Blog Response: O Pioneers meets Lawrence Buell‘s ecocritical criteria for nature writing

According to Greg Garrard, Lawrence Buell suggests the following four criteria for nature writing:

1. The nonhuman environment is present not merely as a framing device but as a presence that begins to suggest that human history is implicated in natural history.
2. The human interest is not understood to be the only legitimate interest.
3. Human accountability to the environment is part of the text’s ethical orientation.
4. Some sense of the environment as a process rather than as a constant or a given is at least implicit in the text.                         (Garrard 53)

Willa Cather appears to meet these ecocritical standards in her novel O Pioneers! Throughout the book the first criteria is accomplished as the protagonist’s, Alexandra’s, fortune is shaped by nature, as she tames the land before her.

Throughout the novel the presence of the natural environment is evident as it shapes the fate and fortune of Alexandra, suggesting that human history is implicated in the natural history of the land. In the first part of the book Alexandra’s life was tough due to her family’s financial uncertainty, her early history with financial troubles paralleled the gloomy depiction of the “gray prairie,” and the “tough prairie sod” in which “the dwelling-houses were set about haphazard” (Cather 1). This depiction of the land as “still [being] a wild thing that had its ugly moods; and [that] no one knew when they were likely to come, or why” (Cather 7) foreshadowed the first few years that Alexandra was head of her household. It was a time of struggle for her marked with unpredictability, as she did not know if she would be able to pay her bills, the land affected her just as much as she affected the land. She put her “faith in the land,” and “for the first time, perhaps, since the land emerged from the waters of geologic ages, a human face was set toward it with love and yearning” (Cather 25). With Alexandra’s investment in the land she was able to change her future and turn what would’ve been a disparaging history into a prosperous one since now “the rich soil yields heavy harvests,” and in this way the nonhuman environment establishes its presence (Cather 29).

In addition, there is a reoccurring sentimental interest in ducks from a number of characters in the novel, suggesting that the human interest is not understood to be the only legitimate interest in the book. This is first evident from the mere awareness of the characters, for “Carl knew that they expected to find ducks on the pond” (Cather 49). Emil and Alexandra also show a deep interest in these as years later Emil asks his sister during one of their memorable conversations if she “[remembered] the wild duck [they saw down on the river that time?” (Cather 94). Further more, with this interest in nonhuman entities comes an added level of human accountability to the environment. An example of this is illustrated as Marie shows concern for the animals and offers an ethical position when they are shot as she suggests that “they were having such a good time, and we’ve spoiled it all for them” (Cather 50). She considers them living entities that have the right to have fun just like her and Emil, and does not see them worthy of disturbing their fun. She then goes on contemplate the fact that “they’re too happy to kill” (Cather 50).

The last criteria is evident in the novel as Cather describes the weather, either sunny or stormy, and with the seasons changing along with the times at the Divide portraying the environment as a process that changes just like people do.

 

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Dover Publications, 1993. Print.

Garrard, Greg. “Pastoral.” Ecocriticism. London: Routledge, 2004. Print

Buell, Lawrence. The Environmental Imaginations: Thoreau, Nature Writing and the Formation of American Culture, London: Princeton University Press, 1995.

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Pastoralism in O Pioneers!

O Pioneers! is the first novel that I have read that has been specifically centered around the literary trope of “pastoral”.  The novel illustrates Classical Pastoral through Alexandra’s emotional connection to nature and the land but also exemplifies American Pastoral since she and her family are living off the land, taking advantage of it to fit their needs.

The protagonist, Alexandra Bergson, feels a direct connection with the land throughout the novel.  The land “seemed beautiful to her, rich and strong and glorious” (Cather 25).  Even in the hardest times, Alexandra sees hope and optimism in the potential of the land.  I believe that Alexandra’s views coincide with both Classical and American Pastoral.  Although she sees it as a place to own, live and farm, she does not mistreat the land because she sees its beauty and power.  This view is not shared with many others in the novel.  She and Marie, the two main women characters share this feeling, but others do not.  This statement coincides with Westling’s statement in Garrard’s book: “Cather creates an exclusively female dynamic of erotic attraction and identification in which the Nebraska landscape and Alexandra Bergson are dual protagonists in a passionate interplay…” (Garrard 54).  This eco-feminist-centered relationship is apparent throughout the book.

Other characters in the novel, including Carl Linstrum, Alexandra’s two brothers Oscar and Leo are more in agreement with American Pastoral.  Carl Linstrum and his family live on a farm, but when times get rough, they leave to go to the city.  Although Oscar and Leo grew up working on the homestead, they share no emotional attachment to the land.  They use it to feed their families an dmake a living, but the physical exchange is the only extent of their relationship.

Pastoral is not one dimensional, especially in the novel O Pioneers!.  Different characters see nature in different ways, leading to different relationships, from symbiotic to mutualistic. Alexandra exhibits opinions of the land mostly consistent with American and Classical Pastoral, which serves as a main driving force in the plot of the book.

 

 

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Dover Publications Inc. 1993. Print.

Garrard, Greg. “Pastoral”. Ecocriticism. London: Routledge, 2004. Print.

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Blog 2: Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers!”

Annika Lee

AML 2149

Many would agree that Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers!” would fit Garrad’s definition of pastoral, “any literature that describes the country with an implicit or explicit contrast to the urban,” (Garrard, 33) simply by reading the novel. Eco-critic Lawrence Buell, however, has four distinct criteria for nature writing, all of which are met by “O Pioneers!”

The first is “the nonhuman environment is present not merely as a framing device but as a presence that begins to suggest that human history is implicated in natural history,” (Garrard, 53). Throughout part I of the novel, those living in Hanover, including the Bergson’s, are in a constant struggle with the land they are trying to make a life out of. Seeing as “many of them had never worked on a farm until they took up their homesteads,” (Cather, 15) the land shaped human history by introducing a new lifestyle of farming and agriculture. Even during “three years of drought and failure” when “farmers…had to give up their land,“ (Cather 32) nature instilled a kind of resilience in some families, namely the Bergsons, until the land they put so much effort into became fruitful in part II.

The second criterion is that “the human interest is not understood to be the only legitimate interest,” (Garrard, 53). This is mainly portrayed through the characters Marie and Ivar, as they display concern for nature’s interest. Both have a deep respect for animals, neither able to bear witness to their suffering. In chapter 4 of part II, Marie accompanies Emil while he hunts, only to become overcome with regret when she sees the dead ducks. Meanwhile Ivar does not allow guns on his property in order for animals to have a safe haven at his pond. This ties into the third criterion, “human accountability to the environment is part of the text’s ethical orientation,” (Garrard, 53). It is saying that humans must use the environment responsibly and respectfully in order for it to reach full potential. Alexandra was willing to try anything to make her land profitable. She went to the “river country” to pick up new farming techniques only to become enlightened, realizing her land is valuable and could be prosperous. It was this dedication to the land that enabled it to give back to her via bountiful crops.

Buell’s fourth criterion that “some sense of the environment as a process rather than as a constant or a given is at least implicit in the text,” (Garrard, 53) is notable throughout the entire novel. The changing seasons is one way this is exemplified; the novel begins with a description of Hanover “trying not to be blown away. A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky,” (Cather, 3). “Barren summers” (Cather, 33) full of hard work without the reward of crops are then described, ultimately leading up to part II in which “the Divide is now thickly populated. The rich soil yields heavy harvests; the dry, bracing climate and the smoothness of the land make labor easy for men and beasts,” (Cather, 51). Various other depictions of the changing environment are given, with character’s personalities, emotions and actions reflected in these changes.

 

Works Cited

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1941. Print.

Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. London: Routledge, 2004. Print.

 

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