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Responding to the Themes, Characters, and Narrative Elements of O Pioneers!

In this response to O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, the student explores a series of views on the novel, including whether the story represents a tragedy or triumph, questions of man versus nature, how the text defines romantic love, how gender roles shape character and plot, and themes of immigration, assimilation, and generational inheritance. The student also considers the experience of modern readers in encountering the text.
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This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

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This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

tragedy, triumph, o pioneers
Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley

View other essays like this one:

Bridget's feedback:

"I really enjoyed reading this consideration of the novel's elements; the personal engagement brings life to the project. That being said, the purpose was a little hard to sound out--while there is a sense of overall focus and unity, I wondered if this represented a series of short responses (or a long response to a series of questions). Obviously, this will depend on your prompt and project: as mentioned above, the clear control over the discussion, structure, and style allows this to stand as a single coherent piece otherwise. A concluding paragraph will help cement this.

The current final paragraph on relevancy doesn't quite feel complete. Can you explore this with the same depth you bring to the other paragraphs' questions and ideas? You establish two situations that seem to have parallels, but your follow-up implies they are too different. Why is that? What separates different time periods' demands of work and survival? I'd also like to challenge you a little on your last sentence. Your earlier discussion responds sensitively to the text and its characters and themes. What, then, acts as a barrier to relevancy? Is it simply the situation (farming, the time period)? Or is there something else that widens the gap between the text and the modern reader?"

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