Willa Cather - Research Paper Example

Willa Cather Introduction Willa Cather can be regarded as a reputable who wrote has written great stories. This paper covers three short stories by Willie Cather; the paper will discuss stories such as Peter, Ardessa, and Neighbor Rosicky. The paper will focus on the three stories and the essential elements discussed by the author in the stories. Peter by Willie Cather The short story “Peter” by Cather is one of her bleakest in terms of the way the story is depicted. The development of the story contributes to the general feeling of revulsion “Peter” raises. The story portrays Peter; a Nebraska immigrant, as an alcoholic and a former musician who finds himself isolation from everything that meant a lot to his life. This isolation deprives him the sound of his violin, understanding of his son and keeps him away from his homeland. This deprivation makes Peter feel that suicide is the only solution to his desperation (Willa Cather 11). In Cather’s story, Peter was an immigrant from Bohemia who had settled with his wife and son Anton in Nebraska. Peter was one time a second violist in a Prague theatre, which makes him unable to forget the good days he had at the theatre. He recalled how he used to wear a coat every evening and always had enough alcohol to drink. Later, while still working as a violinist, his bowing arm became partially disabled due to stroke paralysis. This made him quit his job and migrated to America. Peter had a strong believe that he would find a better world to stay. In America, he shared with other European emigrants, and it reached a time when he realized that the barren plains of Nebraska had a different story to tell. In America, he became feckless and was unable to support his own living because of rejecting hard labor. He also became separated from his son (Willa Cather 12). His son Anton represented the second generation of American immigrants. He regarded America as home place, but his father, Peter regarded it as hostile land. Peter’s son was forced to work by material success and forced his father to sell his violin. On the other hand, the story portrayed Peter as a more romantic person, which made him unsuitable to the actuality of the silent plains where there were no great emotions. To Peter, the violin helped remember his life in Bohemian by recalling on the feelings and memories he had while performing on stage. Despite the fact that Peter could not play the violin anymore, he still reflected on the touch he once experienced and the beauty of playing the violin. Peter’s hunger for playing the violin was further amplified when he listened to music, which reminded him of what he experienced daily (Willa Cather 14). While, in Nebraska, Peter’s urge for real experience changed into greed. After his final unsuccessful effort to play the violin he committed suicide. However, before he shot himself, he destroyed his violin to prevent his son Anton from selling the violin. When committing suicide Peter still believed that the world of the unattainable was still within his reach and by committing suicide he would preserve the joy he found in playing the violin. The story points out that Peter had died many times while in the Prague theatre, but his death in Nebraska was the irreversible one. However, the story provides further evidence that suggested that Peter just accepted his defeat (Willa Cather 17). Ardessa by Willa Cather The short story Ardessa by Willa Cather was published in 1918. It narrates of a woman; Ardessa, who worked for The Outcry, which was a weekly magazine. The story describes Ardessa as who was not young, and her looks were not beautiful. She is also described as a woman who had good manners and was insinuatingly feminine. Her employer was an immigrant from the west who had engaged in several contradictory issues before becoming the proprietor and editor of the weekly magazine. The employer came into New York and bought a highly respectable publication and made it magazine of protest that was in high demand. The magazine referred to as the outcry was what the west wanted and it later proved that it was what everyone wanted. Within, six years, Ardessa employer had done things that initially seemed impossible. In this time period, he had introduced a national weekly that was loved by everyone and a moving picture film that satisfied the interest and taste of everyone (Uncle Valentine and Other Stories 108). Ardessa’s employer had a lot of issues to attend to, which made him absent from the magazine company for many days. His absence contributed to the absolute advantage of Ardessa’s position. When the employer was present at work, Ardessa’s responsibilities were not difficult, but when he was out attending to other duties, Ardessa lived an ideal life. She was present at the office daily to forward her employer’s letters, attend the employer’s club notices and tradesmen’s bills. She was also better placed to feel the taste of high connections. In the office, other staff members were all about her, each thinking about the particular trust confided in Ardessa. Therefore, Ardessa had an excellent experience of being at the top of things. To her, it was like a mental massage (Uncle Valentine and Other Stories 109). Her room was well kept, and she preferred to be seen performing feminine tasks and to consider herself a charming contrast to other ladies who worked in the circulation and advertising departments. Despite her sluggishness, Ardessa was useful to her employer because she acted as a social reminder. She played a role of a card-catalogue of his employers ever changing persona relations. Ardessa was always skillful in covering his employer’s retreat once he was done with people. She went through and replied to letters sent by admirers who had begun to bore the employer. Ardessa also approached and soothed visiting authors who were kept waiting at the reception because the employer had no time for them (Uncle Valentine and Other Stories 110). In the writing, Ardessa is described as the person who strengthened weakening relationships and a gentle extinguisher of lights that failed. Ardessa also ensured that young writers received messages of hope and cheer as sweetly as possible. In handling people, Ardessa had slowly created an industry, which was hugely satisfying to her own vanity. She kept on providing advice to visiting editors at the reception and received their manuscripts even after her employer declared that he would never read any of their written lines. Editors who made Ardessa’s employer happy always had a feeling that Ardessa would reinstate them. She always responded to inquiry letters in the most polished and elegant style and went further to give editors a hint as to which subjects her employer was not interested in a particular moment (Uncle Valentine and Other Stories 112). Neighbor Rosicky Willa Cather’s, “Neighbor Rosicky,” written in 1928, is perhaps one of her most successful short stories. In this short story, Cather goes back to topics that inspired her most important novels: the immigrant experience on the Nebraska prairie. Contrary to her works My Antonia and O Pioneers! which explores the frontier experiences of young and energetic immigrant women, “Neighbor Rosicky” dwells on Anton Rosicky, who upon seeing the approach of death, thinks of the value and meaning of his life. In understanding Rosicky’s movement from Bohemia to Nebraska, Cather looks into the friendly relationship between human beings and the places they live. Despite the fact that the story concentrates on the pain of separations, it also appreciates the little triumphs of life (Stout 70). In “Neighbor Rosicky,” Cather brings out a faithful picture of Czechoslovakian experience in the west in two approaches. One is by giving pragmatic details of the Czech immigration and settlement in the United States. The second approach is through accurate presentation of Czech immigrants ideals. Cather presents a realistic picture by giving factual features of immigration and settlement process. In doing so, Cather presents the immigration process of Rosicky in two stages. The first stage describes Rosicky movement from the land of Bohemia to the New York City. The second stage talks about Rosicky movement from the New York City to the farm in Nebraska (Stout 70). In the first stage, Rosicky left Bohemia due to the shortage of land and had migrated to America after staying in London. Rosicky decided to do tailoring rather than tend to the land, which he loved most so that he could support himself. Doing tailoring made his stay in the city enjoyable because he had enough money for self support and he was never, dirty, cold or hungry. Migrating from a country of poor farmers to New York was a real experience for Rosicky. Life in New York gave him a chance to make enough money that made his life comfortable and was able to have a little fun (Stout 71). In the second stage of immigration, Cather writes how Rosicky learned about Nebraska in the Czech newspaper and has moved back to Nebraska from New York. Rosicky admitted that he enjoyed his stay in New York, but the desire to go back to Nebraska was always in his thoughts. While in New York, Rosicky started subscribing to Czech newspapers from Omaha and Chicago. He was also able to save some money to buy his liberty. When he was thirty five years, Rosicky left New York headed to Nebraska where he bought a piece of land and began a new life for himself (Stout 72). The three short stories not only inform on the history of the Czech immigrants in Nebraska, but are also entertaining. Anyone reading the story gets the understanding that, it was due to the tears, sweat, and blood of the immigrants that Nebraska came to be what it is today. Therefore, Willa Cather’s writing on the experiences of the Czech immigrants is universally acceptable. The narrations in the three short stories remain relevant to the current generation and will remain so even to the future generations. Works Cited Cather, Willa. Willa Cather: Stories, Poems, and Other Writings. New York: Library of America, 1992. Print. Cather, Willa. Uncle Valentine and Other Stories: Willa Cather's Uncollected Short Fiction, 1915-1929. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Print. Stout, Janis P. Willa Cather and Material Culture: Real-world Writing, Writing the Real World. Tuscaloosa, Ala: Univ. of Alabama Press, 2005. Print. Read More