Melissa Clark
Dr. Craig White
LITR 5733, Immigrant Literature
July 27,1999

Land Ownership and the American Dream in the Works of Willa Cather

While many American immigrant narratives concentrate on the culture shock that awaits those who arrive from the more rural Old World to live in a city for the first time, Willa Cather's immigrants, often coming from urban European settings, face the vast and empty land of the plains. Guy Reynolds notes that "the massive outburst of America westwards was in part powered by the explosion of immigrants through the eastern seaboard and across the continent. Ethnic diversity was at the heart of America's drive westwards" (63). The land and land ownership shape the lives of these newcomers in powerful ways, giving them an immigrant experience that is in some ways quite unique. In "Neighbor Rosicky," 0 Pioneers!, and My Antonia, Cather presents vivid characters and situations that serve to describe the urban-rural conflict in America, and as John H. Randall III notes, "'there is no doubt in the author's mind as to whether the country or city is the real America" (272).

In "Neighbor Rosicky", the notion of land ownership as a fundamental feature of the American Dream is most clearly set forth. Anton Rosicky is a Czech who experienced life as an immigrant both in London and New York City and found both lacking. Only in his life on the farm in Nebraska does he find peace and fulfillment.

Rosicky had been a tailor in the Old Country and had immigrated first to London, where he was miserable and poor. At age twenty he left London for New York, and for a time he was happy there, becoming "a good workman" (Cather, "'Neighbor Rosicky" 241) and experiencing the cultural life of the city, including opera and the ballet. As time goes on, however, he becomes restless, yearning for "freedom and wide horizons." Tellingly, his epiphany occurs on the Fourth of July. Rosicky realizes that cities "built you in from the earth itself, cemented you away from any contact with the ground. You lived in an unnatural world, like the fish in an aquarium who were probably much more comfortable than they ever were in the sea" (243). He begins making plans to become a farm hand in the west, doubtful that he would ever own his own land. His Old World experience makes this seem impossible since "his people had always been workmen" and "nobody in his family had ever owned any land,--that belonged to a different station of life altogether' (243). For Rosicky the idea of owning land really is a dream, and once he attains it he believes that "to be a landless man was to be a wage-earner, a slave, all your life; to have nothing, to be nothing" (247).

This desire for land ownership is not greedy or materialistic on his part, however. In fact, while Rosicky does grow to see owning and being part of the land as an integral part of the American Dream, the material gains which are usually envisioned to go along with it are not important to him. As Doctor Burleigh reflects after visiting Rosicky, "the Rosickys never got ahead much; maybe you couldn't enjoy your life and put it into the bank, too" (236). An example of Rosicky's attitude toward material possessions is reflected in another Fourth of July story. Rosicky's wife, Mary, tells the story of the hot Fourth of July afternoon when her husband interrupted a busy afternoon's work to take the family out for a pleasant picnic. Only later in the day does the family learn that the heat has ruined their corn crop. Rosicky says "No crop this year ... That's why were havin' a picnic. We might as well enjoy what we got" (251). Rosicky finds peace on the land, believing that even the hardest times in the country are preferable to life in the city.

Rosicky wants his sons to stay on the land, a fact that causes some conflict among them. Rudolph is particular is a worry to Rosicky because of his marriage to Polly, an "American girl"(245) accustomed to life in a town. He fears that Polly will "grow so discontented that Rudy would quit the farm and take a factory job in

Omaha" (247). Rosicky dreads the idea of his children becoming slaves in the city as he once was, and sometimes imagines what their life would have been like had he raised his family in New York City:

For Rosicky, not only is the city crowded and uncomfortable, it is a place that infects its inhabitants with its corruption and cruelty. "'There were mean people everywhere, to be sure," he reflects, "even in their own country town here. But they weren't tempered, hardened, sharpened, like the treacherous people in cities who live by grinding or cheating or poisoning their fellow-men" (256). Rosicky wants his boys to "get through the world without ever knowing much about the cruelty of human beings", and believes that that is most possible if they stay on the farm.

Even after his death Rosicky is portrayed as being at peace because of the country. Doctor Burleigh contemplates the difference between city cemeteries as lonely ""cities of the forgotten" (261) and the "open and free" (261) cemetery where Rosicky is buried. This is reflected in the story's conclusion: Nothing could be more undeathlike than this place; nothing could be more right for a man who had helped to do the work of great cities and had always longed for the open country and had got to it at last. Rosicky's life seemed to [Doctor Burleigh] complete and beautiful (261).

Through Anton Rosicky, a character so sympathetically and even heroically drawn, Cather expresses a strong belief in the fundamental part land and land ownership play in fulfilling the American Dream. The contrast between the life of immigrants in the city and in the country is explicit and vivid, and leaves no doubt in the reader's mind as to which is preferable.

In 0 Pioneers! Cather again explores the urban-rural conflict, especially through the contrasting lives of Alexandra Bergson and her friend Carl Linstrurn. Alexandra's father's last wish was for the family to keep the land. John Bergson had worked in a shipyard in Sweden, and, despite his lack of success farming in Nebraska, "had the Old-World belief that land, in itself, is desirable" (Cather, O Pioneers! 21). Fearing that his sons will "get discouraged and go off" to the city, Bergson charges Alexandra with the responsibility of keeping the family on the land.

When hard times come, three years after Bergson's death, families begin leaving the Divide to return to the city. Cather describes the pioneers' point of view: "The settlers sat about on the wooden sidewalks in the little town and told each other that the country was never meant for men to live in; the thing to do was to get back to Iowa, to Illinois, to any place that had been proved habitable" (47). Among those who share this attitude is Carl's father. The Linstrurn family returns to St. Louis, where Carl's father resumes his job in a cigar factory and Carl learns engraving with a German engraver in hopes of getting a job in Chicago. This event sets up the contrast between Carl and Alexandra that becomes evident later in the story. While Carl's family and others on the plains return to urban settings, Alexandra sets about expanding the farm, despite her brothers' protests. She says, "I think we ought to hold on as long as we can on father's account. He was so set on keeping this land" (59) , Milexandra's mother agrees, emphasizing the family connection they now have with the land, saying "I don't see why the boys are always taking on about going away ... [ ... I If the rest of you go, I will ask some of the neighbors to take me in, and stay and be buried by father' (59). Because her husband is buried there, the land has taken on a new meaning, binding the family even closer to the soil.

Alexandra's persistence and dedication pay off, and once her brothers marry and receive their portion of the land, Alexandra's part thrives. Carl returns after thirteen years away in the city, and the changes the city has made in him are obvious. He greets Alexandra saying, "How little you have changed!" (106), but Alexandra and her brothers have a difficult time recognizing Carl at first. Although Alexandra feels that he has changed "much less than one might have expected", he "looked older than his years and not very strong ... [ ... ] his face was intelligent, sensitive, unhappy" (115). Describing his life in the city and the kind of freedom that comes with it Carl expresses envy of the life Alexandra has on the land:

Individuality, so much a part of the American Dream, is difficult to come by in the masses of the city. Alexandra understands this, but also sees the drawbacks to life on the farm. She tells Carl that they "pay a high rent, too" (123). She wants her younger brother Emil to be like Carl, able to move freely in a wider world. She tells the story of Carrie Jensen, who "had never been out of the cornfields" (124) and, after becoming depressed, spends some time in the city. She returns to the country "contented to live and work in a world thats so big and interesting- (124). As Randall puts it, "Willa Cathees idea of the good country life really turns out to be that of one in which urban and rural traits which she considers desirable are combined" (297). This seems to be the conclusion drawn by the end of the story. After the tragic deaths of Emil and his lover, Marie, Carl returns to Nebraska from Alaska, where he had gone to escape from city life. Alexandra and Carl agree to be married, and Alexandra decides to go away with him for a time. She tens Carl "I should like to go up there with you in the spring...[ ... ] But you would never ask me to go away for good, would you?" (306). Alexandra has a desire to see new places, but her connection is to the land and the family members she has buried there. Carl tells her "you belong to the land" (307). Land ownership brings a sense of belonging, purpose, and individuality to the life of an immigrant or to any person in search of the American Dream.

In My Antonia Cather creates what Randall calls "one long paean of praise to the joys of rural living" (272). Antonia Shimerda is Cather's idealization of the pioneer farmer. Though battered by the hardships inherent in life on the plains, she finds peace and contentment, unlike her father, who was unable to live with the harshness of pioneer life, and Jim Burden, a boy from Virginia who eventually leaves the rural life to work in the city.

Antonia's father, "a weaver by trade" (Cather, My Antonia 22) comes to America unwillingly, coerced by his wife, whose idea of the American Dream is very materialistic. As Antonia tells Jim, "My marnenka make him come. All the time she say: 'America big country, much money, much land for my boys.. much husband for my girls"' (102). Mr. Shimerda does not share her desire for material goods. He lets the Burdens know that "they were not beggars in the old country; he made good wages, and his family were respected there" (86). He was happy in Bohemia living a refined life, making music with his friends. He finds it impossible to survive on the lonely plains, and commits suicide. As Dorothy Tuck McFarland states, Mr. Shimerda. "is a gentle man of culture and sensitivity, demoralized by his wife and suffering terribly the hardships of prairie life" (43). James Woodress notes that Shimerda's suicide "dramatizes the blasted hopes of immigrants who could not cope with the challenges of the New World. While many immigrants pursued and realized the dream of success, the streets of America were not paved With gold for everyone. Mr. Shimerda was one of the failures" (49). A desire for and love of the land is key in the success of the immigrant on the plains. Anton Rosicky, Alexandra Bergson, and Antonia Shimerda grow to love the land, and each in his or her own way makes a success of their rural life, while Mr. Shimerda, who never wanted to come in the first place, does not.

Although Antonia, like Alexandra Aergson, becomes more attached to the land after burying a loved one there and working on it, she does venture out into the town to work, first for the Harlings and later for the Cutters. Antonia's social life in the town interferes with her job, and she leaves the Harlings because they object to her going out to dances. She then goes to work for the Cutters, a coarse and materialistic couple. Finding life there too unpleasant and difficult, Antonia leaves, and is eventually seduced by Larry Donovan, a ladies man who does not marry her when she becomes pregnant. Antonia's time in the town leads to disgrace and a loss of reputation.

Jim leaves the farm to go to school, and moves to New York City where he becomes "legal counsel for one of the great Western railways" (x). He returns to Nebraska to visit Antonia twenty years after the birth of her baby and finds her married and the mother of eleven children. While Jim "enters into an unhappy and childless marriage" (Randall 275), Antonia has married happily and founded what Randall calls "a dynasty" (275). Antonia has succeeded in life by remaining on the land. She tells Jim, "I belong on a farm. I'm never lonesome here like I used to be in town. You remember what sad spells I used to have, when I didn't know what was the matter with me? I've never had them out here. And I don't mind work a bit, if I don't have to put up with sadness" (387). She values her time in the town, however, because of the things she learned there, stating that "I'm glad I had the chance to learn; but I'm thankful none of my daughters will ever have to work out" (388).

While Jim has succeeded financially and socially in the city, by the measure of familial happiness, love, and a sense of belonging, Antonia's success far surpasses his. Although her husband, Cuzak, is a city man who "liked theaters and lighted streets and music" (412), she "managed to hold him here on a farm, in one o' the loneliest countries in the world" (413). For Antonia and her family, land ownership brings continuity and purpose to life.

According to James Woodress, in Cather's works "the story of the immigrant fan-dly transplanted from the Old World to the New is authentic. It encapsulates the whole story of the settlement of America" (48). In "Neighbor Rosicky", 0 Pioneers!, and My Antonia it also encapsulates the search for the American Dream of individuality, independence, happiness, and land ownership. In these stories Cather sets forth the conflict between urban and rural life for all Americans, but especially for recent European immigrants.

Owning land - something that was nearly impossible for them to envision in their old countries - is achievable in America. Although there are many hardships in a life spent farming on the plains, Willa Cather portrays even the most difficult life in a rural setting as preferable to life in the city. Material wealth may or may not come with land ownership, but the feelings of peace, continuity, permanence, and independence that owning land brings are a substantial part of the American Dream immigrants come to the United States hoping to achieve.

Works Cited

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1995.

---. "Neighbor Rosicky." Collected Stories. New York. Vintage Classics, 1992. 231-261

---. 0 Pioneers. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1995.

McFarland, Dorothy Tuck. Willa Cather. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1972.

Randall, III, John H. "Interpretation of My Antonia." Willa Cather and Her Critics.  Ed. James Schroeter. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967. 272-322.

Reynolds, Guy. Willa Cather in Context. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Woodness, James. "Willa Cather: American Experience and European Tradition."

The Art of Willa Cather. Ed. Bernice Slote and Virginia Faulkner. Lincoln: 1974. 43-64.