O Pioneers! Essays - O Pioneers!, Happiness,

O Pioneers! O Pioneers! After reading the novel, O Pioneers!, it was hard to judge whether it was a tragedy or a triumph. I think the answer you are looking for would be a triumph. The only way I see it as a tragedy is that Emil and Maria died. I knew, since page six of the book, that they were destined to be together. It kind of broke my heart to see later on that she had married someone else. But when her and Emil got shot, I thought it may finish as a tragedy. But overall, I would see it as a triumph in the way that the Bergsons finally got what they wanted out of their land. It made them rich. Also, Alexandra and Carl finally married. And being that the whole novel was basically based on the land, they were triumphant in getting what they risked, what they longed for. In my opinion, I think the land broke the characters rather than the characters breaking the land. Of course the characters had to plant and sew the fields, but they did that every year. It took the forever, it seemed like, for the land to break them. Thats what the Bergsons had worked for their whole life. The land pulls the family together and makes them work hard to get what they want,...money, happiness. It makes them happy. So yes, the land does break them more than they break the land. In considering Cathers characters, I dont think they become fully Americanized within a generation. At the beginning of the novel, it seems like they are more in tuned with the rest of America. They are economically stable. But when Carl comes back on his first visit, Lou and Oscar scorn him about burning Wall Street. Obviously, America is building and becoming more advanced. While still in Nebraska, people are relying on their crops to get them by. They are still dwelling on their traits, beliefs, and actions that past generations had. Romantic love in this particular novel is very hard to judge whether it is necessary for human happiness. I dont think that it was meant to be the moral of the story, or that love was the basis of this particular novel, but I do think that after reading this that it was necessary in order to be happy. Of course, in one instance, love did end in heartbreak, desolation, and destruction with the scenario of Emil and Maria. But in every story, there has to be a sad moment or a fatality that occurs. But overall, it seemed like Alexandra wasnt going to be happy unless Carl came back and she could be with him. Also, she acted as if her money didnt make her as happy as he did. Lou and Oscar also had love in their life. They moved away from the land in order to marry. Love took them over, not the land or the desire to be rich. So yes, I do think that love is necessary for human happiness. Physically, I consider the men in the novel to be the strongest. But if you look at what the people in the novel had to overcome, emotionally, I think the women were stronger. Well into the novel, Lou and Oscar wanted to get rid of the land because they didnt believe that it was worth anything. They kind of gave up. But Alexandra, being the strong one of the family, hung in there and convinced them that it would one day be worth a lot more than when they started out. Alexandra, throughout the whole novel had to deal with some big tragedies. Her mother, father and brother dying. Her best friend dying, Carl walking in and out of her life, and having Lou and Oscar on her back all the time. She was made to be the strongest character of all. I found that the women of this novel to be stronger than the men. I never really considered generational values all that important until I read this story. While trying to wear Alexandras shoes, it made me realize that the things we carry on generation after generation keep getting more and more valuable. For example, farming that land meant more to John Bergson than anything it seemed like. He wanted to keep that land for generations to come because he knew it would be worth a good amount. Alexandra wanted to keep the land in order to have a better lifestyle. It seems like today, no one is worried about farming the land in order to survive in the real world. It seems that in reality, people have to go to