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.
Quote #4
"But don't you sort of hate to have people see him around here, Alexandra?" she went on with persuasive smoothness. "He is a disgraceful object, and you're fixed up so nice now. It sort of makes people distant with you, when they never know when they'll hear him scratching about." (2.3.11)
Annie Lee is pretty blunt when it comes to Ivar. It's not just that she fears for her safety and the safety of Alexandra, or of others. She makes it clear that she thinks Ivar will ruin Alexandra's social reputation and make people "distant" with her—pushing her further into social isolation.
Quote #5
"But they are different, and now that they have farms of their own I do not see so much of them. We divided the land equally when Lou married. They have their own way of doing things, and they do not altogether like my way, I am afraid. Perhaps they think me too independent. But I have had to think for myself a good many years and am not likely to change." (2.4.10)
Just as Alexandra is aware of the class difference that separates her family from many of the other families on the Divide, she's also aware of the differences that set her apart from her own brothers, as well. And maybe, just maybe, she feels a touch of superiority in both cases…
Quote #6
Carl shook his head mournfully. "Freedom so often means that one isn't needed anywhere. Here you are an individual, you have a background of your own, you would be missed. But off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him." (2.4.23)
Carl is clear on one thing: he's definitely not into city living. In the big city, he felt cut off from his roots, from a community. He felt totally alone and anonymous. What he's talking about here is something that's really taking hold in Cather's time—mass society.
Quote #7
He was easily the buck of the beer-gardens, and on Sunday he was a sight to see, with his silk hat and tucked shirt and blue frock-coat, wearing gloves and carrying a little wisp of a yellow cane. He was tall and fair, with splendid teeth and close-cropped yellow curls, and he wore a slightly disdainful expression, proper for a young man with high connections, whose mother had a big farm in the Elbe valley. (2.7.1)
All this backstory about Frank gives us some good insights into his character, and of course, into his crimes. Before Frank got together with Marie, he was the big man out on the town. But once he got married—well, he became just like anyone else. His is also a story about the effects a sudden change in social position can have on someone's outlook and behavior.
Quote #8
Frank was always reading about the doings of rich people and feeling outraged. He had an inexhaustible stock of stories about their crimes and follies, how they bribed the courts and shot down their butlers with impunity whenever they chose. (2.8.3)
Here, we get a taste for the way Frank's rage can easily get out of hand, whenever he imagines the crimes of those in power. Check out the way the narrator makes sure to inform us that these are rich people he's reading about—are we supposed to think he resents the power of the upper classes?
Quote #9
"All that doesn't concern anybody but Carl and me. Go to town and ask your lawyers what you can do to restrain me from disposing of my own property. And I advise you to do what they tell you; for the authority you can exert by law is the only influence you will ever have over me again." (2.10.38)
When Lou and Oscar try to convince Alexandra that they're the rightful owners of her property, because they're the men of the family, she doesn't necessarily disagree with them on principle. She responds by appealing to the law that protects her claim to ownership. Though Alexandra might not be the most political person, she certainly puts a lot of faith in the legal system to ensure her right to social mobility.
Quote #10
Alexandra felt that he would like to know there had been a man of his kin whom he could admire. She knew that Emil was ashamed of Lou and Oscar, because they were bigoted and self-satisfied. He never said much about them, but she could feel his disgust. His brothers had shown their disapproval of him ever since he first went away to school. The only thing that would have satisfied them would have been his failure at the University. As it was, they resented every change in his speech, in his dress, in his point of view; though the latter they had to conjecture, for Emil avoided talking to them about any but family matters. All his interests they treated as affectations. (4.3.11)
The less-than-ideal relations between the Bergson children all seem to come down to problems of class and social mobility. Lou and Oscar resent Alexandra's success, especially because they think they, as the Men of the Family, should be in charge. Meanwhile, Alexandra is far more concerned with getting Emil a chance to go to the university and gain access to the educated elite, which makes Lou and Oscar resent her and Emil all the more.