alexandra’s brother and his married love interest, respectively. Ending in tragedy, Cather memorializes them with this passage: “But the stained, slippery grass, the darkened mulberries, told only half the story. Above Marie and Emil, two white butterflies from Frank’s alfalfa-field were fluttering in and out among the interlacing shadows; diving and soaring, now close together, now far apart; and in the long grass by the fence the last wild roses of the year opened their pink …show more content…
Ovid tells a tale regarding the color of mulberrys (white when young, red when fully ripe.) Initially always white, two lovers meet an ill fate under a mulberry tree, their blood staining the white mulberries red, thus being Ovid’s explanation for the changing fruit color. Emil and Marie undoubtedly reflect this old tale. The aptly named section, “The White Mulberry Tree,” is a clear homage to Ovid and is revealing to Emil and Marie’s nature. If someone possesses prior knowledge of Ovid when initially reading Cather, they might suspect or even establish the …show more content…
Without this passage, the novel would still work. In fact, there’s no argument to make considering if this passage would take away from the novel. The novel’s primary focus is Alexandra, as we know, the hard working but sexually/romantically deprived female farm operator. Emil and Marie exist central to a romantic subplot, mostly, but take the forefront as the symbolism for “The White Mulberry Tree” section. So while this section adds considerably to the novel, and stands in testament to Cather’s writing ability, the removal of said passage does not hurt the novel in a negative way. Effectively, Cather’s removal of the passage seems to be an attempt to make the symbolism more discreet. Without the section, the imagery of the stained mulberry’s is gone, along with Cather’s portrayal of the roses readying themselves for death. This removal places the burden of uncovering Cather’s reasoning for Emil and Marie’s death in her novel more on the reader, as the passage itself contains insights on that reasoning. So, the deletion of the passage doesn’t change the novel in a negative/positive way, but this removal certainly changes how the first time reader interprets the subplot of Emil and Marie