Willa Cather Projects Feminist Beliefs in Regional Writing

Willa Cather is considered to be one of the last regional realist writers. With noticeable influences by Walt Whitman and Sarah Orne Jewett, Cather introduces many themes embedded in the Americanized dream of the frontier in her early works. She also draws on her childhood memories of the Midwest in order to express personal values. Some critics speculate that Cather's projection of her individual beliefs articulates repressed sexual fears in her private life. In one of her most acclaimed novels O Pioneers!, Cather approaches themes such as relationships as a power of contrast, sexual repression, and marriage through an arguably feminist point of view.

As the story opens, the reader is introduced to the initial pairings of characters. Carl Linstrum is present and able to come to Alexandra's aid in restoring a frightened kitten to her youngest brother, Emil. There is a connection between Alexandra Bergson and Carl suggested in the empathetic description "he, too, was lonely"(Cather 4). After the rescue of the kitten, the Bohemian child Marie Tovesky bestows special treatment on Emil. While being admired by a group of her uncle's cronies, Marie wishes to "give some of [her] candy to that nice little boy [she] found"(Cather 5). Thus, her favoritism towards Emil is already beginning.

Over the course of the novel, Cather reverses the character alignment stereotypically associated with male/female roles. According to James Woodress, Willa Cather: A Literary Life, the creation of a "strong female protagonist" through the character Alexandra, gives feminist critics a "novel to admire"(245). Alexandra is given the "vision and energy to tame the wild land" which was more commonly associated with the male pioneer (Woodress 245). Even in the beginning Alexandra is described as a "tall, strong girl" wearing a man's "long ulster...as if it were very comfortable...like a young soldier"(Cather 2). The androgynous quality of Alexandra is a reversal and mixture of male/female characteristics. Woodress also agrees that through Alexandra's evident success with her farm and cultivation of an untamed nature, she does so "against the failure and defeat of men"(245). However, Alexandra's unawareness of her womanhood is one example of her incapability to be fully feminine while retaining masculine qualities. When Carl insists that she "must feel when people admire [her]", she responds obliquely that the men in town genuinely "seem glad to see [her]" (Cather 51). Yet, Alexandra explains their reactions as influenced by her own reasons; that there is mere pleasure in doing business "with people who are clean and healthy-looking"(Cather 51).

Whereas Alexandra is decidedly imbued with masculine traits, Carl is portrayed as a more feminine character. Unlike the more robust features of Alexandra, Carl possesses a "delicate pallor" with a mouth "too sensitive for a boy's"(Cather 4). Even as a grown man later in the novel, Carl is the more sensitive individual than Alexandra. When he returns from his failed life in the city, Carl is "more self-conscious than a man of thirty-five is expected to be"(Cather 44). Also, unlike the blind quality of Alexandra, Carl is able to grasp the intense emotions flaring between Emil and Marie. One morning while walking on the plain, Carl witnesses Emil and Marie hunting for ducks near the pond. As he watches them, Carl feels the importance of their company and "it made him, somehow, unreasonably mournful"(Cather 50) to see them together. His observation can also be seen as a foreshadowing to the tragic conclusion of Marie and Emil's relationship.

The overall relationship between Carl and Alexandra never reaches passionate heights. The resulting marriage between them is assumed to be platonic through Cather's prognosis that Alexandra has "never been in love