Shaping A Harmonious Personality: Androgyny Reflected In Alexandra In O Pioneers!

Willa Cather is a famous woman writer at the beginning of the20thcentury inAmerican Literature. She is famous for her excellent portrayal of the life on theMid-western American frontier. O Pioneers! is regarded as her first mature pioneernovel as well as the cornerstone of her1iterary fame. Being greatly different from theweak and dependent women characters in some traditional literary works, the heroineof the novel, Alexandra Bergson, is an independent, determined and successfulpioneer woman who possesses a lot of admirable masculine qualities. However, thisnovel is not merely a hymn of praise for Alexandra’s indomitable pioneering spirit,but a record of Alexandra’s long journey in pursuit of a harmonious personality. Thisthesis applies the theory of androgyny to the analysis of Alexandra and the discussionof Alexandra’s search for her female identity and her attainment of psychologicalbalance of masculinity and femininity, namely, androgyny.This thesis consists of six parts, including the introductory part, four chapters andthe conclusive part. The first part is an introduction, which focuses on a briefintroduction to the author, Willa Cather, and a literary review of O Pioneers! both athome and abroad. The first chapter presents some basic concepts related with thisthesis, particularly the very knowledge of gender-stereotypes and androgyny. Via thediscussion of this part, a fairly good theoretical foundation is provided for the textualanalysis. The second chapter elaborates on the valuable masculine qualities embodiedin Alexandra and probes into the causes of the full development of Alexandra’smasculinity. The third chapter analyzes Alexandra’s pursuit of androgyny and hersearch for female identity. Alexandra’s formation of androgynous personality fallsinto three stages: the stage of rejection of femininity, the stage of incomplete recoverywith femininity and the stage of achieving androgyny. The writer of the thesiselaborates on the character flaws in Alexandra and the psychic toll she pays for herunbalanced acquisition of femininity and masculinity in the first two stages, whichfrom the reverse side, stresses the significance of the pursuit of ideal androgynouspersonality. In the last stage, Alexandra totally accepts her female identity and reaches the ideal state of androgyny. The fourth chapter analyzes the active role thatandrogyny plays in Alexandra’s personality development. The balanced combinationof femininity and masculinity in Alexandra helps her make her career a success, earna certain cachet in society, and establish an ideal marriage mode with her husband.Androgyny also helps Alexandra arrive at the harmony with the actual world,consisting of the harmony between nature and culture, and the harmony betweendifferent cultures. The conclusive part of this thesis reemphasizes the core of thisstudy and points out the practical significance implied in the pursuit of androgyny.