O Pioneers!

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1

Reading Check

1. What is Alexandra wearing when the reader first meets her?

2. What is John Bergson’s “Old-World belief”?

3. Whose departure especially saddens Alexandra?

4. How does Alexandra plan to pay for the Linstrums’ land?

5. Why is Oscar worried about Alexandra’s plan to expand the Bergson farm?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Carl embittered by life in Nebraska?

2. What roles do Alexandra and her mother play in the Bergson family?

3. Why do the Bergson family members disagree about moving away from Nebraska?

4. Why is Alexandra excited about her plan to expand the family farm? What does this reveal about her character?

Paired Resource

“Pioneers! O Pioneers!” by Walt Whitman

• This poem, first published as part of Whitman’s much longer Leaves of Grass (1855), provided Cather with the title for her novel.
• Connects to the themes of Respect the Power of the Land and Sacrifice of Self for the Good of the Community
• How does Whitman’s depiction of pioneers compare to Cather’s, either in the pioneers’ relationships to one another or to the land itself?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. What does Alexandra do when Ivar loses his land?

2. What is the name of Marie’s husband?

3. Whom does Alexandra confide in after arguing with Oscar and Lou about Carl?

4. When does Carl say he will return to Hanover?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How has Nebraska changed in the 16 years since John Bergson’s death?

2. Why does Carl dread returning to Nebraska? What does this reveal about his character?

3. Why do Oscar and Lou confront Alexandra about her relationship with Carl? What does this reveal about their perceptions of their sister?

Paired Resource

“E. Smith and family in front of their home north of Gibbon, Buffalo County, Nebraska”

• This 1910 photograph is part of Solomon D. Butcher’s series on homesteaders; it features a telephone poll, demonstrating that this area (like Hanover) has undergone some development.
• Connects to the theme of Loneliness Is a Double-Edged Sword
• What might the photographer have wanted to emphasize with the composition of this picture? How isolated does this family seem, and how does this compare to Cather’s depiction of Hanover?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. What does Marie feel about her husband now that they have been married for a few years?

2. Where is Emil sending his letters from?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What motivates Marie to hope for a happier future? What symbol does the author use to emphasize this hope?

2. What does Alexandra privately fantasize about? How does this contribute to her characterization?

Paired Resource

“A Walk in Willa Cather’s Prairie”

• This 2017 New Yorker article by Alex Ross discusses Cather’s work in the context of her own life experiences.
• Connects to the theme of Respect the Power of the Land
• How did Cather’s life and background likely inform her depiction of romance in the novel? What does Ross mean when he talks about the romance of Cather’s novels centering on the land itself, and how does this idea manifest in O Pioneers!?

Part 4

Reading Check

1. What happens between Marie and Emil at the Catholic fair?

2. How does Emil’s friend Amédée die?

3. What happens to Emil and Marie under the white mulberry tree?

4. What alerts Ivar that something is amiss the morning after Amédée’s funeral?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. After the fair, how does Marie feel about Emil’s planned departure?

2. What does Emil think about when he sees Frank at Amédée’s funeral? What does this reveal about Emil’s character development?

3. What is Frank’s state of mind like when he finds Emil and Marie after the funeral?

Paired Resource

“Pyramus and Thisbe” by Ovid

• This story from the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses provides Cather with the mulberry tree as a symbol of doomed love.
• How does Cather adapt the symbolism of the mulberry tree to suit Emil and Marie’s story? What function(s) do their romance and deaths serve in the novel?
• “Pyramus and Thisbe” on SuperSummary

Part 5

Reading Check

1. What happens to Frank after Emil and Marie’s deaths?

2. What does Alexandra promise Frank she will try to do?

3. How does Carl learn of Emil and Marie’s deaths?

4. What do Carl and Alexandra decide to do?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Whom does Alexandra blame for Emil and Marie’s deaths? What does this reveal about her character?

2. What would Frank like to do when he is released from prison? What does this reveal about his internal conflict and experiences in America?

3. In what ways does Alexandra remain unchanged despite the events of Parts 4 and 5?

Recommended Next Reads

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

• Dillard’s 1974 nonfiction text is an exploration of her connection to nature.
• Connects to the theme of Respect the Power of the Land
• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek on SuperSummary

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

• Steinbeck’s classic novel explores the fraught and meaningful relationships between humans and land, as well as the psychology of community that develops when there is a lack of access to land.
• Connects to themes of Respect the Power of the Land and Sacrifice of Self for the Good of the Community
• The Grapes of Wrath on SuperSummary