Alexandra Bergson is the capable and highly intelligent daughter of her and her brothers' beloved widowed father. On his death she takes over the running of the land and through a series of carefully planned decisions manages to turn the farm into a highly successful concern. She carefully questions the other farmers, reads the news and keeps abreast of the market, planting crops that are considered marginal, until they become highly profitable. Quickly the farm expands, but Alexandra herself defies convention - she doesn't marry and prefers an austere lifestyle. Eventually she falls out with her brothers who are convinced that despite her leadership on the farm, most of the land is rightfully hers.
The book, like many others of its type, tells a number of shorter stories centred on the lives and loves of the people in the area. There are two great arcs though, the first centres on Alexandra and her relationship to the land. The land is a key character in the novel - the changing seasons as well as the industrialisation of the farms as they change from early, amateur efforts into a managed landscape. The other arc traces the love between Alexandra's younger brother Emil and her, married, friend Marie.
These stories form the heart of the novel. The praire is a tough place to farm. As the novel opens many farms are failing and families are heading back to the cities to try for jobs in factories and industry to improve their lot. The reader knows, of course, that two decades after this novel is set the Dustbowl and the Great Depression will decimate the farms again. But Alexandra draws the farm into prosperity in a time when farming in North America could boom.
But what struck me reading the book was the novel's treatment of three issues that feel very modern. The first of these is gender and sexuality. It is very likely that Willa Cather herself was LGBT+. It is hard not to see some of her life in Alexandra's decisions which seem to defy the traditional relationships of the community around her.
Secondly is the question of Mental Distress. One of the people who work on Alexandra's farm is Ivar. A many who hate the killing of animals, who prefers to live alone and prefers a cave to a house. He is a wizard with horses and animal care, he advises Alexandra how to look after their pigs when others are dying of disease. But his unusual behaviour and frequent mood swings and depressions lead some to think that Ivar is dangerous and threatening. Once again, in defiance of the community around her, Alexandra refuses to accept this and promises to become Ivar's ward if the doctors come to take him away. This kindness brings its rewards towards the end of the novel. But the most interesting thing is how this kindness and rejection of the stigma of mental health feels so unusal for a novel of this time period.
Finally, the question of immigration is central to the story. Almost everyone in the book is a Swedish-American immigrant. The religion, politics and culture of the old world is transplanted to the New, and evolves. At the back of many of the older members of society are their hopes and dreams, and memories, of Europe.
There is one big ommission - Native Americans play no role in the book. I didn't see a single reference, which is disappointing given the great themes of land and labour.
While the nostalgia that is at the heart of the motive power of O Pioneers! can feel a little thick at times, this is still a powerful and moving book. I look forward to reading the follow up books in Cather's trilogy.
Related Reviews
Norris - The Octopus
Williams - Butcher's Crossing
Cronon - Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
McDonald - The Red Corner: The Rise & Fall of Communism in Northeastern Montana
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