85 pages • 2 hours read
Willa CatherO Pioneers!
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1913A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Winter
Because this novel deals so much with the power of nature and humanity’s relationship to it, seasons are important symbols of human cycles of development. Winter symbolizes peace and self-reflection—a time to prepare for the bustle and regrowth of spring. It is during the brutal Nebraskan winter months that Marie withdraws into her unhappiness. It is also during these months that Alexandra contemplates her own loneliness. Both women look forward to the inevitable thaw. More practically, winter impedes farming and community-building, so the fact that Hanover survives the cold season demonstrates that it has become an unstoppable town. Cather uses the isolation of winter to express her message that while community is important, self-reflection and introspection are equally valuable.
The White Mulberry Tree
The white mulberry tree is a symbol of love, innocence, and death. Under the white mulberry tree, Emil and Marie come together: It is the physical site where they finally express their love. However, it is also the site of their death, implying that ultimate happiness leads to (and perhaps is worth) the risk of self-destruction. In this duality, the tree alludes to the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe—doomed lovers who die under the mulberry tree where they have arranged to meet. As in the myth, the lovers’ blood “stains” the white fruit in Cather’s story.
The tree’s white color also highlights innocence. Because Emil and Marie acted on their genuine impulses, without a thought about their society’s codes and norms, they embody the innocence of love. Though Alexandra will blame them for their own deaths, this layer of symbolic innocence demonstrates that Cather does not agree with Alexandra.
Farmland
Land is central to this novel. Cather imbues her story with descriptive imagery of Nebraska. The descriptions of the land during fruitful months are full of verdant imagery that evokes lightness and lushness and inspires humans. The imagery of the land during cold months evokes harshness but also retains a certain beauty, suggesting that nature is not the antagonist some settlers see it as. Farmland is especially important because it symbolizes the triumph of the pioneer spirit. Through Alexandra’s deep connection to and respect for her farmland, she can live in harmony with the natural world; she functions as its caretaker while she is alive and will (according to the novel’s closing words) become a part of it when she dies. The farmland is not only a setting but a symbolic character that figures like Alexandra and Carl interact with.
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