While there's no shortage of frustrated, disappointed settlers on the Divide, O Pioneers! reminds us that there are still those heroes and heroines, like Alexandra, who doggedly choose to persevere. That's not to say all those other people aren't trying. They are. But maybe they just lack the connection Alexandra seems to have with the land, a connection that seems intuitive, almost unconscious, compelling her to stay on the Divide and keep on trucking. Instead of forcing the land to bend to her will, Alexandra knows how to persevere by making its will her own.
Questions About Perseverance
- To what extent are the settlers of the Divide portrayed as having "fallen from grace," by not living up to the narrator's image of an ideal pioneer?
- What is the relationship between Alexandra's perseverance and Ivar's blind faith? Are they foils for one another?
- How does O Pioneers! understand freedom, at least from Alexandra's perspective? Does this freedom jive with the image of the American frontier as a horizon of endless possibilities?
Chew on This
Alexandra's perseverance and her belief in the Divide are the things that help her realize her own freedom. But her idea of freedom is limited to a sense of belonging in a certain place and context, and ignores other possible kinds of freedom.
Alexandra's understanding of her personal freedom as the outcome of a persistence commitment to the land and its inherent value makes her a model for a modern ecological mindset.