O Pioneers! Society and Class Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

She disapproved of all her neighbors because of their slovenly housekeeping, and the women thought her very proud. Once when Mrs. Bergson, on her way to Norway Creek, stopped to see old Mrs. Lee, the old woman hid in the haymow "for fear Mis' Bergson would catch her barefoot." (1.2.23)

Mrs. Bergson's character reminds us that all those social and class differences still find their way to the frontier. Sometimes the "New World" isn't as new as it seems.

Quote #2

"If they were, we wouldn't have much chance. No, Lou, I was talking about that with the smart young man who is raising the new kind of clover. He says the right thing is usually just what everybody don't do. Why are we better fixed than any of our neighbors? Because father had more brains. Our people were better people than these in the old country. We ought to do more than they do, and see further ahead." (1.5.14)

Just in case you thought the Divide was an equal playing field, well, Alexandra never really thought so. From the beginning, Alexandra sees herself as specially endowed with something extra-special: her family's class background in the "Old World."

Quote #3

Alexandra had put herself in the hands of the Hanover furniture dealer, and he had conscientiously done his best to make her dining-room look like his display window. She said frankly that she knew nothing about such things, and she was willing to be governed by the general conviction that the more useless and utterly unusable objects were, the greater their virtue as ornament. (2.3.1)

Okay, we get it. The narrator is trying to prove to us, here, how unserious Alexandra is about showing off her prosperity. Still, though, she seems to think it's necessary to keep up appearances.