Willa Cather

Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case” tells the story of Paul, a juvenile boy who struggles to find his place at his home in Pittsburg. After stealing money from his new employer, Denny and Carson’s, Paul goes on a shopping spree to “live the sort of life he was meant to live” in New York, and finally feels as if he has a place in this world (120). Larry Rubin, a professor at Newberry College, uses his paper, “The Homosexual Motif in Willa Cather’s ‘Paul’s Case’”, to highlight the hidden…

is something people will find unusual for a young man back in his time. “His clothes…the tan velvet on the collar of his open over coat…there was something of the dandy about him, and he wore an opal pin … and a red carnation on his buttonhole.” (Cather 242). Some teacher is not just afraid of him, some also feel worry about him noticing that even in his dreams he is having this feeling, and in a way thinking that he is trap in.” One warm afternoon the boy had gone to sleep…his master had noted…

pollution and the lack of community that it has, or thinking of the different cultures and amazing technology in a large city. In the story, “A Wagner Matinee,” author, Willa Cather uses imagery to help the reader imagine and feel what it must have been like to live in the two different lifestyles. With using figurative language, Cather is able to paint images in the readers’ minds about living amongst…

authority figures. His characteristics altogether points us to analyze the reason of his suicide. In Willa Cather’s Paul’s Case, Paul’s suicide is a result of the combination of intolerant society, the immature teenage thinking as well as the feeling of…

essential to look at her female characters, their actions, relationships, and characteristics. Ántonia and Lena were two very powerful examples of the immigrant women that Cather used, to show the inner strength of women and the power they can have in their lives that comes along with that strength. To begin, all of the women that Cather uses are anything but typical woman; they are women with a strong will like Ántonia Shimerda. Antonia was not portrayed as a character with an easy life. She…

because they’re come to wisdom through failure,” means that the character has made mistakes and afterwards realizes the mistake and fixes it to better them. Two stories supporting this quote are Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. The characters within these stories that gradually relate and connect to the quote are Mr. Darcy and Alexandra who have failures in life that prevent them from achieving wisdom but both overcome it and do succeed in achieving wisdom.…

celebrates the success of those women. One in particular is Ántonia, who represents the strong, hardworking women. Cather writes “She was too proud of her strength,” when she referrers to Ántonia in her work. Highlighting the pride women can have as a result of strength, is a very feminist view, in that it empowers the contributions of women. By creating a strong, independent, women character, Cather causes the audience to think differently towards the roles of women. Ántonia is a great example…

In the passage "The Sentimentality of William Tavener" by Willa Cather, the events in the plot are ordered in way to build up the relationship of Hester and William. As the passage progresses, the reader is shown the slightly strained relationship between Hester and William, that is growing into a healthier more romantic relationship. Without this order, the affect of letting their children go to the circus would not be as important. Without describing the changes that occurred within their…

Willa Cather entwines the historical dimension of the Homestead Act throughout her novel O Pioneers. Alexandra Bergson and her family must overcome many obstacles to accomplish successful farming in the Middle West. Cather uses the main character, Alexandra, to portray the great feat taken in order to continually learn how to cultivate the rugged land and make it into flourishing farmland. Alexandra followed her father’s wishes in taking care of the farm— a task that was uncertain to be…

to a different world. He fights to be as the world around him. He is motivated to achieve his dream by how the world around him perceives him. The pressure upon this young man is immense, and with the uncaring environment, he is forced into theft (Cather, 16). On the other hand, How to Build a Fire by Jack London is a seemingly similar story. It is a story of a young man who is foolishly determined to go through an extreme cold to meet friends. He is a new to Yukon, and in the company of his…