The Works of Willa Cather

Willa Cather was an influential American author whose works often took place on the new frontier in America with novels like O Pioneers! and other such works as "A Wagner Matinée." Her works had great focus on the new frontier of the American West and most of her novels focused on the pioneers to the west and the new settlers. The focus on the new frontier in most of her novels has classified Ms. Cather as one of the most influential, and most important Regionalism writers in U.S. history.

One of her most important novels, O Pioneers! was written about a group of immigrant farmers around the turn of the 19th century. The novels documents their struggles of the family in the region after the death of the Patriarch of the family as the eldest daughter inherits the ranch and runs it herself. Through use of common characteristics of people in the western frontier of the United States the author manages to paint a convincing portrait of life on the prairie in the United States. Willa's use of lines in Op Pioneers! like, "Like most of their neighbors, they were meant to follow in paths already marked out for them, not to break trails in a new country." This line showcases how the settlers saw themselves as "breaking new trails" for their country. With use of the mentatlity of the characters like this the authors shows the pride the settlers held for their stature, a common theme in Regionalism, as Werlock writes, "A literary subgenre that emphasizes the setting, history, speech, dialect, and customs of a particular geographical locale or area..."

Another famous work by Cather, "A Wagner Matinee" was a short story written about the change a man's aunt had undergone after several years on the prairie. Cather uses familiar terms of the prairie such as, "...her linen duster had become black with soot...(520)." The duster was a long jacket that is associated with the prairie due to it's popularity with settler at the time. The author's incorporation of such familiar elements paints a picture in the reader's mind of the region the characters are in and the behavior and attitude of several characters based on their reactions to the item in question. Throughout her works for the sake of the reader's understandability Cather neglects to use dialect and speech patterns used in the west, but familiar terms that reader's associate with the west makes appearances that help associate the work as a regionalistic piece.

In both works Cather weaves in familiar idiosyncrasies of the western culture and the mentality of the prairie family by revealing the values and behaviors of the common pioneer of the west by exploring how the minds of her characters work in both Op Pioneers! and "A Wagner Matinée. Her works are common categorized as Regionalism pieces due to her attention on setting and mentality of her characters often giving them traits and characteristics familiar to people of that period. These are some of the reasons her works are considered to be in the Regionalism category.

Cather, Willa. "A Wagner Matinée." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 521-526. Print.

Cather, Willa. "O Pioneers!" Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg. 489.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "regionalism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gamshrtsty0581&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 14, 2011).