Week 1: O Pioneers! - Living on the prairie

I am currently reading the book O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. 

The setting of the book takes place on the prairie. People from all around the country came to this area in order to get a new start on life. However, the settlers did not know how to farm. I don’t understand how people could come to a new, remote area and not know how to farm or live in that specific area. Since the farmers didn’t know how to take care of the land, their crops failed to grow and produce. This made the families of the area go into extreme debt which caused numerous of families to move back to the cities. 

There are two main families in the story. They are the Bergsons and the Linstrums. The Bergson family has three sons and daughter (Alexandra) and the Linstrum family has a son (Carl). Alexandra and Carl have grown up together and are the best of friends. However, the Linstrum family is moving back to the cities because they cannot tend to their land. “I can’t help feeling scared when I think how I will miss you – more than you will ever know.” Alexandra was very fond of Carl. I believe that if Carl would have stayed on the prairie with Alexandra that they one day would have become married. They would tell each other everything. Whenever they were having a bad day, they knew that the other person would help them feel better. I was extremely sad when I read that the Linstrum family would be going away because I enjoy reading stories when there is young love. Knowing that they could never be together again changed the mood of the story.

The Bergson family also wanted to move after the death of their father. However, before his passing he tells Alexandra that she has to promise to stay and tend to the land. I was confused by these words. Why would he force his family to stay on the prairie when they couldn’t earn money? The family was suffering and straining themselves on a daily basis in order to earn a living. If the family was happier in the city why would he want them to stay? Fortunately, they listened to their father. During the next couple of years, the family decided to buy all of the land that they could. But again this made me think.  Why would the family purchase more land if it was considered “bad land?”

This was the end of the first section of the book. Section two jumps to a time that is 16 years later. At first it was confusing to comprehend because it used a different form of writing and was difficult to understand who everyone was again. The section starts off being very vague. They open with saying the new land was fertile and the crops were thick. Were they thinking of a different land? or Did the land somehow transform itself? Later in the section it went more in depth. The land that the Bergson’s had purchased started to thrive! They could finally grow crops on the once infertile land.

While reading O Pioneers! I find it difficult at times to stay with the story because it moves at such a slow rate. What keeps me interested, however, is wondering if Carl will come back to the prairie to ask Alexandra to marry him.