This dissertation has bssn microfilmed sxsctly as received 69-22,219 THRONE, Marilyn Elizabeth, 1939- THE TWO SELVES: DUALITY IN WILLA CATHER'S PROTAGONISTS AND THEMES. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1969 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan © Marilyn Elizabeth Throne 1970 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE TWO SELVES: DUALITY IN WIXJA GATHER'S PROTAGONISTS AND THEMES DISSERTATION Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Tha Degree Doctor of Philosophy In the Graduate Schools of The Ohio State University and Miami University By -1 Marilyn Throne, B. A., A. M* a a a * * a a The Oiio State University Miami till varsity 1969 Department^ of >fiigliah The Ohio ftate University Iviser Department of Shglish Miami University PREFACE This study is an attempt to analyze without prejudice the structure and themes of the novels of Wllla Gather. Originally, I had intended to analyze Gather's utilization of Americans versus her uti- lizatlon of Europeans in an attempt to understand what significance, if any, Cather attached to the origins and migrations of her characters. 3ut I discovered that before I could do so, I had to answer for myself the very basic questions of her protagonists and themes, questions on which there is a great deal of critical disagreement. I found, more­ over, that the rich mother-lode of Gather's imagery had not been dis­ covered by her critics, and I began, at any rate, to mine it for its value in establishing the significances of her characters and themes. During the time I have spent on this study, I have borrowed liberally of the time, consideration, interest and generosity of my friends, colleagues, and teachers. To Dr. Matthew J. flruccoli of The Ohio State University I owe a debt of gratitude for his concern and consultation. And to the English Department of Miami University I owe a debt of gratitude for their support and good humor. I am espe­ cially grateful to Dr. Spiro Peterson, Dr. John A. Weigel, and Mr. Janies G. Denham for their encouragement. Dr. Edgar M. Branch intro­ duced me to Cather and has encouraged my interest with his own. Pro­ fessor Gordon D. Wilson has been my mentor through the most trying days. This study culminates eight years of work under Dr. Walter ii Havighurst, whose good Judgment, sense of humor, critical perspicacity and serene wisdom have shown me scholarship that is not pedantry and criticism that is not petty. iii v m October 24, 1939 ............ Born— Cleveland, Chio 1961 ........................ B. A., Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 1961-1964 .................. K.D.E.A. Fellow, Miami University, The Ohio State University. 196 2 ........................ M. A., Miami University, Oxford, Chio 1962-1963 .................. Graduate Assistant, Department of Ehglish, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 1964-I969 .................. Instructor of Jfrglish, Miami University, Oxford, Chio f i e l d s OF STUDY Major Field: American Literature Studies in Hawthorne, Hemingway, Janes Professor John D. Reardon Studies in Dreiser, Dos Passos, Mailer. Professor Richard Donnell Studies in Western American Literature. Professor £dgar M. Branch Studies in Walt Whitman. Professor Walter Havighurst Studies in Folklore in Arthurian Literature Professor Francis Utley iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Fag# PREFACE................................................ 11 VITA .................................................. iv Chapter I, INTRODUCTION................................... 1 II. THE HEROIC N O V E L S .............................. 19 Che of Ours 21 The Pong of the Lark 41 The Sun-Moon Image 65 tfr Intonla 72 0 Pioneerst and Alexander's Bridge 104 Summary 133 III. THE BITTER N G V E I S .............................. 135 A lost I*dy and My Mortal Eheay 137 The Professor's House 166 Summary 181 IV. THE RELIGIOUS NOVELS............................ 184 Death Comes for the Archbishop and Shadows on the Rook 185 Suimary 207 V. THE NOVELS OF RESIGNATION...................... 210 Luoy Gayfaeart 211 Sapphire and the Slave Girl 224 Summary 234 VI. CONCLUSION...................................... 236 APPENDIX A ...................................................... 253 B ...................................................... 256 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................. 263 v CHAPTER. I INTRODUCTION Primarily, literature is a way of exploring the human condi­ tion, and each literary genre has a structure, most commonly used by its practitioners, to achieve that exploration. The central and abid­ ing structure of the novel is normally protagonist conflict; that is, most novels are built around a decision or dilemma created by the protagonist's viewing or being exposed to two ways of life or two sets of values and his having to or trying to make a choice. The novel and its protagonist are dynamic, rather than static; they move forward in time usually to the climax of the resolution of the conflict. The novels of Willa Cather are no exceptions to this rule. The experimentation done by Cather in her writing was not experimentation of conflict. All twelve of her novels present protag­ onists faced with a ohoioe to make. We will return to a further defi­ nition of that choice* The experimentation she did was in movement away from the closely knit and relevant plot to a selection of points of time pertinent to the conflict and the protagonist's reaction to the conflict. To be sure, Alexander's Bridge. 0 Pioneers I. The Song of the Lark. Che of Ours. and Luoy Gayheart have relatively tight plot-control. But four novels, My Antonia, The ft-ofeesor'e Bouse. Death Comes for the Archbishop, and Shadows on the Rock, are almost 1 totally devoid of plot* It is interesting to noto that thosa laat four novels aro ofton ratod auporlor to tho firat five by Cather1* critios* Biis particular structure which la baaod on pointa of tin* rathor tha" on a oontlnuum of tin* londa oapooial significance to tho aalootod dataila* b o h picture m a t have relevanoe to tha atory aa a whole, and no picture oan ba extraneous. The structure alao inaiata on tha anphaaia of tha novel being placed not on what happened but on how end why and who* It requires fron the writer an lmaoulate manu­ script» without any blot of extra detail. At the same time, it re­ quires a oritioal perception, on the part of the writer, to leave out no neoessary detail* It is the furthest froai exposition that a prose writer oan get; indeed, it carries the sane demand for Intensity and * economy that lyrio poetry carries* At its highest form, In Mr Antonia or Comes for the Archbishop for instance, it differs from lyrio poetry only in its greater magnitude and freer style. from the orltie such a struoture demands the utmost precision in reading, Jhrtloularly it demands that all parts of the novel, all points of time, all Images be oarefully considered for their individ­ ual and partial signifleanoe in the novel as a whole. As this type of struoture lends itself naturally to imagery, the orltie must be prepared to follow the imagery and understand it* Strangely enough, there has not been any full-blown study of Cather*s imagery— strangely, beoause it is so important to her struoture* The broad emphasis of this dissertation Is on imagery* None of Cather's twelve novels is without Imagery and only two, her first and last, Alexander’s Bridge and Sspchlra and the Slave Qirl. are not 3 rich in imagery. But the imagery is important only insofar as it funotions in ths novel as a whole and as it aids or hlndsrs ths communication of ths \t theme and ths oonfliot* It Is psrhaps naive to rsitsrats that ths basio conflict of Cathsr's protagonists is a ohoios between two worlds or asts of values* That is ths basio oonfliot of most novels, and Cathsr is a moralist* let, this simple itsration prsssnts two major oritioal prob- lsias* Ths first is a question of protagonist* In ths majority of hsr novels, Cathsr's protagonists are easily recognised* Alexander is ths protagonist of Alexander's Bridge. Alexandra of 0 Pioneers I. Thea Kronborg of ftis Bong of the lark. Claude Wheeler of Cne of fora. and so on* These protagonists are easily reoognised because they are faeed with the oonfliot* Further, Cathsr's control of point of view and general control of relevant details always points the novels back to / them* However, in five novels, Mr Antonia. A Lest lady, Death Pomes for the Archbishop. aiadows on the Rooks, and Sapphire and the Slave ✓ Qirl. the protagonist is not easily identified* ftf h** been the subject of a good deal of oritioal writing because although Antonia appears, at first, to be the protagonist, she is not the oentral figure in two of the five sections of the noveli indeed, she does not appear in one at all* A lost Iadv has paragraphs devoted to Jttel Herbert's development and is primarily controlled from his point of view, although most oritios give the protagonist niche to the lost lady herself, Marian Forrester* Death Gomes for the Archbishop. /* Shadows on the Hook, and Sapphire and the Slave Girl, all, lllos Antonia, shift point of view from character to oharector and seem, in a sense, h to oonsidar thorn* mor* important than oharaotar( a bad flaw if tha than* la a ohoioa to bo mad* by a protagonist* Obviously, thos* fiv* nov*ls raquira sow* r*oonsldaration oon­ coming th* rol* of th* protagonist* If th*r* is no olaar-out pro­ tagonist* th*n th*s* ar* badly flaw*d nova Is and snst ba judgad so* If, on tha othar hand, Cathar has azpandad th* viaw of protagonist, or if aarliar protagonist-dasignation has baan too hastily don* by th* orltios, than that should ba as tablishad and tha nova Is raavaluatad acoordingly* It will ba my c onto nt ion In this pa par that Villa Cathar doas indaad hav* twalv* novals with olaarly drawn protagonists who fao* thalr oonfliot#.