Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"She Had Never Humbled Herself" Alexandra Bergson And Marie Shabata As The "Real" Pioneers Of O Pioneers!,/I>, Douglas W. Werden

Great Plains Quarterly

Willa Cather's O Pioneers! (1913) has traditionally been read within the twin contexts of Cather's pioneering childhood and her nostalgic reminiscences that glorify the lives of prairie settlers. These critics interpreted the novel in light of Walt Whitman's poem of the same name in Leaves of Grass, which celebrates the conquering American pioneer who "civilizes" the land for production.¹ More recent critics have contextualized it within her family history, agricultural history, domestic plots, American migration, and women leaving the home.² However, if we consider O Pioneers! in relation to the gender role redefinitions of Cather's adult life, …