51 pages • 1 hour read
Willa CatherA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
Willa Cather (1873-1947) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author best known for novels depicting pioneer life on the American frontier. Cather was born in Virginia, and her family moved to Nebraska when she was a young girl. Many of her books are set in the Great Plains region, which she called home throughout her youth. Cather earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and then worked as a journalist and high school English teacher in Pittsburgh and New York City. Her work was popular during her lifetime, resonating with period readers because of her exploration of themes related to the rugged frontier life, isolation and exile versus belonging and community, and the struggles of early settlers and Indigenous Americans during US expansion.
Cather’s early novels are among her most famous and are still widely read. O Pioneers! (1913) tells the story of a Swedish-American family trying to hold onto their farm during an era when many early immigrants left the prairie for the economic security of the city. Like Death Comes for the Archbishop, it explores the relationship between place and identity, or how rugged frontier spaces shaped the lives and experiences of individuals who lived and worked there, with a particular eye toward immigrant and outsider communities.
Plus, gain access to 8,650+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
By Willa Cather
American Literature
View Collection
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Beauty
View Collection
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Colonialism & Postcolonialism
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Fate
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Good & Evil
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
School Book List Titles
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
The Future
View Collection
The Past
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection
Westerns
View Collection