22 pages • 44 minutes read
Willa CatherA Wagner Matinee
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1904A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Consider the language Cather uses to describe life on the American frontier. How does her choice of words and phrases underscore her depiction of the region's remoteness and desolation?
Clark repeatedly compares his aunt to an explorer or, at the very least, a traveler to distant places (e.g. "a frozen camp on the Yukon"). How do these passages intersect or contrast with the idea of music as a form of transportation?
Choose one of the musical pieces Cather references in this story and briefly research it. What does the allusion to this piece add to "A Wagner Matinée" in terms of theme or character?
Clark often comments critically on his childhood in Nebraska, but he also seems to harbor some nostalgia for it. What role does homesickness play in "A Wagner Matinée," and why (as Cather depicts it) might it be inevitable?
Compare and contrast Georgiana and Howard's youthful "infatuation" with Clark's feelings for his aunt. What is each relationship based on, and how does it seem to impact its participants?
What is the effect of seeing Georgiana's story through someone else's eyes (i.e. Clark's)? Why might Cather have chosen to tell the story in this way?
The ending of a "A Wagner Matinée" might strike some readers as abrupt: Clark imagines the life Georgiana will lead if and when she returns to Nebraska, but the story itself stops before the characters have even left the concert hall. How does this impact your understanding of the story's themes?
Related Titles
By Willa Cather
