Alexandra Bergman in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers Essay

Alexandra dealt with criticism not only from other farmers but even from her own brother’s. Lou turned to his brother. "This is what comes of letting a woman meddle in business," he said bitterly. We ought to have taken things in our own hands years ago. But she liked to run things, and we humored her” (Cather). She only wanted the best for their family and to respect her father’s wishes but her own brother’s doubted her time and time again. Even though she did not have full support of her family she knew that she was going to stay on their land and that they would eventually begin to prosper again.

The thesis statement above attempts to examine the role that Elizabeth Bennet plays in the novel as she goes against the women’s idealistic views. This article will help justify my thesis statement in how Greenfield expresses the oppression that women go through and how they lack to see the discrimination they are faced with daily.

But, there is no telling what will happen down the road. A possibility of what may come to the family is abundance of discrimination from the White Americans. “The only people in the world who are more snobbish than rich white people are rich colored people.” (Pg. 49). The excerpt further explains the comparison of people’s attitudes by the color of their skin. The neighborhood that they are moving to may not accept or view them as equal. “That is just what is wrong with the colored woman in this world.. Don’t understand about building their men up and making’em feel like somebody.” (Pg. 34). This reference analyzes how Walter has no appreciation for his wife. This is apparent because of the comparison he is trying to do with the color of her skin instead of who she assuredly is. Making the decision of moving into this new house could bring up great opportunities for women or not give them equal rights and

Alexandra puts her entire life into the land. In fact, Alexandra seems to exemplify the land itself. She epitomizes the American Dream and everything it stands for. She takes a raw piece of Nebraskan soil and works it until it becomes bountiful and she becomes wealthy and seemingly successful. In all of her success in achieving the American Dream, very little is said about Alexandra’s own hopes and dreams. Though Alexandra is the only one to have achieved anything close to the American Dream, she is the only character to become completely downhearted. In the novel it is written that “she was actually tired of life” (112) and that “what was left of life seemed so unimportant” (113). She also relates life to a poem she loved as a girl, and the poem reads as follows: Hence Forth the world will only be/A wider prison-house to me…(118). Regardless of the fact that Alexandra signifies everything that is the American Dream, she is still unhappy with and imprisoned by life. It is not until she indulges in her own dream, the companionship of Carl Linstrum that she begins to see life in an optimistic light.

The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.

Not only that but her questioning of gender role was a concern for her. After her parents were separated, her father’s expectations of her were no longer there and did not speak to one another. After a while, blaming one-self after a separation of the parents is always expected from young children and so Roberta’s feeling that the separation of her mother and father was due to her misbehavior at home allowed her to be not happy. The separation of her parents did not only cause Roberta to feel not happy but also her thinking was shaped in ways that blamed all men to be the exact same way and that on one could be the same. This can be related to what each child feels and thinks if that were to happen to their own family, and unfortunately in our current society there are people that still the same way as Roberta’s father and

“The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Chrysanthemums”, by John Steinbeck, are two inspirational stories about the limitations and stereotypical roles of a woman in the early 1900’s. The reader can easily conclude that in both of the stories, the women feel like they are underappreciated by their husbands. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the woman keeps describing herself as “one’s self”, as she feels that she is not her own person. The viewers notice this woman has a husband, John, whom is her caretaker and believes he shows his love in a very dysfunctional way. In order for her to remain stable, she relies on writing, which John does not like and has in his head that she is sick. This

Talbot beings her essay with a relatable spokesperson by the name of Alex, who is a graduate from Harvard and establishing an informal and personal tone to her article. By creating a personal tone to begin her article she draws the reader’s attention by giving them someone to relate to was well as what Alex is going through. She gives the readers experiences

When an individual's pursuit of self-awareness is disrupted, it often becomes characterized by the creation of an opposite in other people. This theme is evident in Julia Scheeres's memoir Jesus Land. During her period of adolescent self-discovery, Julia is met with obstacles caused by fanatical authority figures in both her family and church. This struggle ultimately leads Julia to disown and even demonize her closet relation, her brother David. Although the book is a concentrated depiction of this pattern, the idea of othering is prevalent in our country as a whole. Specifically, gender othering always has and always will be an issue in America and the American Dream. Through the description of her adolescent experiences in her memoir Jesus Land, Julia Scheeres exposes

Through techniques of using shadows and intercutting, Bergman helped push a narrative revolving around two women and their identities that went deeper in the realm of self-reflexivity than

The author emphasizes the drastic contrast in the speaker's emotional state through the setting she finds herself in. She is taken from the comfort of her home and thrust both an environment and mind state of isolation. However, the setting also helps fuel the hatred that develops in the wife's mind for her husband. The speaker is ambivalent of her feelings for her

These two stories exemplify the epitome of women’s repression in the male-dominated society of the late nineteenth century by conveying the feelings of

Aside from Jean being the contradictory southern lady, Aunt Alexandra is a picture-perfect Southern lady. She wears dresses, organizes tea parties, and gossips, she is everything a southern women is supposed to be. She believes that old, white families are the only ones of importance, and that every family has a streak, whether it was incestuous behavior or alcoholism. She held grudges against everyone and tried to fool everyone into believing she was perfect, but

“The woman kept on crying” (10) – this ability to experience and express emotions is shown as something both the protagonists in both novels - The Metamorphosis written by Franz Kafka and The Stranger by Albert Camus – lack. Women are usually portrayed as the element of society who are more likely to show this ability which connects them to the world surrounding them and keeps them (and men) from being “strangers” to society. The protagonists have especial difficulties relating to women in a profound level because of their lacking this ability. Their relationship with women symbolizes their relationship with

Women are often perceived as mother figures who stand by their husbands no matter what type of situation they encounter. They are expected to give a perfect image to society and do not get the greater say. Eugene O 'Neill’s play, A Long Day’s Journey into the Night (1940), gives the reader a representation of a woman who is still influenced by these standard societal expectations. The character, Mary Tyrone, depends greatly of her husband and will not leave him even if she wanted to. In The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin, the reader is introduced to Edna Pontellier who is the complete opposite. She exposes the dissatisfaction that women feel and decides to act upon it. These two characters feel that they do not belong in the lifestyle they are given. They struggle with their identity due to their husbands’ lack of affection. As a result, marriage becomes a barrier to their happiness and individual fulfillment. The sense of displacement, marital dissatisfaction, and loss and gain of identity pushes both Mary and Edna to take major decisions in order to deal with their pain and desires.