O Pioneers

Emmanuel Rios
Ms. Erickson
English 11
7 December 2012
O Pioneers! Literary Criticism of Female Sexuality
In this literary criticism Wiesenthal’s ideas explain the controversial theme offemale sexuality in O Pioneers!, due to the quantity of examples and contrasts between Cather’s personal life and Alexandra as a fictional character. The author is analyzing the mystery of Cather’shomosexual ideas with historical facts that were reflected on O Pioneers! . According to Willa Cather’s biographical background, she is a clearly a lesbian writer, but it is being debated whether her ideaswere reflected on Alexandra as a fictional character or not. The truth is that Cather used ‘literary strategies’ to camouflage the ‘emotional source of her fiction’, in order to express herhomosexual ideas on a novel. Alexandra represents the New Woman mentioned in the writing of Wiesenthal, which was a woman who could prosper economically, be a leader in a family, and have social equality.It is not usual to see a woman with these attributes in this sexist society, because they play another role, and strive for different goals. In this case is different. Alexandra is seen as themasculine figure in the house, and controls every single aspect of the family from a female perspective.
I agree totally with the author, in the fact that Cather never mentions explicitly that her novelcontains homosexual content, but we as readers have a clear understanding that the author is reflecting her life on this novel. Another important point is to emphasize the difference between heterosexualand homosexual relationships. Wiesenthal points out that, “While the component of tragedy is, of course, most dramatically evident in the violent and premature deaths of Marie and Emil, almost allof the heterosexual alliances in the text are presented as unhappy or pathetic.” This statement shows one of the literary strategies that Cather used, in order to portray her homosexual attitude...