'Coexistence'-On The Theme Of O Pioneers!

Willa Cather(1873-1947) is an important female author in the early 20th century in the US.She has a reputation for the Nebraska Novels,which are set in the Nebraska prairie in the Midwest of America. Among the novels,O Pioneers! is greately worth for researching as the foundational one. By describing the struggling history of the heroine Alexandra,the author shows us a new kind of relationship between man and nature,and between man and society. We can learn the theme of the novel deeply by understanding the relationships,and then we can also know the world that Cather intends to construct in her works.This thesis intends to summarize the theme by analyzing the relationship between man and nature,and between man and society,based on the text of O Pioneers! .Also, it will highlight the coexistence mode that Cather advocates,which will provide us with some methods and suggestions to deal with various kinds of relationships in modern society. The preface will introduce Willa Cather and her frontier trilogy briefly,also the research results that are related will be involved.The first chapter mainly analyzes the relationship between man and nature in O Pioneers!,then come to the conclusion that man and nature always depend on each other.The second chapter mainly analyzes the relationship between man and society in O Pioneers!,to aim to explain the relevance by taking the relationships among people and personal identity as examples.The third chapter discusses the theme of the book,trying to summarize the key word of the relationship between man and nature,man and society,which is harmony.And then concludes the theme coexistence,which has a guiding significance in real life.