O Pioneers!-Week 3

This week, I finished reading O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.

Last week I left off saying that Emil and Maria were madly in love with each other. I truly believed that they would run off together and get married. However, both of their lives were cut short. Maria's husband, Frank Shabata, killed them in the orchard. He came home drunk from the church fair and heard noises in the orchard so he shot.. Bang... Bang... two shots. The whispering stopped. When he walked towards the noise he heard, he found Emil and Maria dead. He then panicked and ran away to Lincoln, Nebraska, in order to escape what he had just done. Fortunately, he turned himself into the authorities in Nebraska for his crime.  He was then convicted of murder and sent to prison. A year later, Alexandra went to visit Frank to tell him that she did not blame him and that she was going to do everything in her power to set him free. After visiting Frank, Alexandra received a letter from Carl Lindstrom saying that he is coming back. The story ended abruptly, and I was left thinking of what happened next. The story ended by saying that Alexandra and Carl went inside the house together. Did they get married? How did their lives end?

While reading this week, there was one thing that I could not grasp my mind around. That is that Alexandra didn't blame or feel hatred towards Frank. How could she not hate him for killing not only her brother but also her friend?! When she went to visit Frank in prison she told him that she blamed Emil and Maria more than she ever blamed Frank. She was ashamed that her brother would go after a married women. Alexandra felt the pain that Frank was going through. However, it still doesn't make sense to me why she would blame her brother! To me, it seems as though she feels no loss for her brother because he deserved what he got.

Throughout the story, there were many predominate themes including: persistance pays off in the end. The family moved to the prairie and for many years nothing would grow. But they never gave up! They tended to the land and their efforts paid off in the end. Another theme is that it's never too late to follow your heart. Alexandra's brothers, Lou and Oscar, were extremely upset with her when they found out that she was very fond of Carl. They were especially upset because they thought she was too old to finally settle down and that she should have done it years ago However, Alexandra didn't listen to them. She always beleived in Carl and it was worth it in the end because they ended up together. C: Another example of this theme is with Emil and Maria. They were in love with each other and when on their last day in the orchard they were talking about running away with each other. I was so upset when from killed them...I wanted them to end up together.

Overall, I enjoyed reading O Pioneers! The book had a great plot and fun, interesting characters. The book also depicted life on prairies very accurately with great detail which provided imagery. I look forward to reading more books by Willa Cather.