26 pages • 52 minutes read
Willa CatherA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Rosicky is a sixty-five-year-old Czech immigrant to the United States. After working as a wage-laborer in London and New York City, Rosicky moved to Nebraska, to become a farmer. Although his life on the Great Plains is often precarious, he prefers it to working for someone else; for Rosicky, working as a wage-laborer means not only the loss of freedom, but also (and more importantly) the loss of humanity amidst the conflicting demands employers, unions, and other elements of urban employment. Since Rosicky is a tremendously empathic man, the thought of necessarily being at odds with one person or another distresses him. Cather implies that this capacity for empathy is one reason why, despite his obvious hard work, Rosicky has never truly thrived financially: he cannot bear to use or disadvantage others in order to get ahead.
Rosicky's compassion also shines through in his devotion to his family. Although he married relatively late in life, his wife, Mary, and their six children have since become the center of his existence. The story opens with Rosicky learning that he has a "bad heart" that will likely kill him within a few years, and this knowledge plays into his increased anxiety for his children's futures (Part I, Paragraph 1).
By Willa Cather
A Lost Lady
A Lost Lady
Willa Cather
A Wagner Matinee
A Wagner Matinee
Willa Cather
Coming, Aphrodite!
Coming, Aphrodite!
Willa Cather
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather
Lucy Gayheart
Lucy Gayheart
Willa Cather
My Antonia
My Antonia
Willa Cather
One Of Ours
One Of Ours
Willa Cather
O Pioneers!
O Pioneers!
Willa Cather
Paul's Case
Paul's Case
Willa Cather
Shadows on the Rock
Shadows on the Rock
Willa Cather
The Professor's House
The Professor's House
Willa Cather
The Sculptor's Funeral
The Sculptor's Funeral
Willa Cather
The Song of the Lark
The Song of the Lark
Willa Cather