What do literary criticisms say about Alexandra's dream in Willa
Cather's novel O Pioneers!

Hi there

Thanks for asking about critical approaches to Alexandra's dream of
being "lifted up bodily and carried lightly by some one very strong".
(Chapter II)

The main points made by literary critics are:

It's a fantasy balancing her 'real' life of being/becoming an
independent woman. It might be a psychological survival technique,
compensating for the never-ending work on the farm, but Cather also
uses it to emphasise A's "dreamy desires for something beyond the hard
realities of farm life".  (Al-Ghalith - see reference below)

The "buckets of cold well-water" following the dream suggest that
Alexandra must repress 'sentimental' dreams that might interfere with
her life of responsibility. She may also feel sexual fantasy is taboo.
"Her personal life, her own realization of herself, was almost a
subconscious existence, like an underground river that came to the
surface only here and there, at intervals under her own fields" 
(Chapter II)

The dream shows the same sensuality in Alexandra which is an important
element in her love of the land. It underlines how wrong other
characters in the novel are to think of her as a non-sexual being.

One additional point is that, in Cather's work, gold and yellow are
associated with love and sexuality. It is relevant that she dreams of
a man "yellow like the sunlight". (Slote - see below)

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Online literary criticism with material on Alexandra's dream/fantasy:

"The Object of So Much Service and Desire"  Anne L. Kaufmann

http://www.willacather.org/Newsletter/Fall2000/OfjectofsoMuchService.htm

"Nebraska and the Civilisation Theme"       John J. Murphy

www2.tcu.edu/depts/prs/amwest/pdf/wl0686.pdf

"Cather's Use of Light: An Impressionistic Tone"  Asad Al-Ghalith

http://www.unl.edu/Cather/scholarship/cs/vol3/cuolait.htm

"Introduction to Alexander's Bridge"  Bernice Slote

http://www.unl.edu/Cather/works/se/alexander/alexandertext.htm


You may also find this Cather archive useful:

http://www.unl.edu/Cather/search/index.htm


If anything I've written is unclear, please feel free to ask for
clarification.

Good luck with your studies/research.

Regards - Leli


Google search used:

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Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 18 Sep 2002 03:27 PDT

Apologies. The link for the Murphy article should have been better laid out;

http://www2.tcu.edu/depts/prs/amwest/pdf/wl0686.pdf.

great answer