Summary

The novel opens in the town of Hanover, Nebraska. Frozen and unsettled, Hanover looks as if it might disappear at any moment, swallowed up by the vast, windblown prairie. This afternoon the streets are empty except for a little Swedish boy named Emil, who sits and cries because his kitten has been chased up a telegraph pole. He does not know who to ask for help in getting the kitten down because his sister, Alexandra, has gone to the doctor's office. As soon as she returns, tall and strong in a man's coat, Emil tells her about the kitten. She scolds him a bit before setting off to find a friend who might be able to help Emil. Before she departs, Alexandra winds her scarf about her little brother, revealing her beautiful red-blond hair. A passing man pays her a compliment, but she responds with practiced steeliness. Alexandra fetches Carl Linstrum, who borrows some spikes for his shoes and scales the pole to retrieve the kitten.

They enter the general store together while Alexandra quietly informs Carl that their father is very ill and likely to die. She does not know how they will survive without him. Uncertain of what to say, but sympathetic, Carl tells her that he will get her team of horses ready and take her back as far as his homestead. Alexandra notices that Emil has begun playing with a little bohemian girl, Marie, who is the darling niece of Joe Tovesky. Joe comes in with a group of friends, and they spoil Marie, who has come from Omaha with her mother to visit her uncle. They buy her bags of sweets and she gives some to Emil-perhaps because she doesn't think much of small-town candy.

As Carl, Emil and Alexandra ride back to their homesteads, Alexandra tells Carl more about her worries. Carl offers to bring his magic lantern to their house, to try and distract their father from his worries. Alexandra thinks it's a wonderful idea. They pass the Linstrum homestead and Carl gets out; Alexandra takes the reins and drives on to her house.

The Bergson homestead is distinguished only by the fact that it overlooks a small Creek which sometimes runs and sometimes doesn't. It seems as if no human beings could possibly live there-as John Bergson, Alexandra and Emil's father, has done for eleven years. After working off his mortage for five years, John now owns six hundred and forty acres. But with random catastrophes and difficult land, John Bergson doesn't feel that he has much to show for his hard work. John counts the cattle and talks to Alexandra about their possible value in the spring. Though his sons are hard workers and he cannot fault them, it is Alexandra who shares his passion and intelligence for farming. He compares Alexandra to his grandfather: a shipbuilder who built an impressive fortune. True, his grandfather's second wife wasted the money, but John doesn't believe that ruins the accomplishment.

John Bergson calls out to Alexandra in Swedish. She comes to him, and once the boys, Oscar and Lou, have come in from feeding the horses, John tells them that after he has died, he wants Alexandra, as the oldest, to run the farm. He asks the boys to obey their sister and Oscar, the second eldest, informs his father that they would have done so whether he charged them to or not. They sit down to dinner that night with red eyes and they don't eat much, though they have a good dinner. Their mother is a good housekeeper, though born of a lower status than their father. She regrets living in the middle of nowhere and she does her best to recreate the home of her childhood, preserving and pickling everything she can, always keeping clean sheets and a neat house. Her neighbors think she is stuck up, and indeed she does look down on their slovenly habits.

Six months after John Bergson has died, Carl Lingsrum sees the Bergson wagon pull up in front of his house. Oscar, Lou, Alexandra and Emil invite him to come along to crazy Ivar's, where they are going to buy a hammock and to see his pond. As they drive along they talk about the different things that crazy Ivar does, joking about how he howls and talks to animals. Carl and Alexandra remark that despite his strange methods, he does cure animals. Alexandra insists that if you get him on a good day he can give very good advice. Oscar and Lou complain about not being allowed to bring their guns, but Alexandra reminds them that Ivar hates it when people bring guns onto his property.

They can only reach Ivar's property by a very bad road, and if it weren't for a stovepipe sticking out of the sod no one would know it was there at all. The pond has been formed by an "earthen dam, planted with willow bushes, and above it a door and a single window were set into the hillside." When they arrive, Ivar is sitting and reading the Norwegian bible, and when he spots them he cries out "no guns." Alexandra reassures him and tells him that they want to buy a hammock. They ask him questions about his pond, and he tells them, with Alexandra translating, that a crane was there the night before and he has even seen a seagull. Emil finds Ivar's life very attractive.

When the boys have gone to water the horses in the pond, Alexandra asks Ivar for advice about their hogs, because everyone else's hogs seem to be dying. He tells her to put them in a clean pasture and give them only clean things to eat, just like the horses and cattle. Oscar and Lou overhear this advice with annoyance. They don't like doing things differently than their neighbors. On the way home, Alexandra doesn't bring up Ivar's idea, but that night when the boys and Carl go swimming, she sits and thinks about her new pigpen.

Analysis

The first part of O Pioneers! is called "The Wild Land," alluding to one of the most significant literary choices in the novel. Cather herself declared that the land-not the people who reside on it-was to be the hero or anti-hero of this novel; this first title suggests the degree to which the character of the land will play a role. The title sets the scene for Cather's famous first line:

One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain. None of them had any appearance of permanence.

In this first line, Cather also introduces the simple frame of a narrator looking back on the distant past. Some critics have suggested that O Pioneers exemplifies the poet William Wordsworth's poetic style of "emotion recollected in tranquility." After only a few pages it becomes clear that O Pioneers! is a collection of memories that, once they are strung together, reveal the intertwined paths of a group of people as they struggle to establish a home in the wilderness. The first scene might appear disjointed, but it serves the important function of introducing many of the characters and revealing aspects of them that will prove meaningful and revealing as the story continues.

As the characters' personalities develop, the narrator begins to build on the idea that some are more suited than others to the role of "pioneers." Emil seems to be a sweet and innocent little boy, but he is neither brave nor independent, hardly a pioneer. He relies greatly on his sister to tell him what to do and how to be. He admires Carl for saving his kitten from the telegraph pole, and he says that he will do the same thing for little boys someday; we shall see whether this comes to pass. Alexandra, in contrast to her youngest brother, immediately appears to be an ideal pioneer-almost too good to be true. Her love for her family, her cheerful strength in the face of hardship, and her determination to help her family succeed mark her as the heroine of the book; John Bergson readily acknowledges that he must leave the farm in Alexandra's care, for she has imagination and vision that her brothers lack. Though Carl Linstrum also seems to have imagination, or at least artistic vision, his actions suggest he is incapable of offering real, practical support. He clearly has a passionate desire to help Alexandra, but he is hindered by a lack of belief in his abilities.

With John Bergson's death, the focus shifts to the second-generation. The Bergson family, Carl, and Marie were brought to this land as children, and now they must see what they can make of themselves with the land. It might seem odd that Cather skips over John Bergson's death, but this is a novel about the struggle of life, the need to move on, and so Cather naturally emphasizes Alexandra's push towards survival and success rather than John's death.

When the Bergson's and Carl go to visit Ivar, this shift in perspective takes full effect. The characters in the scene reveal a great deal in the way that they interact with Old Ivar. Alexandra and Carl accept and find value in the old man's unique nature. They are able to see his wisdom beneath his odd appearance and behavior. In contrast, Ivar makes Lou and Oscar uncomfortable. These brothers are willing to accompany their sister, but as soon as they arrive, they choose to stand apart with their horses, rather than expose themselves to Ivar's eccentricities. Emil reveals himself to be easily influenced. He agrees with Lou and Oscar's suspicion of Ivar, but when he sees his home and hears about his birds, he begins to think that Ivar's lifestyle is quite attractive. His bond with his sister elevates him above his brothers, but Emil continues to demonstrate a lack of independent action. At the end of the section, Cather emphasizes Alexandra's independence and vision as she contentedly plans for the future; her brothers and Carl, meanwhile, find fleeting happiness in the present.

Summary

After three years of prosperity, the Bergson family faces the second summer of what will be a three-year drought. Some farmers have had to foreclose on their farms and Alexandra knows that Oscar and Lou would rather be in Chicago working at their uncle's bakery than here. One afternoon Alexandra is picking sweet potatoes-the only crop that thrives in the draught-when Carl Linstrum approaches. He tells Alexandra that his family is giving up their farm. Alexandra says that she's not surprised but confesses that she will miss him terribly. He is her only close friend and she says that she'll have to accustom herself to loneliness after he leaves. She also tells him that his departure will discourage her brothers even more.

That night Oscar and Lou return from a trip to town, and when Alexandra tells them that Carl and his family are leaving, they try to convince her to leave as well. They insist that it doesn't make sense to stay when everyone else is leaving. She points out that Charley Fuller, a rich man, is buying up abandoned homesteads as fast as possible, but the boys refuse to listen to her point. Alexandra suggests that they should stick it out for their father's sake. She asks her mother whether it was harder when they first came, and her mother weeps about how difficult everything was and refuses to move again. Feeling this appeal to their mother is unfair, the boys leave the kitchen.

The next morning, a Sunday, instead of offering to take Alexandra and their mother to church, the brothers hide out in the barn. Carl Linstrum arrives and Alexandra sends him to the barn to cheer up her brothers. Though she usually reads on Sundays, today Alexandra just sits and thinks with the Bible in her lap. That night at dinner she agreed to take a trip to the river country with Emil in order to trade their homestead for one there, if the deal seems good. Everyone seems heartened by this idea, though Oscar doesn't think anyone will trade and Emil worries that Alexandra will be fooled into a bad deal. That night Alexandra reads aloud from the "Swiss Family Robinson," and they are a happy family once more.

During the five days Alexandra and Emil spend on the river, they speak to many people, including one young man who is experimenting with clover hay. When they return Alexandra is more determined than ever to stick with their land. She looks over the Divide and a passionate love for this land rises within her.

That evening at a "family council" Alexandra explains her plan to take out a second mortgage on their homestead and buy more prairie land. She tells them that rich men are buying up all the land that they can and that the farms on high land are better than the farms by the river. Oscar and Lou grumble that they don't want to have a mortgage hanging over their heads and Oscar insists they won't be able to work more land. Alexandra explains that they don't need to work it, just to keep it. She explains that they can succeed where others have failed because they are smarter. After the council, Alexandra looks up at the stars and, despite the fears of her brothers, feels her love of the land.

Analysis

This section of the novel continues to detail the qualities essential to the pioneering spirit. It is easy for everyone to prosper when the weather and soil cooperates. Even Lou and Oscar grow optimistic about the future when the crops flourish, buying up more land and planting as much as they can. But during the drought the families show their mettle. Self-sacrifice and perseverance are necessary to survive bad times, and without them there is little hope for future success.

Alexandra holds on because of her instinctual belief in the land and her devotion to the memory of her father, but, more importantly, she also allows her choices to be guided by reason and evidence. She exemplifies flexibility coupled with determination, listening carefully to the opinions of others-even those of her shortsighted brothers. Alexandra recognizes that her brothers' tendency to do what everyone else is doing is entirely natural. And when she goes to the river country, she does not go with any set idea of how things will turn out. She thinks many different outcomes are possible, and she is ready to make a change if she feels it to be justified. In order to judge her decisions, she speaks to as many people as possible, paying special attention to the actions of innovators, such as the rich Charley Fuller and the man experimenting with alfalfa. Thus Alexandra's success follows from her communicative nature. She persuades her brothers by allowing her feelings and ideas to be completely transparent, never forcing them into decisions they dislike or disagree with.

This kind of behavior may seem, to a current reader, to be an idealistic portrayal of the pioneer spirit. Indeed, as a character, Alexandra is an ideal. She stands for reason, clarity, commitment to family, and other model values that her contemporaries felt to be the essence of the pioneering spirit. Whether her depiction of the pioneers is true to the past or too perfect can only be a topic of discussion, never a settled fact. Cather's novel, at the very least, offers much to discuss about the American prairie-and about the romanticization of the American prairie-whether or not pioneers like Alexandra ever existed, or ever could have existed.

If Cather's characters are ideals of sorts, then the land is the crucible in which these ideals find shape. The Divide is far more than the setting of the novel; it molds character and it dictates destiny. The manner and spirit in which characters respond to the land defines them. For instance, after years of pushing and pulling against the land, Lou and Oscar have only grown more at odds with it; the land has brought out their innate conventionality, their willingness to give up. Their mother responds to the land negatively as well, spending all of her energy attempting to impose a different landscape on the small space she inhabits. Alexandra, by contrast, seems at one with the land, loving it and understanding its challenge. Her character takes root in the Divide's difficult soil. At others recognize her special sympathy with the Divide. Carl Linstrum's father, for instance, openly seeks advice from this young woman. Against the land's unforgiving backdrop, ability and character matter more than gender or age.

Summary

Sixteen years after John Bergson's death, the Divide has flourished and its population has boomed. No longer barren prairie, now the land is lush and a joy to farm.

Emil stands outside of the Norwegian graveyard where his mother and father are both now buried, sharpening his scythe in preparation to mow the grass around their plots. He is tall and handsome, back from a successful career at the University, where he played the cornet in the band and distinguished himself on the track team. After about an hour he sees Marie approach in a carriage. Smiling and pretty, she teases him for taking so long at his work. She's already been to town and offers give him a lift home. They chat as he finishes mowing some plots and Marie comments that the Bohemians buried in the Norwegian graveyard were "free-thinkers"; Emil teases her about the Bohemians' "spunky" nature. Marie secures a promise from Emil to mow her orchard grass after the next rain. They also talk about the coming wedding between Amedee and Angelique. Marie tells Emil not to dance with her too much at the party afterwards because the other girls are starting to think that he's stuck up after having been away to school. Emil reluctantly agrees.

They drive westward towards Alexandra Bergson's big white house. There are so many buildings on her property that it looks "almost like a tiny village." When Emil arrives, he goes inside to find Alexandra already seated to dinner with her men, and he sits in his place at her right. Alexandra appears much the same as when we left her, though her face has grown tanner in the sun. The inside of the house is strange, unevenly furnished and not entirely comfortable. It's clear that the outdoors is Alexandra's true home. Three young Swedish girls who work for Alexandra in the house serve meat, potatoes and pie. Alexandra watches Signa, her favorite of the girls, who tends to get flustered around the men. Alexandra knows that one of her workers, Nelse Jensen, is courting Signa, but she doesn't know how seriously. Ivar sits to Alexandra's left. He lost his lands twelve years before, and Alexandra took him in to work for her. She made him a room in the barn, where he sleeps year-round because he dislikes "regular" human habitation, preferring to remain "further from temptations," whatever those temptations may be.

Alexandra's workers complain about her new grain silo, suggesting that its grain "gives the stock the bloat." Alexandra listens to their opinions thoughtfully, saying that they should give the silo a try before giving up on it, to which the men agree. As they depart, Alexandra invites Ivar-who was markedly silent during the meal-to speak to her in the sitting room. Ivar vents a fear that the men will commit him to an asylum as Alexandra patiently listens. He explains that in the old country men like him, who have visions and suffer from "spells," are simply left alone, whereas in America people do not tolerance such differences. Alexandra reassures him and he feels much better; as he is leaving she asks him to ready a cart so that she can meet with a purchaser of her alfalfa hay.

That Sunday, while Emil is at the wedding, Alexandra has all of her brothers to dinner. They eat in the dining room, which is decorated in the popular style, for Alexandra feels that she needs to put her company at ease. Oscar's four little boys, Lou's wife Annie Lee, and their three daughters make up the rest of the party. Oscar is more prosperous than Lou, for Lou spends more time running for government positions than he does working on his farm and his neighbor's don't trust him. Lou and Oscar try to persuade Alexandra to commit Ivar to the asylum, but she refuses. The company also discusses Annie's new bathtub and Alexandra remarks that she will buy a piano for Lou's daughter, Milly, who has learned to play the songs that John Bergson used to sing. Oscar listens irritably, jealous of the way Alexandra spoils Lou's children.

After dinner, while Lou and Oscar pick cherries, Alexandra walks in the garden with her nieces. They notice a strange visitor, whom upon closer inspection Alexandra realizes is Carl Linstrum. The girls fetch Lou and Oscar as Alexandra embraces Carl. Carl has become an engraver and an amateur painter and announces that he is going to Alaska by way of Seattle and so can only stay a short while. Lou and Oscar arrive only to respond standoffishly to Carl's presence, whereas Annie teasingly provokes him. Carl explains that he is going west in search of gold-he has a friend, a successful prospector, with whom he plans to pan the following season. After talking politics with Carl a bit belligerently, Lou and Oscar take their leave. Alexandra and Carl stand together alone.

Alexandra is surprised to see that Carl has changed so little, still self-conscious and troubled. Alexandra tells him about her success, saying that they hung on and the land took care of itself. The discuss the different characters of people Carl knew-especially Emil, who reminds Alexandra of her father, and Marie, who eloped with Frank. She suggests that they visit Frank and Marie the next day. Carl, meanwhile, confesses that he feels as though he's wasted his life. Alexandra insists that his freedom is worth more than her land, but he says that this freedom is lonely and dispiriting. To back up her argument about the importance of freedom, she tells him about Carrie Jensen, one of her men's sisters, who attempted suicide and lived a depressed life until she visited Iowa, after which she declared that as long as she knew there was so much going on in the world, she could be happy.

Analysis

Once again the narrative takes a dramatic jump forward in time, skipping over the "rags to riches" story that might make up a traditional American narrative. In jumping from Carl's departure almost immediately to his return, Cather emphasizes instead the emotional narrative of Alexandra's life. Carl's relationship with Alexandra is central in large part because she has so few relationships. The sixteen years of Alexandra's life that we've seen contain very few emotionally resonant events, which is perhaps a consequence of living a remote, difficult life on the Divide.

Along these lines, this section of the novel suggests the important role that isolated hardship plays in bringing families close. Before, the Bergsons were close-knit and communicative; now that they've found success, they aren't as capable of banding together. This is true of both Alexandra and the brothers. Alexandra seems reluctant to continue her role as family matriarch. She prefers certain members of her family to others and does not want to hide these preferences beneath a show of equal treatment. As for Lou and Oscar, their prosperity has made them proud of themselves and jealous of Alexandra. There are suspicious of old friends such as Carl, assuming that he must be after something. Cather thus suggests that, with the rise of the conveniences of success, traditional ties lose much of their import.

This loss of meaning has much to do with characters' impulse to forget their histories. The lessons of the past are swallowed and forgotten in the vanities of the present. Emil, like Alexandra, works to stand against this tendency as he clears the overgrown grass from the town graveyard. People no longer keep up the graves of their parents and it's left to folks like Emil to tend them. Ivar, too, represents a tie to the past-to the mysticism of the old world-that people find threatening. They wish to commit Ivar and forget about him, though Alexandra won't allow it. Similarly, Lou torments his mother-in-law because she prefers old-fashioned methods to modern improvements, as seen in the new bathtub that she refuses to use. Lou's character is free of both past and future-he lives entirely in the present age. He insists upon updating his bathtub and dining in the present fashion, while meanwhile rejecting innovations such as the grain silo. Cather clearly condemns this present-age thinking, preferring Alexandra's mix of reverence for history and clear forward vision.

In general, the emotional terrain of the novel comes forth as the struggle for survival recedes. Relationships have become increasingly-perhaps even confusingly-complex. For instance, when Marie and Emil first speak, the reader may well assume that this is a conversation between two sweethearts. Marie's words are light and flirtatious, and Emil reacts as would befit an infatuated youth. However, we soon learn that Marie is in fact married. With similar ambiguity, petty disagreements among the Bergsons seem ready to erupt into violent quarrels-there relationship is hardly simple, but has become, rather, emotionally fraught. And Alexandra too seems ready to address her desires and needs, after a struggle-filled life of independence. A major part of Alexandra's newfound emotionality emerges with the return of Carl.

Carl's lackluster return to the prairie introduces a new dimension of the pioneering spirit. During the novel's first third, Alexandra Bergson seems almost too perfect: ideally fitted with the pioneer's clarity and drive. Carl, in contrast, exhibits an inability to follow through, though he possesses many good qualities. However, Alexandra herself complicates our acceptance of this moral hierarchy-Alexandra over Carl-that the book seems to have endorsed. When Alexandra tells Carl the story of the neighbor girl whose visit to the big city gave her the will to live, she suggests that Carl doesn't need to find purpose in being settled. He can find his purpose anywhere, if only he is willing to accept that his identity inheres in its unsettledness. This privileging of freedom over settlement captures the American spirit differently, but perhaps equally well.

Summary

Alexandra spends the next couple of days with Carl, taking walks, viewing the operations of the farm in the morning and talking well into the night. One morning, Carl walks at sunrise, reminded of his own youth in Nebraska, when he sees Emil and Marie hunting together. Emil kills five ducks and deposits them in Marie's apron. When she sees the blood oozing from their wounds she grows sad and declares, following one of Ivar's beliefs, that wild things are too happy to kill. Emil laughs at her, but says that he won't hunt any more. Seeing these two young people makes Carl melancholy as he goes in for breakfast.

That afternoon Alexandra suggests to Carl that they visit the Shabatas. Wearing a white dress and sun-hat, she takes Carl along the old path they walked as youths. The two of them hint indirectly at their affection for one another, filled with the nostalgia of the walk. They arrive at the Shabatas' and greet Marie, who appears vivacious. Carl remarks to himself that he can understand Marie's husband's jealousy of her, as she's both attractive and very friendly.

The three reminisce about the past and eat apricots from the trees on the property until Marie's husband, Frank, comes home. He is clearly in a bad mood, complaining about how old woman Hiller's hogs had gotten into his wheat, and he had to leave his team to drive them out again. Alexandra suggests gently that he should fix her fences, for she only has a lame son to help her, but Frank doesn't like the idea. Alexandra and Carl depart, leaving Marie to try and cheer up her husband. She attempts to sympathize, but he only grows more frustrated. He spends the rest of his evening frustrated over progressive political news-he, like Lou Bergson, is quite conservative.

We learn the story of Frank and Marie's relationship. Marie had grown up in Omaha with her successful and doting father, Albert Tovesky. When she was sixteen, Frank Shabata moved to Omaha, and all of the young girls fell in love with him. Marie and Frank were engaged suddenly, as soon as Marie was out of high school, and Mr. Tovesky refused to accept Frank as a son-in-law and sent Marie to a convent. When she turned eighteen, Frank convinced her to elope with him. Marie's father at last accepted their marriage and bought them Carl Linstrum's old farm. Though Frank was a little unsteady, he worked hard and did better than some might have expected.

The next morning, while Frank spends the day at a saloon, Marie comes across Emil cutting her grass, as promised. They work for a while, Emil mowing and Marie picking fruit, and talk about old pagan religions when their work carries them near one another. Marie believes she could worship the trees like the old Bohemians. They also discuss Carl and Alexandra's possible love for each other, and also Emil's future. He is thinking about moving to New York, a move that Marie opposes, and he openly resents her interest in his future, telling her to stop treating him like a child.

A month later, Carl still has not departed. He and Emil attend a Catholic fair together and meet Amedee and Angelique, Emil's newly married friends. Emil jokes and flirts with the newlyweds, taking on Amedee in a high-jump contest and pretending to run away with his bride. The happy pair makes for a marked contrast with Carl, who seems to know nothing but despair.

Meanwhile, Alexandra's brothers arrive at Alexandra's house for the first time since Carl Linstrum's arrival and inform her that she is making a fool of herself with Carl Linstrum. They insist that Carl is trying to take her for her money. Alexandra holds them off with reasonable arguments, noting that they got their fair share of the land when they were married and, under their continued duress, she lists the many important decisions she made that lead to their success. They insist that her decisions were not nearly as important as their labor. Then to add insult to injury, Oscar reminds Alexandra that she's forty years old and that everyone thinks she's being swindled. Finally Alexandra has had enough. She tells them to leave and never come back. As the boys depart they reflect that maybe they shouldn't have mentioned her age. They seem puzzled by Alexandra's anger.

Emil arrives home and tells Alexandra that he and Carl met Lou and Oscar, who asked to talk with Carl. Alexandra tells him about her quarrel with her brothers, and though he doesn't fully understand her feelings on the subject he vows to support her. Meanwhile he tells her a new plan to go to Mexico City and pursue work. Emil goes to bed with thoughts of Marie, wondering why she and Frank eloped together and imagining a life with her.

Carl returns and admits to Alexandra that he has seen Lou and Oscar and that he is leaving tomorrow. Alexandra half-heartedly tries to change his mind, as if she knows there's no point. He tells her he will go straight to Alaska and start getting the feel of the place, and he asks her to give him a year. She agrees sadly, commenting that she hopes that her father cannot see what has come of her family's success.

Analysis

In this section of the novel, Cather works a parallel between Marie and Emil and Alexandra and Carl. Both couples have strong, unexpressed affection for each other. When Carl takes a walk one morning, he remembers meeting Alexandra each morning to do the daily milking, and how she looked "as if she had walked straight out of the morning itself." Though Cather reveals little of Carl's interiority, these brief visions suggest Carl's passion for Alexandra is as vibrant-though hidden-as Carl's is for Marie. Moreover, neither Marie nor Alexandra seems particularly touched by passion. In both couples, the men are more romantic, the women more practical. This is perhaps in part due to the respective ages of the lovers: Alexandra is older than Carl, just as Marie is older than Emil.

Also, both possible couples face major obstacles to their unions. Marie's marriage to Frank, which doesn't seem especially passionate, results from a youthful decision. Carl's need to leave with his family as a youth is also a great obstacle in terms of his present affection for Alexandra, and other obstacles - the disapproval of her brothers and Carl's oversensitivity - also impede their coming together. Both possible couples thus seem to have missed their respective moments. They both seem star-crossed. However, Marie and Emil's barriers seem inescapable, whereas Alexandra and Carl's are less rigid. Just as obstacles make Emil's passion grow, the reader is invited to believe that separation will perhaps help Alexandra and Carl to rediscover the passion they once shared.

However, this romantic passion is, to put it lightly, understated. The calm continuation of Carl and Alexandra's relationship is one of the elements of O Pioneers! that may make the novel difficult for readers. There are few emotional climaxes, few catharses; instead, the novel proceeds at an even keel, emphasizing that no matter what events befall these individual characters, life on the land will continue as it is. Again, the land is the main organizing force of the novel. Though we have moved beyond the taming of the prairie into farmland, its slow, cyclical pace still informs the emotionality of the characters that live off of it. The land is, to a great extent, the protagonist.

This section also provides us with several examples of Cather's style-at once plain and poetic. A few subtly interwoven symbols complicate the narrative. One such symbol is wild birds, which first appear in Part I when the Bergson's and Carl visit Ivar. In that scene, the most sympathetic characters aligned themselves with Ivar in wanting to protect and admire the beautiful creatures, while Oscar and Lou simply grumbled about not being able to shoot them. In a similar moment in this section, Emil shoots a group of birds and Marie begs him not to do so anymore. Marie seems to recognize, just as Ivar has always known, that there is something special about these birds, so wild and free, that ought to be respected. Killing them for fun is a meaningless, disrespectful waste. Cultivating the prairie, Cather suggests, must be balanced with respecting nature's freedom-a balance that also ties the birds to Alexandra, the great compromiser of love for the land and use of the land.

This section of the novel also explicates a conflict that has been simmering under the surface from the first page. When Lou and Oscar quarrel with Alexandra, they tell her that she does not really own her land, because she is a woman, and that the land belongs to the men who work it. Their words are not surprising, for the Divide and the West are inherently difficult places for women, and John Bergson's decision to leave Alexandra in charge was complicated from the first by the presumed inferiority of women to men. At the same time, however, Cather suggests that Alexandra benefits from the conditions on the Divide: they have made her talents apparent and necessary.

While Alexandra's brothers take no real action to try and prevent her from doing as she wishes, and while it seems impossible that Alexandra would ever lose her land, Cather demonstrates that Alexandra has, through her very success, undermined her position as a shrewd and forceful woman. Even though her brothers acknowledge specific contributions Alexandra has made, they refuse to equate her mental tasks (or even the money she made from her eggs and milk) with their labor. They have forgotten-perhaps purposively-her centrality in their own success. By taming the land and granting her brothers success, then, Alexandra has undermined her own power. As long as they needed her, the brothers respected and followed her; now that they don't need her, they seem less likely to respect her.

The disparate elements of this section come together in the idea that the Divide represents both a place of great freedom and of inescapable constraints. The expanse of the land and the farmer's lifestyle creates conditions where there is little monitoring of individual relationships. Thus, Emil and Marie can spend more time together than is likely appropriate. At the same time, in a region where civilization is so new and essentially unstable, the community has a large stake in keeping order, so when Alexandra and Carl spend so much time together, everyone in the community is aware of it. The conflict between these two conditions relates directly to the land itself, a land that provides boundless opportunity for success and happiness, but still teems with instability.

Summary

Winter covers the Divide. It is a hard country still in the winter, and it is difficult to imagine the spring. Alexandra receives weekly letters from Emil, and she still has not seen Oscar or Lou. She avoids the Norwegian Church, and though she spends as much time as possible with Marie, she has not spoken with her about Carl.

Despite her conflict with Lou, Alexandra invites Mrs. Lee, Lou's mother-in-law, for a long visit. Alexandra lets her do all the old-time things that she loves, and she enjoys the visit. A week into her visit, Marie invites the two women for coffee when Frank is in town. They update each other on the state of the traveling men in their lives. Alexandra notes that she hasn't heard from Carl since he left Washington for Alaska. She also allows Marie to read Emil's letters. Marie gives Alexandra a purple necktie to put in Emil's Christmas package, joking that he can wear it while seducing girls. Marie also talks, as she looks through old things, about her fondness for her early love with Frank and hints at her current unhappiness. She keeps Emil's letters, understanding that they are more for her than Alexandra.

Over the course of the winter, winter weighs heavily on Marie begins to grow less happy and Alexandra becomes less happy with their visits. Marie spends more time with her neighbor, Mrs. Hiller, and she goes to Church frequently. She attempts to be friendly and pleasant to her husband, but without much avail.

Emil returns from Mexico and Alexandra insists that he accompany her to a supper and auction at the French Church. As it is a costume party, she tells him to wear Mexican garb and bring his guitar to play. Signa and Nelse Jenson, who are to be married in a week, keep an eye on the house while Emil meets with old friends, including Amedee, who is newly a father. Alexandra is content that Emil seems to have developed an identity apart from the land and the plow.

Alexandra meets Marie-who is dressed in an old Bohemian costume-at the church and tells her of Emil's presence. Marie is impatient to meet with Emil and questions him about Mexico, meanwhile dragging Frank to sit with the Bergsons at dinner. After supper and charades there is an auction, during which Emil spontaneously auctions off one of his turquoise shirt studs, which Marie (in vain) begs Frank to buy for her. Marie then tells fortunes in a booth, entertaining the crowd. This irritates Frank: he's jealous of Marie though without a clear reason.

Amedee organizes a prank to cut the electricity at eleven p.m. so the boys can kiss their sweethearts in the dark. He recommends that Emil, who has no girl, blow out the candle in Marie's fortune tent, and Emil does so after she tells his fortune; he blows out the candle and kisses Marie. When the lights go back on, Frank stares at Marie, who is white-faced. Emil retreats and plays the guitar while she hastily packs up her tent, avoiding all contact.

Signa and Nelse are married and both Alexandra and Marie object to their immediate practicality following the wedding-e.g. Nelse has Signa wear work clothes and insists on taking Alexandra's wedding gift, two cows, immediately instead of waiting for delivery. Marie opines that Signa should have married, Smirka, a previous worker, and is irritated when Alexandra says that marrying Nelse was a pragmatic decision.

Marie walks home alone, only to be overtaken by Emil, who tries to convince her to leave Frank and go away with him. Marie, distraught, tells him that she could never do such a thing. She explains that she once loved Frank and cannot leave him. They part under these distressing circumstances.

After Marie refuses to hear him, Emil packs his books to leave a week later, preparing to take a law degree in Ann Arbor after working for a Swedish lawyer in Omaha. Alexandra plans to visit him next Christmas and Emil feels as though he is finally breaking with his childhood. He lies on his childhood bed and he thinks about Alexandra, considering that he never thought of her as attractive, just as his sister. They talk together about John Bergson and their Swedish heritage and Emil grows gloomy. Alexandra doesn't worry about him despite his moodiness; she feels certain of his success. Emil suddenly recalls the wild duck they once saw on a walk, and they agree that they often think of it.

The next morning Emil makes his goodbyes. At Amedee's home, he finds Angelique, Mrs. Chevalier and Amedee's son in the kitchen and teases them amiably. He learns that Amedee is out in the field supervising the harvest, despite an illness, for he has a new, very expensive machine that only he knows how to drive. Emil meets Amedee in the fields and, noticing that his friend is in pain, suggests that he see a doctor. Amedee dismisses his concern. Emil departs only to see, on his way home, two workmen carrying Amedee from the fields. Emil rushes to help them.

Analysis

Throughout O Pioneers! Alexandra experiences periods of companionship followed by periods of loneliness. In this section of the novel, Alexandra's loneliness is at its height, for Carl has left for Alaska, Emil has left for Mexico, and she has not made peace with her brothers. Cather's examination of Alexandra's loneliness is interesting, because life on the Divide seems inherently lonely. Even at the beginning of the novel, when miles separated each homestead from the other, and Alexandra went days without seeing anyone besides her family, Alexandra was not lonely. Her isolation only made her appreciate Carl's friendship more. Thus Cather contrasts the Divide's relative isolation with the rich community life of the people there. One moment Alexandra's life seems full of family and friends; the next she seems unbelievably alone. With this contrast, Cather suggests that though all humans need companionship, part of the pioneer's struggle is captured in this inevitable loneliness.

Alexandra's separation from those around her may be related to her inability to fully relate to others. She lacks sympathy and she has little ability to guess at the emotional states of others. Her success comes from her ability to get things done, and she is barely conscious of her own feelings, much less those around her. Hence her friendship with Marie is limited because she cannot understand the depth of Marie's troubles. When Marie attempts to confide her marital problems to Alexandra, Alexandra changes the subject, thinking it unwise for Marie to dwell on such things.

Thus, in Alexandra's interactions with Marie and Mrs. Lee, Cather suggests that Alexandra has difficulty entering fully into the feminine sphere. For a great deal of the book, Alexandra is depicted as being primarily a member of the male, farmer community. But, in this section especially, Cather highlights that she also belongs to a community of women, from which she seems to receive a great deal of pleasure. Mrs. Lee and Marie fill part of the space in Alexandra's life left by Emil and Carl. Despite these connections, however, Alexandra never fully engages with the emotional concerns of either group. In many ways, Alexandra is caught masculinity and femininity: she manages to participate in the business and farming community as an equal member without losing her identity as a woman, but she is unable to provide-or seek for herself-emotional sympathy with Marie.

The major exception to Marie's ambiguous gender status comes in the bedtime fantasy we read about in this section, in which a man sweeps her up and carries her lightly over the fields. Alexandra's dream is problematic for many theorists, especially feminist critics. It is hard to deny that the dream implies Alexandra's ultimate desire to be transformed into a romance heroine, swept up by a man who will take her responsibilities off her shoulders. On the other hand, Alexandra's actions complicate this position. She may dream of giving up her burden to men, but she clearly does not, despite the fact that many men, her brothers included, are eager to take over her farm. The man she does harbor affection for-Carl-is hardly a romantic hero. He is malleable and uncertain of himself, more a candidate for being burdensome than alleviating her burdens. Thus Alexandra's fantasy rather complicates her character than defines it.

In general, Cather chooses not to portray romantic love as a positive force: instead it is complex and messy. She concentrates on the practical price of love. Emil and Marie try not to be foolish young lovers who value their own happiness over everything else. Emil longs to be loved, but he understands the practical ramification of his situation. Marie is very unhappy but makes no plans to escape her responsibilities. When Marie expresses her dissatisfaction with Signa's marriage to Nelse Jenson, Alexandra points out that despite the lack of passion, she thinks that Signa made a wise choice. Marie, who loved Frank not prudently but passionately, seems to want Signa to repeat her error. Cather does portray one pure, youthful passion leading to happiness in the marriage of Amedee and Angelique. But this couple, as we shall see, meets its own unhappiness.

Summary

Amedee undergoes an emergency operation for appendicitis. When Frank learns about Amedee, he heads to the saloon for drink and gossip, leaving Marie to call Alexandra for the details. Upon hanging up Marie considers how devastated she would be if Emil were to become ill. She decides to tell Alexandra about their love for each other as soon as Emil leaves. Marie then takes a pensive walk; as she passes a pond she reminds herself that she could escape through suicide as a last resort. The next morning, Alexandra tells Emil that Amedee died overnight.

As the Church prepares for Amedee's funeral, more than one hundred children from town also prepare for confirmation. Emil is invited to participate in the cavalcade to greet the boys. At six that morning, Emil meets them; at first they are melancholy about Amedee's death. They cannot help but feel happy as they gallop in the fields, however, wishing they had something noble and brave to fight for. A bishop, who has arrived in town for the confirmation, expresses pride in the boys' spirit. When they meet the Bishop, he sees them and feels proud. They pass the spot where Pierre Seguin is digging Amedee's grave and look away.

The church fills for the confirmation. Emil, who sits in Amedee's empty pew with some of his mourning relatives, notices Frank arrive without Marie. As his friend Raoul Marcel sings "Gloria" and "Ave Maria," Emil thinks about his love. The music consoles him and he feels that Marie is not Frank's in any important way. Following the confirmation, Emil goes to dine at Moise Marcel's where Frank is also invited. After dinner, Frank goes to the saloon and Emil accompanies Raoul, who has been asked to sing again for the Bishop. Emil slips out and rides away from the church; passing Amedee's grave on the way, he feels that Amedee has entered paradise. As though without his will, Emil rides to Marie's to say goodbye.

Emil arrives and ties up his horse in the Shabata barn. No one is in the house and he can't find Marie. Still, he decides to say goodbye to "the orchard, the mulberry tree." In the orchard, Emil sees Marie supine on the grass and for a moment he thinks she's dead. He reaches for her and she wakes, telling him she was dreaming about him.

Frank Shabata arrives home that evening, drunk, and he sees Emil's horse. He searches for Emil in the house and barn before half-consciously taking his gun from the closet and heading towards the orchard. Near the hedge, Frank spots Emil lying with a girl in the grass. Enraged and drunk, Frank raises his gun and fires three times and sees two figures fall.

Frank flees on Emil's horse, horrified and guilt-ridden. He rides for Hanover, desperate to catch a train to Omaha. His ride is horrible and guilt-ridden, full of hate for his wife but, more than anything, hate for himself. He realizes that he broke Marie's spirit. Still, afraid of the consequences, he refuses to return to his house.

Old Ivar finds Emil's horse the next morning and soon pieces together the murder. Both Marie and Emil are dead-Emil died instantly and Marie bled to death, having dragged herself to the hedge and back to Emil's body. Alexandra, also up early out of concern, sees Ivar returning. She thinks he is drunk until he tells her that "sin and death" have come "for the young ones."

Analyis

This section of the novel begins and ends with death, thus presenting two different kinds of tragedy. Amedee's death provokes superficial sadness throughout the town, but Cather suggests that only Amedee's close friends and family truly mourn him. His death brings out the callousness of this place, for here life is too hard for a single death to bring life to a halt. The town goes on with its small celebrations and moments of joy, hardened by the awareness that such death is possible within their own family spheres as well. Such sudden turns of fate are to be expected in the unforgiving Divide. The change in fate is especially brutal in that Amedee is one of the only truly content characters in the novel. The Divide spares no one.

Emil seems accept the general belief that he must seize what happiness he can, while he can. That Emil comes to this realization at a church baptism is ironic, for in seeking out Marie he sins against common Christian propriety. Emil's momentary fear that Marie is dead when he finds her sleeping in the orchard underscores his determination to take happiness from the moment: she too might pass away at any moment. Cather leaves it up to the reader whether Emil and Marie are at fault for giving in to temptation. She merely delineates the dilemma: seek happiness through sin, or accept misery through abnegation. The characters, indeed, seem to act according to forces greater than mere will. They do not carry their love; they are carried by their love.

Similarly, Frank's murder seems to act through him. The situation, rather than the character or morality of the actor, creates the murder. When Frank Shabata kills Emil and Marie, he no desire to kill them. Later, he thinks to himself, if only he had not brought the gun, because the lack of a gun was the only way that scene could have ended any differently.

Summary

Shortly after Emil's death, Signa worries to Ivar that Alexandra has gone out in the rain. Ivar knows he will find her at the graveyard and hitches up a horse. Signa asks him why he doesn't wear shoes and he explains that the Bible governs all the body but the feet, so he lets them do as they wish. Signa responds to this enigmatic reply by saying that he is a good friend to his mistress. At the graveyard Ivar sees Alexandra rise from her father's grave. She tells Ivar that she feels better about Emil after the rain: she feels as though being dead must be just like before you were born. Ivar reproaches her for doubting that the dead are in heaven, but than stops, for he does not believe these dead are in heaven.

At home, Signa comforts Alexandra and puts her to bed as if she were a child. As Alexandra drifts to sleep, she has her old dream. She feels that she opens her eyes and sees her rescuer in a white cloak with his face covered. "His right arm, bared from the elbow, was dark and gleaming, like bronze, and she knew at once that it was the arm of the mightiest of all lovers."

The next morning Alexandra wakes with a bad cold, which keeps her in bed for several days. She decides to go see Frank Shabata, who is serving ten years in Lincoln. His trial had been quick, for he had given himself up to the police and confessed. Alexandra feels that Frank is "less in the wrong than any of them, and...was paying the heaviest penalty," and feels him to be her last link to the people she cared for most. She has written Carl Linstrum without receiving an answer-probably due to his remote location-and her heart slowly closes to him. Alexandra blames herself for encouraging Emil and Marie's friendship, recalling that she had thought of Marie as a married woman beyond the possibility of a love affair. At the same time, Alexandra knows that the two couldn't have helped loving each other.

In Lincoln, Alexandra stays at the hotel she used when Emil graduated from college. After a day of searching foolishly for students who might have known Emil, Alexandra goes to see Frank the next morning. She tries to tell the warden, Mr. Schwartz, about Frank's situation, but he finds nothing unusual in it. Alexandra waits in the miserable prison while Mr. Schwartz fetches Frank.

When he appears, Frank's appearance-shaved head and prison clothes-horrifies Alexandra. He look like a criminal and stares with glassy eyes. Alexandra expresses her sympathy for him as Frank rambles oddly, declaring that he doesn't blame Marie. Alexandra both blames and exculpates Marie, believing that her sin is unforgivable yet unable to think of Marie as wrong. As she rises to leave, Alexandra tells Frank that she is going to pursue a governor's pardon. Frank catches her hand and asks her whether she thinks he drove Marie to it, but Alexandra cuts him off.

Back at her hotel, Alexandra receives a telegram from Carl Linstrum, who returned after reading about the murder in a newspaper. Early the next morning she meets Carl in Hanover and they return to her home. Carl explains to Alexandra that he is doing well as a prospector and wishes Alexandra to come with him to Alaska. She tells him she doesn't want to wait any longer, and they decide that they need each other, despite her brother's insults and oppositions.

Alexandra asks Carl if he understands how Marie and Emil's love happened, because she still cannot. Carl says that he's sure Emil and Marie tried terribly hard to resist temptation, and that that's why Emil left for Mexico and was leaving again. He insists that she isn't to blame for cultivating their connection; she merely "spread ruin around them through no fault of [her own]" and consoles her in her grief and confusion.

Alexandra tells Carl that she will follow him to Alaska in the spring, but that she wants to come back to the Divide, saying that despite her misfortunes the land still makes her feel "free." She thinks aloud that Lou and Oscar don't feel the way that she does about the land, but she might as well leave it to their children, for the land truly belongs only to those who "love it and understand it." She looks out into the sun and when Carl asks what she's thinking, she tells him she's thinking of a dream she had before, one that can't come true now, which she will tell him about after their marriage. She says that she knows they will be happy, for their marriage is based on friendship, not the feelings of "those young ones." Carl reaches out and kisses her lips and eyes. She leans on him and tells him she's tired and she's been very lonely. They walk into her house together, out of the Divide.

Analysis

When Amedee died Cather depicted a broad community determined to move forward. After Emil and Marie's deaths, Cather focuses on the difficulty, when a death is very near to one's heart, of getting on with life. Perhaps the most surprising upshot of Alexandra's debilitating grief is that, despite her life of carrying the burden, she has many people-especially Ivar and Signa-to support her when she needs support. These helpmates are, in their way, the practical embodiment of Alexandra's dream for a rescuer: community and friends, not romance and passion, ultimately provide Alexandra with support. That said, when Alexandra dreams in this section of the "mightiest of lovers," Cather invites one to wonder whether this lover might be death, just as she finds Emil's death consoling and believes he must be in a place of peace and repose.

Alexandra's suffering is complicated by her anger. Though she visits her brother's grave and mourns him, she cannot fully forgive or mourn for her friend Marie. One might certainly ask why she puts so much blame on Marie, when her own brother was equally at fault, and when Frank, with whom she sympathizes, pulled the trigger. Possibly, Alexandra believes people must live with their choices. Alexandra has embraced this life on the farm, despite the things that it has denied her. She refuses to live with her own regrets, just as she has little sympathy when Marie tries to discuss her own dissatisfaction with her life. All her life Alexandra has been taking care of a family of men, and she seems used to the idea that men need women to lead them. For this reason, she might consider Marie more to blame then Emil.

The ending of O Pioneers! is unusual to say the least, and one of its strangest parts is Alexandra's visit to Frank Shabata in prison. Though one can see how Alexandra is able to forgive Frank, one might also wonder whether trying to have his sentence commuted is going a little too far. Alexandra's desire to wipe out the consequences of the crime suggests that she has not totally come to terms with her own feelings about what has happened. Part of Alexandra's desire to free Frank comes from observing him in the prison. Cather presents an extremely negative view of the effect of jail on prisoners, suggesting that prison is the result of civilization-that the unsettled prairie, at least, did not dehumanize people the way that such institutions do. Just as it is suggested that Lou and Oscar would have been happier if they had remained poor and "uncivilized," so too it is suggested that life might be better without interference from "civilized" systems of justice. These systems cannot understand what made Frank Shabata do what he did. The courts don't comprehend life on the Divide.

Carl's return helps Alexandra overcome her anger in several ways. He helps her to acknowledge her own weakness and to understand that Marie and Emil did their best to resist temptation. Alexandra receives a great deal of relief simply from telling Carl that she needs him, and from talking through her confusion about the murdered lovers' guilt or innocence. Above all, Carl provides Alexandra with an escape from the elements of her life that have become untenable. Alexandra's passion for the land has never receded, but as the Divide has been tamed, and civilization has crept up, Alexandra increasingly suffered. Her character, so perfectly fitted to taming the land, is not so perfectly fitted to the compromises of settled human life. Though she could never leave this land completely, Alaska offers a new adventure for the pioneer within her.

Despite Alexandra's happiness at Carl's return, and the promise of their Alaskan adventure their reunion is decidedly anticlimactic. One might wonder why Cather could not revive the passion these two clearly once felt for each other, even if it was always quieter than Emil's for Marie. There are a few explanations for this choice, though none may be satisfactory. Throughout O Pioneers, love is represented as a dangerous and ultimately unsatisfying condition. Even Amedee and Angelique, who seemed to combine love and pragmatism in equal amounts, cannot thereby escape tragedy. Cather truly seems to prefer the idea of a union based on friendship and history, even if the happiness such a union brings is hardly impassioned.

Furthermore, Cather takes great care to represent both Carl and Alexandra as people changed by experience. Both have seen a great deal of life, and both have suffered loneliness and despair. It is simply not in their characters to feel great passion: they are too distrustful of the world to build expectations so high. The land, ultimately, has taken them from each other and wounded them. Recall that Carl first left Alexandra because his family could not work the land, that her brothers chased him away because they feared that he was after the land. O Pioneers, thus, is not a love story-it is a story of the prairie's effect on human relationships. Hardened by life on the Divide, Carl and Alexandra proceed wisely and warily into a new frontier.

• Biography of Willa Cather
• About O Pioneers
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Glossary of Terms
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Part I, chapters i - iii
• Summary and Analysis of Part I, chapters iv - v
• Summary and Analysis of Part II, chapters i - iv
• Summary and Analysis of Part II, chapters v-xii
• Summary and Analysis of Part III, chapter i - Part IV, chapter iv
• Summary and Analysis of Part IV, chapters v - viii
• Summary and Analysis of Part V, chapters i - iii
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• Settling the American Frontier: The Homestead Act
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