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Cather's O PIONEERS!(Brief Article)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 20000101
Author:KINNISON, DANA K.

Although many critics have documented Willa Cather's extensive connotative use of the classics and myth, none has fully appreciated Cather's one direct reference to her protagonist's "Amazonian fierceness" in O Pioneers! Typically, this passage is ignored in favor of more allusive connections with primitive earth goddesses, as in the case of Mary Ruth Ryder's claim that Alexandra is reminiscent of Demeter (109). Or the reference is thought merely to comment on Alexandra's physique. David Stouck observes that she is "strong in body" and parenthetically notes that "at one point she ...

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