Pioneering, or the act of innovating, is what established the United States as the enormous international presence it is today today. From the ideals represented by Manifest Destiny, the Declaration of Independence, institutions such as Wellesley College, and the Second Amendment, the United States created a home where pioneers such as Frederick Douglass, Amy Tan, and Ellen De Generes can flourish and create life. in areas of society that were previously dormant. Willa Cather became famous writing about a group of pioneers who brought the Midwest to life in her prairie novels, including her novel "O Pioneers!" was first published in 1913, critics praised Willa Cather for creating "an entirely new genre of fiction." Cather had exploited “a new vein of material” and “a new innovated terrain”” (Gelfant 1). Cather was a pioneer with her prairie novels in many ways. For example, she was the first to give immigrants heroic stature in serious American literature (Rosowski 45). And more surprisingly, the heroine of his novel is a woman. In “O Pioneers! », the heroine Alexandra Bergson is considered the most capable child in her family and inherits the family estate upon the death of her father. When the novel was published in 1913, it was rare for pastorals to be written centrally. about women having influence and sometimes control over men as is the case in “O Pioneers! ". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Alexandra triumphs over the intractable prairie, amassing a fortune and stabilizing the future of her three brothers. She proves herself to be a capable woman and most of the novel, including "The Wild Land", "Neighboring Fields", and "Alexandra", is dedicated to her story. However, “O Pioneers! includes two other portions, titled "Memories of Winter" and "The White Mulberry Tree", which do not focus on Alexandra at all, but rather on the relationship between two other characters, Marie and Emil. Alexandra, the undeniable heroine of the story, is relegated to the background for two-fifths of the story. The fact that a considerable amount of “O Pioneers!” is dedicated to Mary and Emil must be taken into consideration because it is obvious that Cather wanted her audience to interpret these two characters with importance. What was Cather's purpose in giving meaning to the relationship between Mary and Emil? Why are they an important aspect in the whole denotation of “O Pioneers!” » ? The recorded account of Marie and Emil contributes to the novel in several ways. First, the love story of Mary and Emil offers an alternative to the conventional love story depicted in the prairie novels of Cather's era. Furthermore, they serve as examples for two helpless characters, victims of their own situation and their place in society. And above all, Marie and Emil provide a valuable contrast with Alexandra's situation and character. Cather focuses on Mary and Emil to support her protagonist and actually creates another reason to be singled out as a pioneer with a dark new twist on prairie romance. The love story between Marie and Emil is not typical of the romance contained in prairie novels. in the early 1900s. Often described as pastoral, “O Pioneers! » by Cather. has often been compared by critics with other works of its genre such as: Virgil's "Eclogues", Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar" and Sannazaro's "Arcadia", characterized as "the most elaborate pastoral novel" (Rosowski 46). “O Pioneers! » remains unique byrelation to these works because it differs from the typical pastoral which, according to critic Leo Marx, is largely about "love-sick lovers". The typical pastoral includes “a primary impulse to find happiness in love” and traditionally “brings together farmers and their lovers.” However, in the case of Marie and Emil, happiness definitely does not come through their love. In fact, their story is the complete opposite of a perfect romance and ends in tragedy. Cather foreshadows the love story between Emil and Marie from the first chapter (8-9), when Marie and Emil are first introduced as toddlers and Marie is seen offering candy to Emil. Cather heats up their romance in Part II as they are the opening characters of "Neighboring Fields", conversing affectionately with each other as adults (53-57), and closes the section of the story with a confrontation between the two lovers when Emil states in a frustrated tone: “I can't play with you like a little boy anymore – sometimes you seem to understand perfectly, and sometimes you pretend not to understand” (104). The tragedy of their affections for each other becomes evident when Emil recognizes that there are "so, many, many" things he cannot have (104), referring to his love for Marie . He realizes that he will never possess Mary because she is a married woman. Trying to repress his passion, Emil forces himself to go to Mexico to forget Marie. Efforts are made by both characters to overcome each other's passion. "Although deeply in love with Emil, Marie tries to make him understand that their feelings for each other 'won't last.' It will disappear and things will go back to the way they were before” (157), (Murphy 123). However, it is obvious that Marie and Emil cannot control their emotions. They show unreasonable jealousy towards each other. Emil regrets Marie's light mood at the Sainte Agnes fair while he himself is distressed by the pain caused by their love. He accuses Mary of being flippant and flirting with other men (230). Marie, in turn, is also jealous, even though she is married to another man and has no reason to feel possessive of Emil. “She gets angry when Emil teases Angélique and stops with the French boys instead of rushing to her at the church supper. She admits to being spoiled, getting everything she ever wanted from a Turkish lady's toy to Frank Shabata, and becomes irritable when Emil allows one of her turquoise shirt buttons to be auctioned off instead of give it to him (Murphy 123). The strong, powerful and uncontrollable passion that Emil and Marie feel for each other becomes dangerous. “Marie and Emil’s passion becomes so strong that it resembles witchcraft” (Rosowski 48). The deeply exaggerated and passionate romance between Marie and Emil is embellished by Cather, who dramatizes their encounters. The settings for the meeting of the two lovers are often very romantic: among flamboyant roses, under the white mulberry tree, in costume (gypsy and Mexican), at balls or in wheat fields with sparkling fireflies in the background . . The description of their first kiss, which occurs violently as the lights go out at the fair at Saint Agnes Church, is overdramatized: “it was like a sigh that they had uttered together; almost sad, as if each was afraid of awakening something in the other” (149). Amidst the drama and uncontrollable desire, the love story between Marie and Emil is extremely ironic. "Marie tells Emil that if he 'had eyes' he would see Alexandra's affection for Carl - this is true, but Marie fails to see the more immediate truth of Emil's love forshe (154)", (Rosowki 57). After both characters suffer emotional suffering caused by their passion and struggle to control their emotions, their desire explodes in a tumultuous scene in Shabata's orchard, where they have were seen for the first time playing with childish innocence Their innocence is destroyed by adulterous excitement as “Emil threw himself next to (Marie) and took her in his arms The blood returned to his cheeks, his eyes. amber trees opened slowly, and Emil saw his own face there, the orchard and the sun “I dreamed of that,” she whispered, hiding her face against him, “don’t take the path of my dream!” » (259).The two lovers are previously shown in this setting shooting at ducks that look "too happy to be killed", foreshadowing the lovers' deaths. The tragedy culminates when they are shot dead. They allow their hearts to love each other fully. “Emil and Marie die under a mulberry tree, their blood staining the white berries red” (Rosowski 54), emphasizing the ironic and tragic direction of their love story. Without a doubt, the love story between Marie and Emil is an ironic tragedy. They find themselves in situations where they cannot love each other freely. As soon as they give in to their emotions, they are murdered. Unlike the typical pastoral romance where "happiness is found in love", Emil and Marie find suffering and ultimately death through their love. Literary critic Shanon O'Brien condemns Emil and Marie's love affair as "an illegal and adulterous relationship," for which they are punished (O'Brien 443). To view their story with contempt would be to misinterpret the denotation of the novel and that is clearly not what Cather meant. In “O Pioneers! the deaths of Marie and Émile are not considered a deserved punishment, but rather a horrible tragedy. Frank Shabata's immediate response to the murder of the two lovers is sympathy for Marie. He shouts: “Do not suffer! She was a good girl – so as not to suffer! (178). Alexandra does not blame any of the characters, but herself, for not realizing their hidden feelings (193). Cather tells the lovers' story with empathy and compassion. Marie and Emil, in their story of uncontrollable desire and death, are depicted as victims of social structures and conventions. Emil is a victim of his social situation because he is in love with a married woman, unacceptable in society. He is also a helpless victim of himself, he cannot repress his desire for Mary, who is the cause of his death. Marie cannot repress her feelings like Emil and is even more trapped by social conventions because even though she loves him, she cannot leave her husband. She is Catholic (105 years old) and divorce is avoided by the Catholic Church. Additionally, society in the early 1900s was intolerant of adultery. Rather than rebel against the social structure the characters are trapped in, they choose to conform and as a result suffer emotionally. In effect, they are murdered because they lack the self-control and courage to try to escape social conventions. In “O Pioneers!” ", it is obvious that Cather expresses her disapproval of adultery. Ivar refers to it as a “sin” (183). However, through Alexandra's grief, the audience is forced to feel sympathy and regret for these two characters. Perhaps if they had had the opportunity to freely announce their love, if Marie had had the realistic possibility of leaving her husband, the tragedy could have been avoided. Because these options were irrelevant to realistic prairie life, the love story is tragic. However, Cather emphasizes thatStrict social conventions, without the possibility of change, can harm people's happiness. Through the depiction of Mary and Emil, Cather indirectly implies the need for social change. However, this is not the only intention Cather has in mind when she focuses on Marie and Emil. “Although she tells the lovers' story with empathy and compassion, Cather wants to subordinate the story to the other story she was writing: not only that of Alexandra's personal triumph but also her unrelated relationship. "conventional with Carl, the friend she will one day marry" (O'Brien 443). By contrasting the relationship between Marie and Emil with Alexandra's own situation, Cather supports her main character and persuades the audience to be d agreement with Alexandra's actions. Even though Alexandra is condemned by her brothers about her relationship with Carl (111-113) and informed that "people have started talking" (111), she defends her actions. Although it is not considered appropriate for a woman "almost forty" to marry someone "five years younger", Alexander avoids social conventions and is more concerned with her own happiness. On the other hand, Marie is more afraid of what others think and renounces her own happiness to exist in a socially accepted role. Indeed, Alexandra survives Mary, which indicates that Alexandra made the wisest choice. Many contradictions can be made between Marie and Alexandra in the novel. If “Cather admires Marie's spontaneity, vitality and warmth, she criticizes the way in which her imagination is structured by social and narrative conventions. Like the self-limiting Edna Pontellier, Marie is unable to imagine the story of a woman's life outside of romantic intrigue” (O'Brien 443). It is true that Marie's role, both in life and in the story, is defined by the men with whom she has romantic encounters. Since the beginning of “O Pioneers!” » Mary is seen admired by men. The men at the general store order him to “choose one of them as his lover.” She finally turns to her uncle and says: “Here is my darling” (11-12). The only choice that seems to be granted to Marie is her ability to choose her “darling”: first Frank, then Emil. However, Alexandra has many choices in her life. In "The Wild Land", she refuses to sell the family farm and persuades her brothers to take out a mortgage. By exerting her influence on men, she breaks gender codes. She is also characterized as seeming to rebel against social conventions (5): Her sister was a tall, strong girl, and she walked quickly and purposefully, as if she knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to do next. She wore a man's long ulster (not as if it were an affliction, but as if it were very comfortable and his own; he wore it like a young soldier), and a round plush cap , attached by a thick veil. She had a serious and thoughtful face, and her clear, deep blue eyes were fixed intently into the distance, without seeming to see anything, as if she were in trouble. But in the same part of the book, Mary is represented as a follower of social convention, very different from Alexandra. Marie has “curly brown hair like that of a brunette doll” and dresses like “Kate Greenway,” already eager to integrate into society (10). While Alexandra's dreams and hopes concern cultivating her land and caring for her family, Mary's dreams center around the typical romantic narrative. “Cather demonstrates Mary's continuing imaginative preoccupation with the romantic narrative in the divination scene. Dressed in a bohemian costume at the church fair, Mary entertains the crowd by telling them the stories they want to hear,all stories of love and marriage - much like the popular women writers Cather had once wanted to disown. » (O'Brien 443).Marie is also different from Alexandra, because she has no individual achievements that define herself. She fled a convent after a city education with Frank Shabata. Although she was educated in the city, she decides to marry at a young age against her father's wishes because she has no control over her emotions, thus ruining her education. The most important thing in his life is romance. The farm she lives on with Frank was not earned through hard work, it was a gift from her father. And after five years of marriage, Marie does not even have children. Alexandra, on the other hand, follows her father's wishes and works on the farm to support her family. In "Neighboring Fields", Alexandra proved her success and strength by bringing fortune to the family and acquiring enough land for her three brothers. She has achieved individual and personal achievements under her employment. Indeed, Alexandra has more power than Marie. Alexandra also has more control over her private life and the authority to defend herself, as evidenced by the confrontation between her and her two older brothers: "This whole thing doesn't concern anyone but Carl and me. Go to town and ask your lawyers what you can do to keep me; for the authority you can exercise over me by law is the only influence you will have over me again” (115). Unlike the spontaneous Mary who marries at a young age only to be trapped in a disappointing marriage and murdered while committing adultery, Alexandra only commits herself to romance after accumulating individual achievements. And even after Carl and Alexandra bond, neither conforms to the expected gender role. Their relationship is based on their shared history and fond memories of each other, rather than longing. “Unlike the flamboyant love shared by Marie and Emil, Alexandra and Carl share quiet companionship” (Murphy 123). Unlike Marie, Alexandra marries in her forties after her and Carl experiences life in their separate territories. Alexandra marries for different reasons than Marie. “When a friend gets married, he is safe,” Alexandra tells Carl at the end of the novel. She says, “I think we will be very happy” (308). Unlike Marie and Emil, Carl and Alexandra do not get lost in their romance. Carl remembers how he and Alexandra “did their trading together, he on her side of the fence and she on theirs” (126). This setting is distinguished by the barrier that separates the couple, symbolic of their union, of how they love each other but still cherish their individuality. The tone surrounding the release of the two female characters is also very different. The scene of the discovery of Marie's exit from the story is marred by death and misfortune. When Ivar discovers the murdered lovers in the orchard, the narrator states: "The story of what happened was clearly written in the grass of the orchard, on the white blackberries fallen in the night and covered with spots" ( 268). While Alexandra leaves a permanent mark on the land with her crops and the creation of her estate, Mary's mark is a bloodstain that can be washed away. The scene where Alexandra leaves the story at the end has a contrasting effect that emphasizes timelessness. “The narrator, stepping back, joins age and youth, life and death, the present and the universal: “They entered the house together, leaving the Fracture behind them, under the evening star. Happy country which will one day receive in its bosom hearts like Alexandra's, to restore them in the yellow wheat, in the rustling wheat and in the shining eyes of youth!.