The 1870s is the time when America was trying to solve the issues raised after the American Civil War, that ended just a few years before, through Reconstruction. During this time, a new movement in American Literature, Realism, began. Before Civil War, Idealism and Romanticism were popular. But after experiencing such a horrible war, artists started to realize the importance of showing people "real life" rather than just an ideal life. They wanted people to know the truth about what was going on in their country.   Willa Cather is one of the famous nineteenth century American writers who became a well known Realist because of the books she wrote that help many people know what life was like during those time and how people struggled to survive.

 

O Pioneers is one of those books Willa Cather wrote that gives an example about how hard it was to live in America during the 1800's. The theme that Cather wants her readers to understand while reading this book is that hard work will surely pay off something someday.   The Bergsons are a very poor family. They have a huge farm but it was difficult for them to live there. This is because they have so many debts to pay and they cannot grow the things that they plant there. At that time, both of their parents already passed away. Fortunately, Alexandra, the oldest child of the family, is a very intelligent, hard working person. Her brothers always tried to persuade her to give up on the land and move out to other country where there may be an even greater future for them. Alexandra almost followed their advice but she decided to stay. She and her brothers worked hard, and after many years, they eventually became one of the most prosperous families. If they had given up on the land, then they would not have experienced the wonderful life they now have.

The setting of this story is in Nebraska during the 1880s. With this clear setting, Cather was able to develop the theme of her book. In the beginning, Cather was successful in including exposition in the story. She explained why Emil and his sister Alexandra were in the town's drug store Knowing the setting really helped me a lot to understand this book more and it also helped Cather in developing the theme in a way that it made me know more about what the characters in that time were experiencing. The rising action in this book is when Emil who is a very quite person started to talk to Marie and tell her how he feels for her even though she is already married. This led to the climax, which in this story is the part where Frank accidentally shot Emil and Marie to death. This is the most thrilling part of the story. The story was resolved when Alexandra tried to help Frank to get out of prison as soon as possible because she knows that it was only an accident. And she also decided at the end to get married to Carl even though many people don't like him for her. The setting in this novel was really clear. It helped me a lot in understanding more the theme that Cather is pointing out.

The characters in the book also helped in developing the theme of the story. Lou and Oscar, Alexandra's brothers, are two of those important characters who helped Cather a lot in developing the theme. They played the role as the people who always discourage their sister from going forward. If it wasn't for them, than the story would not look more interesting and the theme would surely be different. Another character in this story is Emil who is also Alexandra's youngest brother. He played the role of someone who always encourages his sister from going forward unlike Lou and Oscar. Alexandra is the major character. She is the one who didn't give up and worked hard for their family to become successful again in their life. These characters made it a lot easier for Willa Cather to develop her theme and the realistic quality of the story.

 

Style is also a very important thing that Willa Cather used to make her book more interesting for the readers to read. One of those styles that I noticed while I was reading the story is Cather's point of view in writing this book. She didn't use any characters to narrate the story but instead, she is the one narrating the story. This affected the way the story is told because it makes a feeling that what she is telling is real and it is all based on her experience. She wrote this book in a subjective way. The words that made me think this way are the words, " awful, crazy, etc." I noticed when I was reading that she narrates the story in a way where she includes her personal emotion.

 

Another interesting element is Cather's interesting use of tone. Her tone is very informative. This is because the narrator didn't play any other role in this story except to inform us what was happening in each part of the story. Some of the many words that helped me to realize that her tone was informative are, " Emil had lost all his timidity" , " Alexandra and Carl walked together down the potato rows", and " That night, they sat down moodily" . Willa Cather's point of view and tone are two of the many ways she used to make it easier and more interesting to read. These two styles also helped her to develop more the theme of the story.

O Pioneers is one of Willa Cather's Realist novels. Through this book she was able to express the "real life" back then in the 19 th century. Her ability to use settings and styles in writing books really adds to the more realistic and interesting quality of her novels. We can see here that during the 1870s, it was really hard to live in America and it takes a lot of effort and hard work to be able to survive. Reading this novel really made me learn and understand the life in the 19 th Century.