For incoming students in English 11 and English 11/12 American Lit: Summer reading guide for O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

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1 For incoming students in English 11 and English 11/12 American Lit: Summer reading guide for O Pioneers! by Willa Cather This handout includes 2 important items: 1. A brief biography of the author and some history and setting context for the novel 2. A reading assignment due on the first day of class 1. Brief Biography of Willa Cather/Background for O Pioneers! Willa Cather was born into a large farming family in rural Virginia. In 1883, when Cather was ten years old, her family relocated to Red Cloud, Nebraska. She attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she paid her way by working for the Nebraska State Journal, and later moved to Pittsburgh to teach high-school English. In 1906 she moved to New York City to work for McClure's Magazine but began to write full-time in In her lifetime, Cather published 12 novels and short stories, many of them focused on the plains and prairie of the American Midwest. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1922 for her novel One of Ours. Source: History of Nebraska: The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 established Nebraska Territory, which stretched from Kansas to Canada and from the Missouri River to the Rockies. The territory assumed its present shape in From mid-1860 to the late 1870s, western Nebraska was a battleground for Indians and US soldiers. By 1890, the Indians were defeated and moved onto reservations in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. Settlement of the Nebraska Territory was rapid, accelerated by the Homestead Act of 1862, under which the US government provided 160 acres (65 hectares) to a settler for a nominal fee, and the construction of the Union Pacific, the first transcontinental railroad. The Burlington Railroad, which came to Nebraska in the late 1860s, used its vast land grants from Congress to promote immigration, selling the land to potential settlers from the East and from Europe On 1 March 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state to join the Union. Farming and ranching developed as the state's two main enterprises. Facing for the first time the harsh elements of the Great Plains, homesteaders in central and western Nebraska evolved what came to be known as the sod-house culture, using grassy soil to construct sturdy insulated homes. They harnessed the wind with windmills to pump water, constructed fences of barbed wire, and developed dry-land farming techniques. Source: Historical Context of O Pioneers! In the late 19th century, many Northern Europeans traveled to settle in Nebraska and the Dakotas. Accustomed to small fishing villages in their countries of origin, many immigrant farmers despaired at the vast expanses, language barriers, and harsh weather that separated them from their neighbors in the prairie. This sense of isolation is one of the main themes connecting Cather s prairie-trilogy novels. O Pioneers! also appealed to progressives who were interested in social and economic issues because the novel explored women's strength and adaptability, and also brought attention to the hardships of immigrant life in the United States. Source: Cather leaves the timeline of the novel rather vague, but she leaves clues throughout. Paying attention to these clues will help you place the novel in time as you read. It will also help you see time passing as she tells the story. For example, at one point in the novel we read about a neighbor using the telephone. To place that detail in context, consider: On January 28, 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut, the first commercial telephone exchange took place. George Coy was the mastermind behind the District Telephone Company of New Haven that connected 21 customers, along with his two partners, Herrick Frost and Walter Lewis. This arrangement led to great changes, as before this elephones were only privately owned or owned by businesses who leased telephones in pairs to connect. Source: 1

2 Telephones would have been common in Connecticut long before becoming common for homesteaders in Nebraska, so we can surmise it is some years after 1878 when the telephone is mentioned in the novel. At another point in the novel, a character named Mrs. Lee asks Alexandra, What do you hear from Carl? Alexandra replies, He got to Dawson before the river froze and now I suppose I won t hear any more until spring (101). Consider: The Klondike Gold Rush was the start of a migration by perhaps 100,000 gold seekers to the Klondike region of the Yukon region (in Canada) between 1896 and Once the reports of the gold reached beyond the Yukon, many people quit their jobs and travelled to the Klondike to strike it rich. Before 1896, the town of Dawson didn t exist. Within a year, its population had grown to 5,000. A year later, after the Klondike fever spread worldwide, it was up to 40,000. Source: The ladies conversation, considered in light of the Gold Rush, would place this part of the story quite specifically in time. One final fact: Alexandra was a single woman farmer. Only 10%-12% of all homesteaders were single women. You will see her abilities and motives questioned by other characters in the novel due to her gender. Source: 2. Suggested and required reading activities for O Pioneers! : 1. (suggested) It is good reading practice to survey a book before you begin reading. Consider the title and read through the table of contents. Doing so will offer you clues and a framework for understanding what you read. Note that this book has five sections. After you finish the book, you could find it helpful to write a one-two sentence summary of each section. 2. (suggested) You may want to make a list of the major characters and jot down a few details about each to help you remember who they are and what parts they play in the story. Here is a partial list: The Bergsons: Alexandra, Oscar, Lou, Emil; Carl Linstrum Ivar, Marie (Toveksy) and Frank Shabata 3. (required) The following page gives an example of a dialectical journal. You will need to complete one as you read, made up of ONE entry from each of the five sections of the book. Your journal will be collected on the first or second day of class. It may be typed or neatly hand-written. 4. (required) Bring the novel (if you have a personal copy), your dialectical journal and any questions you may have with you on the first day of school. 5. (required) A 20-question multiple choice quiz on the novel will be one part of your assessment on this book. It will be administered on one of the first three days of school. You may have a written assessment as well. 2

3 Dialectical Journal: Description and directions A dialectical journal is a written conversation about a piece of literature. During reading, the reader copies sentences or passages that are meaningful; then, the reader responds to the text in a variety of ways. Please use complete sentences in your journal. Text is chosen for any of the following reasons: The text or details seem important. The text helps you learn something about the story, the characters, yourself, or life. You like the way the author wrote the text or something important about the writer s style. Effective use of literary devices. You strongly agree or disagree with something. The response section should reflect upon the quoted text. In this section, the reader can Give personal opinions. Make connections. Agree or disagree with the author. Compare/contrast the text with other readings. Tell what it reminds you of from your own experiences. Discuss the worlds/ideas/actions of the characters or author. Make connections to any themes of the book. Make predictions about characters futures. Use parenthetical citation to indicate where your text originated. The author s last name and the page number where the text is found should be placed inside the parentheses following the quote. Example Entries TEXT Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without my having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor. (Cisneros 9) RESPONSE This part of the text caught my attention because it reveals information about the narrator, Esperanza. While she is close to her family, she feels obligated to be friends with her little sister because Esperanza is responsible for her. I thought the metaphor, I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor shows her desire to break free. Also, the color red makes me think of a passionate feeling, so I can tell Esperanza has fierceness inside of her. I hope that this feeling motivates her to break free when she can. We sit in stunned silence...and then slowly, ever so slowly, may classmates stand up one by one and file out of the classroom. (Bitton-Jackson 22) I find it strange that the kids were sad that the school closed. I would have been happy about this. They were so sad; one of them cried! 3

4 Reading Log: Dialectical Journal for O Pioneers! Make FIVE entries for the novel, one from each of the five parts. You may write/type on this form or you may create your own in the same format. Bring your completed journal to class on the first day of school. Name (first & last): (Section) Text Response I II 4

5 (Section) Text Response III IV V 5